A CARRIAGE from the train which carried Sir Winston Churchill from his state funeral to his final resting place is due to have a new home in York.

The Southern Railway luggage van no. 2464, which was built in 1931, is currently being cosmetically restored in Shildon.

Once the work has been completed it will be exhibited at the National Railway Museum in York, early next year to mark the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s state funeral.

The carriage formed part of the train which transported Churchill’s body from his state funeral in London to his resting place in Oxfordshire.

As the train made its journey, thousands gathered at wayside stations along the route of the train to pay tribute.

Anthony Coulls, senior curator of rail vehicles at the National Railway Museum, said: “At Shildon we have had quite a lot of heritage vehicles through the workshop at Shildon including one of the iconic A4 locomotives, but we’ve had nothing before that is quite on the historic scale as this. We are looking forward to seeing the workshop team transform the carriage as it is such an important piece of British history.”

The carriage was used during the Second World War on two evacuation trains and it was later put into Pullman colours in the 1960s.

Churchill was laid to rest in the parish churchyard of Bladon, close to Blenheim Palace, where he was born 90 years earlier. Following the funeral, the carriage was preserved in Los Angeles, USA in 1966 but returned to the UK in 2007 where it entered the Swanage Railway Collection.

It is on loan to the National Railway Museum from the Swanage Railway Trust and will be exhibited as part of an exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s State Funeral on January 30, 1965.

The cosmetic restoration project will begin in the coming weeks and is expected to be completed by early January.