An historic military wagon has returned home after being restored to its former glory thanks to a group of enthusiasts.
Shed47 Railway Restoration Group has unveiled its newly restored naval store tank wagon, NS161.
The wagon was once part of a fleet of hundreds used by the Royal Navy to transport fuel from bunkers to naval depots around the country, including the Royal Naval Stores Depot at Lathalmond.
It has been returned to the site which is now home to Scotland’s Military Railway.
Shed47 is based in the original locomotive shed at what was the royal naval store depot.
It is actively recreating some of the vast internal railway network which existed on the site until 1971.
The wagon survived because it was being used as a stationary oil store at Lathalmond.
It was parked on a short length of track long after the internal railway system and the branch line from Dunfermline closed .
Group secretary Grant Robertson explained the wagon was spotted by a member of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society in the 1980s, who rescued it and transported it to the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway for safekeeping.
Fast forward a few years and the SRPS placed it on long term loan to Shed47, taking it back home to Lathalmond for restoration.
Visitors can see the historic wagon on the group’s open days, run in conjunction with the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum on whose site Shed47 operates.
This first is this weekend, coinciding with the bus museum’s 22nd annual open weekend which pays tribute to 25 years of Stagecoach in Fife.
The museum, which traces its origins back to the 1970s and a small garage in Midlothian, has on a 50 acre site almost 200 vehicles, a small collection of classic cars, lorries and the restored Edinburgh horse tram and steam roller.
To mark 25 years since the Stagecoach Group purchased the then state-owned Fife Scottish Omnibuses, this event will feature a variety of buses representing the earlier years of Walter Alexander (Fife), through the Fife Scottish years and bringing visitors up to date, with examples of the current state-of-the-art Stagecoach East Scotland fleet.
By travelling on a special “works” train hauled by a Hunslet Diesel Shunter, visitors will have the opportunity to view Shed47’s work.
Visitors can take open top bus tours , weather permitting , to the Forth.
A free internal bus service will be in operation and a free vintage shuttle bus will run from Dunfermline bus station.
Further details are available from the SVBM info line 01383 623380 or at www.svbm.org.uk.
