A HISTORIC railway carriage which carried Winston Churchill’s coffin has undergone a £23,000 face-lift and will go on show.

Volunteers at Shildon: the National Railway Museum at Shildon, County Durham, overhauled the South Railway parcel van S2464S which carried the statesman on January 30 1965.

It took Churchill’s body after his state funeral in London to its final resting place in Long Hanborough, Oxfordshire.

The carriage is on loan from the Swanage Railway Trust, in Dorset, and it left Shildon for the National Railway Museum, York, today. (Wednesday, January 14)

It will form the centre piece of the Churchill’s Final Journey display.

The exhibition runs between Friday, January 30 and Sunday, May 3, to mark the 50th anniversary of the death.

Richard Pearson, workshop and rails operation manager at Shildon, oversaw the three month restoration.

He said: “It’s been a really challenging project. We’re really proud that we’ve managed to bring it back to its former glory.

“The steel frame of the van was in good condition but the horizontal wooden boarding was rotting and had to be replaced.

“The windows and frames are new and the doors had all of the exterior panels and half of the inner boards replaced.

“We used specialist painters to bring the carriage back to its original shade of umber and cream.”

The Friends of the National Railway Museum provided most of the funding for the work.

The carriage formed Churchill’s war time train and the York display will see the carriage link up with the Battle of Britain locomotive which pulled it in 1965.

Millions watched the funeral on television and the NRM is seeking first hand memories of the event.

For information, including how to share memories visit nrm.org.uk/churchill or text #Churchill2015