A 20-tonne, 118-year-old carriage has become the first of 6,000 items to move to the new Museum of Liverpool.

The carriage is the only surviving motor coach of the historic Liverpool Overhead Railway and travelled along the length of Liverpool docks from 1893 until the railway closed in 1956.

This week, the carriage retraced part of its original route on the back of a lorry accompanied by a police escort and a small crowd of onlookers and members of the press to be delivered to its new home. It was one of the most popular exhibits in the old Liverpool Museum and has been in conservation for the last decade in preparation for display in the new museum.

Sharon Granville, executive director for the Museum of Liverpool, said: “This is a momentous occasion for the project as the carriage - one of Liverpool’s icons - is installed in the new museum.”

The carriage will be displayed as part of a re-construction of Pier Head station accompanied by Lumière Brothers’ archive footage filmed from the Overhead Railway in 1897. It will also be displayed at the height it would have travelled when it was fondly known as ‘The Dockers Umbrella' in order to provide visitors with a real feel for what it was like to travel on and see just how big an impact it had on Liverpool’s port at that time.

“Our team has worked so hard on restoring the carriage to its former glory. It will be exciting to watch the next step of its journey to its new home in the new museum ready for opening next year.”

“A lot of planning has gone into the display of the motor coach due to its sheer size, weight and rarity. The building has been designed to house this object and we have purposely left a large gap in the gallery wall in order to move the carriage in,” said Granville.

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