A DELIVERY to rural Northumberland was certainly off the beaten track for one lorry driver.
He had the task of transporting a 66ft long, 32-tonne 1950s railway carriage on the back of his wagon more than 400 miles from Oakehampton in Devon to Bellingham in Northumberland.
Locals around the Northumberland community did a double take as they saw the rail carriage winding its way along the area’s narrow rural roads after it turned off the A68 at West Woodburn.
But the delivery took place safely and now the carriage is sitting on temporary rail tracks outside Bellingham Heritage Centre, which is based in the yard of the town’s former railway station. A second coach is due to arrive in the next few days. They will then be jacked on to adjacent old rail lines which have been laid by volunteers from the Aln Valley Railway Trust in Northumberland.
Work will start on converting one of the carriages to a tea room and the other as education and extra exhibition space by the end of October.
Bellingham has been searching the country for Mark I carriages which would have been used on the Border Counties line which ran through the village.
Heritage centre chairman Terry Bragg said yesterday the coaches were discovered in a quarry in Oakehampton.
They will be repainted in the maroon and cream livery of the Border Counties Railway.
“It was a bit tense waiting for the lorry and carriage to arrive but the driver was remarkable,” said Mr Bragg.
“We hope that the carriages attract more visitors and also school parties and earn us some revenue.”
Backing for the project has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Northumberland Uplands LEADER Programme. These funds also cover the appointment of a part-time curator and a part-time educational officer.
Mr Bragg said: “The railway coaches will give us badly-needed space to work with children and young people, and enable us to hold talks and lectures and extra exhibitions in a comfortable environment. We are looking forward to working with the curator and the educational officer so that the museum continues to improve the services it offers visitors and local people.”
Over the last three years the centre has doubled its annual visitor numbers to 4,000. But the target is to increase that figure to 10,000.
