diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fd81bcc..0b11b9f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.
   (#256).
 - The `utubettl` driver could accumulate tasks in the status `READY` without
   deleting (#261).
+- `queue._VERSION` was `nil` if the module was loaded on an instance that was
+  already in read-write mode (#260).
 
 ## [1.5.0] - 2026-07-10
 
diff --git a/queue/abstract.lua b/queue/abstract.lua
index fb92ba8..7f9410b 100644
--- a/queue/abstract.lua
+++ b/queue/abstract.lua
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ local queue = {
             return not (self[tube_name] == nil)
         end
     }),
-    stat = {}
+    stat = {},
+    _VERSION = require('queue.version'),
 }
 
 -- Release tasks that don't have session_uuid stored in inactive sessions.
diff --git a/queue/init.lua b/queue/init.lua
index c3d6183..04c3bee 100644
--- a/queue/init.lua
+++ b/queue/init.lua
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ queue = setmetatable({
     register_driver = register_driver,
     state = queue_state.show,
     cfg = deferred_cfg,
-    _VERSION = require('queue.version'),
+    _VERSION = abstract._VERSION,
 }, { __index = function(self, key)
         -- In replicaset mode, the user can attempt to call public methods on the replica start.
         -- For example, a single script is used for master and replica.
diff --git a/t/000-init.t b/t/000-init.t
index ee7b9e2..c652648 100755
--- a/t/000-init.t
+++ b/t/000-init.t
@@ -10,8 +10,9 @@ local queue = require('queue')
 local engine = os.getenv('ENGINE') or 'memtx'
 
 test:test('access to queue until box.cfg is started', function(test)
-    test:plan(3)
+    test:plan(4)
     test:isnil(rawget(box, 'space'), 'box is not started yet')
+    test:is(queue._VERSION, require('queue.version'), 'queue._VERSION')
 
     local s, e = pcall(function() return queue.tube end)
     test:ok(not s, 'exception was generated')
@@ -24,7 +25,8 @@ local tnt  = require('t.tnt')
 tnt.cfg{}
 
 test:test('access to queue after box.cfg{}', function(test)
-    test:plan(9)
+    test:plan(10)
+    test:is(queue._VERSION, require('queue.version'), 'queue._VERSION')
     test:istable(queue.tube, 'queue.tube is table')
     test:is(#queue.tube, 0, 'queue.tube is empty')
 
diff --git a/t/270-version.t b/t/270-version.t
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f097c3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/270-version.t
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env tarantool
+local tap = require('tap')
+local tnt = require('t.tnt')
+
+local test = tap.test('module version')
+test:plan(1)
+
+-- The instance is writable before the module is loaded, so the queue
+-- starts at once, without the "lazy start".
+tnt.cfg{}
+local queue = require('queue')
+
+test:is(queue._VERSION, require('queue.version'),
+        'queue._VERSION after start on a writable instance')
+
+tnt.finish()
+os.exit(test:check() and 0 or 1)
+-- vim: set ft=lua :