A rare Victorian railway carriage has been brought back into service after 90 years – and passengers were invited to take a ride in it this weekend.

The coach was specially designed by the Midlands Railway company, and is one of 10 that were built after bosses visited America and noticed their trains had much better carriages than those in Britain.

They commissioned their engineers to redesign the interiors of their trains to make them the most luxurious in the country.

In its day, the carriage was considered to be the most prestigious one available, and they could be made available for any journey anywhere in the country.

Despite being very spacious they would only carry a maximum of 20 passengers.

They provided wealthy rail travellers with comfortable seating as well a table they could use for playing card games, and there was even a toilet – which was remarkable at a time when many houses didn't have an inside loo.

In its day, this carriageway was considered to be the most prestigious one available but would only carry up to 20 passengers (LDRS).

If passengers needed to change lines in order to get where they were going, they wouldn't even need to leave the carriage.

Instead, it would be detached from the back of the train and a locomotive would then shunt it into position to be attached onto another train to complete the journey.

Mark Smith, of the Foxfield Railway, said: "It was a completely different way of travelling by train to anything we would experience.

"It was a very luxurious way of travelling, before the motor car. If you were travelling in one of these saloons, it would be for your exclusive use.

"All the people travelling in the rest of the train would've been crammed into a small space with no luggage room and you just had to find a seat if you could."

The saloon carriages would have been kept in special sheds, ready to be summoned for use – with special instructions given to station staff so that they knew when to decouple and re-hitch the carriage.

Foxfield Railway used the carriage as a waiting room and gift shop at the end of their heritage railway line (Nub News).

The carriage was used from 1884 but fell out of favour in the 1930s due to the introduction of the motor car.

After it was decommissioned it was used as a small home – with the wheels and undercarriage removed, and a fireplace installed – and was lived in for 40 years.

In 1976 the Foxfield Railway acquired it as well as a set of wheels for it, and the carriage took on a new life as a waiting room and gift shop at the colliery end of their heritage railway line.

It then went to Rowsley in the Peak District for renovation, and after 17 years it was returned and re-attached to the restored underframe.

Mr Smith said: "There have been so many people involved in restoring this carriage over the years, and so many people have dreamed of it actually being in public service again.

"I think it's fair to say that many people ever thought it was going to happen.

"It's all been done by volunteers, and when you see all that collective effort you realise you can do something together the no one person would ever be able to achieve.

"It's also a bit about learning skills and passing those skills on to the next generation.

"One of the things we want to do with all the carriages we've restored is see them being used and have them done to a quality that we hope they'll last another 100 years."

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