It has a dark history and has seen so many deaths, but one World War I train ambulance was given a new mission as a restored little cozy restaurant that invites people to come inside. Built 116 years ago, the train used to bring British soldiers back to London until couple Ross and Claire Moore fixed it to add to their existing railway-themed business.
Ross told The Daily Mail: "We had been looking for a train carriage for our restaurant and found one online which then led us to this one." He added that the carriage was created in Swindon more than a century ago was used as a typical carriage coach until it was made to transport wounded soldiers from the front lines.
"We bought it in April and spent about five months converting it - there was nothing in it, no electricity or anything, so we had to completely gut it and install electrics," Ross said. The couple bought it from a certain Andrew Wilson, a train enthusiast, who was hesitant to give it to another interested buyer for a film production.
The former ambulance now sits with the couple's The Station Kitchen at the Old West Bay Station platform. The transformation of the carriage turned it into a quirky, wooden, rustic resto where the owners serve a couple of cocktails to beers and scones to cakes.
Actors and other famous personalities like Olivia Coleman and David Tennant according to the report have visited the restaurant as well.
"It has gone down really well. We've been constantly packed out, we're the most in-demand restaurant in west Dorset," said Ross. "Everyone absolutely loves it. There are a few other train carriage restaurants around but no one doing fine dining."
The couple's business started in 2011 and quickly turned into an esteemed catering company named Sausage and Pear. Though it is not the first train restaurant in the area, the couple said no one has practiced fine dining as they have.
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