Derelict train carriage, Lowesby, Leics, Dec14

[The Wombat]

Escaped the Christmas carnage for a few hours on boxing day, and went back to look at this curious place; a Victorian train carriage in the woods, a few miles from an old dismantled railway, and near a public footpath.

No history on this one, but the nearby Lowesby station opened in 1882, closed to passenger traffic in 1953, and the line closed in 1962. The station still exists and is now a residence. The line ran from Leicester to Grantham or Peterborough. If passenger services ceased 60 years ago, then the carriage could be 80-100 years old. It looks like a fireplace was built to the side, and it was once lived in. It is certainly in a dangerous condition now.

like i said, its a bit dangerous; the floor has collapsed here

probably the kitchen

Nothing epic, but something a bit different

 

[Mearing]

Looks like a recycled Anderson shelter to the left in pic 1. Interesting set of pictures. Thank you.

 

[The Wombat]

Looks like a recycled Anderson shelter to the left in pic 1. Interesting set of pictures. Thank you.

Thanks mate.
Yes, it could easily be that. The whole set up was quite unusual.

 

[smiler]

There was one of these close to the farm when I was growing up, it had been converted into a three roomed home, a few years after the old fella passed on some git burned it down.

 

[tumble112]

I like these unusual finds, thanks for posting this.

 

[The Wombat]

I like these unusual finds, thanks for posting this.

thanks mate. Wasn't sure wether it was worth posting or not

 

[krela]

An interesting curiosity. Thanks.

I think in the housing shortage of the post war era someone would have been glad for such a home.

 

[HughieD]

Really different! As always fab set of images.

 

[flyboys90]

A great unusual find,love the fireplace.Thanks for sharing.

 

[woody65]

you should be able to look up the details here http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/search.asp if not listed let them know

 

[Sshhhh...]

What a strange and wonderful find! Great shots too

 

[DirtyJigsaw]

I really really like this! How odd to find it there tho

 

[The Wombat]

I wasn't sure if it would be worth photographing, but after5 mins there i went back to get the tripod and later decided that someone might be interested in it, so posted it up

seems to have gone down well
Many thanks everyone

 

[DirtyJigsaw]

Yeah, something id like to come across tbh. Very interesting, thanks for sharing

 

[TK421]

Nice crisp photos of a very interesting subject mate, thanks for posting these up

 

[fluffy5518]

I would think that at one time there were many redundant railway vehicles being lived in up n down the country but i imagine that has changed dramatically since the 1970's. Is this one coach or two ? It looks rather long to be one vehicle -as these would usually be two axles only, and it looks like the fireplace is the dividing line between the two. !! Either way mate this is a really interesting post with good pics - an excellent find. Thanks for posting !!

 

[Dirus_Strictus]

An interesting curiosity. Thanks.

I think in the housing shortage of the post war era someone would have been glad for such a home.

Looks like it could be one of the very early wooden bodied GN corridor stock. However, it is just possible that the period one is looking at could be post WW1 - in the 20's and 30's there were a number scrapped carriages purchased and moved into locations like this as traumatised ex servicemen struggled to find peace and quiet in a supposed land fit for heroes. There are a number of books written in the interwar years that tell of quite large communities living in similar accommodation, or wooden huts fabricated on site. It seems that large forested areas, such as the New Forest, were some of the favourite locations.

To people of my age, free to explore the backroads on a motorbike in the early 60's, habitations like this were not that unusual and hidden remains can still be found. Many were seen to be quite a considerable distance from the nearest rail siding. However, this is not too surprising when you realise what a skilful traction engine driver and his mate could do with two large screw jacks, his engine's winch, a couple of wheeled dollies and a few baulks of timber

 

[The Wombat]

I would think that at one time there were many redundant railway vehicles being lived in up n down the country but i imagine that has changed dramatically since the 1970's. Is this one coach or two ? It looks rather long to be one vehicle -as these would usually be two axles only, and it looks like the fireplace is the dividing line between the two. !! Either way mate this is a really interesting post with good pics - an excellent find. Thanks for posting !!

Thanks Fluffy
I think it was 2 carriages, but couldn't say for sure. There is no undercarriage, and it is in a bit of a state now.
- The floor had completely collapsed opposite the fire place.
But it was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be

 

[decker]

I only see 4 photos, not sure why the others won't load but what a great find.

 

[The Wombat]

I only see 4 photos, not sure why the others won't load but what a great find.

There should be 10 photos
hope they are working ok