IT was a railway carriage going nowhere – other than the scrapheap.

But now teenagers from a Huddersfield charity have refurbished an unused rail carriage that was set for destruction.

They spent yesterday working on the carriage beside the platforms at Huddersfield Railway Station.

In recent years the carriage had been used as a base for a playgroup but it had not been used in recent months.

Now the youngsters, who are part of the New Beginnings project at the nearby National Children’s Centre, have revamped the carriage so it can be used as a classroom. It will also contain a kitchen for the teenagers to use.

Donna Sylvester, who helps with the New Beginnings project said: “New beginnings is a project that has been running for six years.

“The rail carriage was in disrepair and was going to be destroyed so we stepped in to stop it, with help from LV=”

Staff from Folly Hall-based Britannia Rescue and parent company LV= stepped in to help the charity to repair the neglected rail carriage.

The local business is committed to helping local community projects from its base in Huddersfield.

Kelly Blagbrough, management co-ordinator for LV=, said: “We have a budget for helping local community projects and this was one of the projects we wanted to support.

“Each quarter we decide to help a number of charities and projects, we vote for three charities each quarter and this quarter we chose New Beginnings.”

Staff from the charity and LV= also got involved in the refurbishment, helping out with the painting of the carriage.

Kelly said: “We like to get involved on a practical level, rather than just giving the funding and then sitting back and watching.

“We encourage our staff to get out of the office and get involved with projects like this and that is why I’m helping out”.

Donna Sylvester also helped out with the refurbishment. She said: “The rail carriage will be used for a classroom and cooking area.