PERFECT HOMES MAGAZINE - Issue 13 Issue 13 | Page 53

You don’t have to be a rail enthusiast to see the green potential and creative genius involved with turning old railway carriages into living environments. Y ou may instantly reject the idea of living in some old railway carriages, they’re long and thin, incredibly heavy, and hard to transport once they’re off the tracks. So this begs the question why on earth would anybody want to use one after they’ve been decommissioned, let alone live in one? There are many reasons why actually. As you can imagine, old railway carriages are normally much cheaper than buying a traditional house outright. It’s also extremely green. Buying up an old railway carriage will stop it from being destroyed and potentially harming the environment. Like  shipping containers, they are relatively easy to convert yourself, and with a starting price of roughly £5000 – £30,000 you can see why this trend is picking up speed! Transporting the carriage will cost several thousands of pounds and with the installation costs, materials and l abour costs needed to make it habitable a fully converted carriage would set you back near to £100,000, which in todays’ market is very cheap for an energy efficient home.