LORD Montagu of Beaulieu opened the newly-restored Victorian goods store at Medstead and Four Marks station which has been transformed into a museum, with the first exhibition aptly entitled ‘Delivering the Goods’.

Before a large crowd of visitors, Lord Montagu said he was honoured to unveil the renovated building, which had been subject to two years of restoration work by the Watercress Line’s Mid Hants Railway Preservation Society, funded via a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Built around 1880, the goods store was originally used as a traders’ store for the collection and delivery of goods to and from local traders, with similar buildings at Ropley and Alresford stations that have since been demolished.

In restoring the building, the Mid Hants Railway Preservation Society’s building department has replaced the floor, refurbished the wooden sleepers that form the walls, lined out the interior, and repainted it in old Southern Railway colours to recreate an authentic goods store of yesteryear.

The Medstead Goods Store exhibition will explain the role of railways in the transportation of goods and freight and will include displays describing the role of a station goods clerk in despatching and receiving goods, the role of a goods guard on goods trains, and the history of some of the wagons in the Mid Hants Railway Preservation Society’s demonstration goods train.

Colin Chambers, managing director of the Mid Hants Railway Watercress Line, said: “We’re delighted to have refurbished this important part of the railway’s heritage, and to be opening up even more history for our younger visitors who won’t be aware of the role it played in the past.

“The exhibition will give passengers a real insight into the uses of goods stores, and as further funds are available to us we will be able to produce even more interactive displays for visitors of all ages.”