The old railway carriage being transported for a thorough restoration.

Restorers have managed to save around three quarters of the original parts forming Malta’s only surviving carriage from the Maltese railway system.

After decades of neglect and  vandalism, the project to bring the third-class carriage to its former glory is nearing completion and is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

Known as il-vapur tal-art (ship on land), the railway ran from 1883 to 1931, when the service was halted because it could not financially compete with trams and buses.

One of the restorers, Renald Bezzina, told the Times of Malta that this was the most daunting and complicated project he had worked on since he began his career 10 years ago.

He said the chassis was the worst off since most of it had deteriorated to the point that it almost disintegrated. But with lots of special care and patience, most parts were put together again and the chassis rebuilt.

When we got it here it was almost in two parts

There were also problems with the vertical beams because of severe degradation due to a fungus that attacked the wood.

These were changed but not thrown away as they will eventually find their place in the new railway museum planned for Ġnien l-Istazzjon, where the carriage sat for several years, before being moved to a garage in Tarxien where it is currently being restored.

The train carriage is made of timber, with steel ties and a painted finish. It is divided into two compartments with wooden louvred windows on both sides.

Mr Bezzina and the rest of the team from Allied Contracting have been working on this “big jigsaw puzzle” for almost a year now, when the €55,000 restoration project began.

“It was literally coming apart so we had to piece it together again. When we got it here from Birkirkara it was almost in two parts.

“There were also missing pieces and parts which had been removed in the 1980s which we reintroduced,” Mr Bezzina said.

The restoration job is being done in consultation with the Malta Railway Foundation which is, in the meantime, seeing to the transformation of a childcare centre in the public garden into a railway museum.

The Birkirkara local council commissioned the works, assisted by funding provided by the central government.