The carriage was brought to its current site 73 years ago

Purchased for just �60 in 1930, the one-bedroom railway carriage, at Cockwood near Dawlish, is now being sold by formal tender.

It is expected to fetch somewhere between �215,000 and �260,000.

The carriage has recently been restored and now boasts its original brown and cream Great Western Railway livery.

Mains drainage

Julie Drake of Stags, who is the negotiator overseeing the sale, said it would be ideal for someone who wanted something " a little bit different".

"I can see it going to a bachelor who wanted to commute to Exeter but who wants to live somewhere more unusual, or obviously to a train buff."

She said the regular trains passing by would be unlikely to deter buyers.

"We actually have buyers who like the regularity of a train coming by each hour.

"It's not like the continuous hum of traffic and people say they don't notice it after a while."

She said there had already been a great deal of interest in the carriage which was built in 1897 by the Ashbury Railway Carriage & Iron Company.

'Piece of heaven'

It ran along the Barry railway until 1922 when it was bought as rolling stock by the Great Western Railway.

It sold at auction after being decommissioned in 1930 and has been at the Cockwood site for 73 years.

The carriage has mains drainage and electricity and enjoys views across the Exe Estuary.

The current owner Tony Rowe, who described the site as "a little piece of heaven", inherited the carriage five years ago from his father and has overseen the refurbishment, which was carried out by local craftsman Dougie Smith.