Man living at old railway station turned train carriage into Airbnb

Halifax Courier

A railway fan who lives in an old station has spent thousands of pounds turning an old train carriage in to a luxury Airbnb stay.  Nigel Brooke, 68, lives in the former Delph railway station in Saddleworth, Greater Manchester.  Passenger train service ceased to area in the 1950s, but – thanks to a loving £27,000 restoration – visitors can once again board a train at the station, by staying inside £200 per night luxury Airbnb.  The second class 1895 Great Western Railway carriage has been restored on the outside with original colours from old drawings and charts, while the interior has been given a stunning makeover.

Transcript

00:00Hello. Ah, come in. My name is Nigel and welcome to the carriage house at the old station Delft,

00:10situated in Saddleworths at the end of the old Delft donkey line. A lot of history,

00:16this carriage is 1895 and the stations are even older. This is a Victorian station built in 1850,

00:27booking office, gentleman's waiting room, ladies waiting room, and here's the carriage.

00:40Third class, second, enter by the first class, come inside. You have a nice double bed here,

00:49kitchenette, fully restored carriage, all the details, original switches, bell pull.

01:00This is the sleeping compartment, very cosy on a night.

01:05Both curtains shut too, and we have original features, the wallpaper from 1860,

01:17the restored pictures in the frames, and the lighting, 1920s these, very beautiful. And this way we have

01:26a small seating area, and drinks here of an evening, or perhaps a small single malt,

01:39and tea and coffee, of course.

01:41It was quite a task. I thought at least 10 years, but I managed to do it in just under three. It was a pleasure

01:53to do a lot of original pieces to restore, such as the bell pulls and the decor, the wallpaper,

02:00the lighting systems. The difficult part was getting the colours to be, I guess, original Victorian.

02:08So I chose the three, the maroons, the greens, the light greens, the dark greens,

02:14the stained glass windows giving a bit of blue into it.

02:17I actually live in the station house itself. Beautiful area of the country. As you can see,

02:25it's been restored to its former glory, I hope.

02:47You bring me like yours, you bring me like yours.

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