The two-tone blue carriage, DB5, was sent to Inveresk’s Don River Railway workshop for a make-over, something which the organisation’s Bill Reynolds said was almost a regret.

‘‘When we got it up here and looked at it, we thought we probably should have put a match to it,’’ Mr Reynolds said.

‘‘But it costs so much to move them, it took about $1000 to get it up here, so we restored it.’’

The composite brakevan was built in Manchester in 1886, and was made for the Tasmanian government railway.

It operated on the West Coast in the 1950s, when rail was the only way to access the mining town of Rosebery.

Mr Reynolds said they got the carriage back after it was taken ‘‘up country’’ as a camping vehicle in the 1990s.

‘‘It was used in the Emu Bay centenary in 1997,’’ he said.

‘‘It will now be used as a party vehicle for children and a reception carriage for the Don River Railway.’’