The restoration of a 79-year-old wooden framed goods wagon has been completed at Havenstreet Station. The wagon, 10 Ton Open Goods No. 27730, was built by the Southern Railway in 1928 to a London, Brighton and South Coast Railway design. A need to replace the motley collection of life expired open wagons inherited from the old Island railway companies led the Southern Railway to transfer a batch of nearly new LBSCR 10 Ton Opens across to the Isle of Wight in the early 1930s, Eventually 475 wagons of this type, including 27730, made the journey across the Solent.

Following withdrawl from service 27730 found a home on the Bluebell Railway where it remained until being donated to the IWSR for restoration. The work to rebuild the wagon took place in the railway's Heritage Lottery Funded Carriage & Wagon Workshop and involved the replacement of most of the remaining timber frame members, the purchase of materiels being mainly financed by a very generous private donation. The IWSR's Carriage & Wagon team are becoming expert in the techniques necessary to rebuild ancient wagons of this type of construction, having already rebuilt an LSWR Road Van and three LBSCR bolster wagons.

27730 in the Carriage & Wagon Workshop earlier this year.

27730's place in the Carriage & Wagon Workshop has already been taken by another historic wagon, Southern Railway designed 13 Ton Dropside High 483725, constructed at Ashford Works in 1949. This wagon was part of a batch sent across to the Island in the early 1970s to replace the remaining LBSCR dropside wagons still lingering on in engineers service. 483725 will form part of the railway's Civil Engineering fleet once work is complete.

The next wagon to be dealt with, 13 Ton Dropside High 483725, is already in the Workshop. In the background is LBSCR Brake Third 4168.

For more information on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway's unique collection of rail vehicles visit the Carriage & Wagon page.