Ray and Karen DeVite have spent the last year and a half turning the train cars — so far a bright yellow 1970 Chessie System caboose and a red Nickel Plate caboose — into Airbnbs, located at 72 Hill Street.
The latest arrival is a 1924 red all-wood Chesapeake and Ohio caboose, brought to Xenia from a backyard in Fairfield where it had been since 1985.
The previous owner connected with the DeVites after reading an article about their venture in the Dayton Daily News, Ray said.
“It looks so good sitting where it is,” Ray said. “It’s 101 years old, it’s all wooden, and it’s gonna be a unique stay for sure.”
The C&O caboose was moved by Springfield-based Dan’s Towing last Friday - the second attempt to get the caboose to Xenia. Crews originally tried to bring the caboose to Xenia last November, but the ground was so soft that the crane that had to lift the caboose got stuck.
“We couldn’t go anywhere with it. It was an all day affair to get the crane unstuck,” Ray said. “So we have kind of been waiting on, ‘Is it going to freeze enough,’ last winter, or ‘Is it going to get dry enough?’”
Fast forward to September, and the ground was dry enough to drive the crane onto the backyard of the property, lift the caboose and place it on the truck.
“Just rotated it around and set it on there, chained ‘er down and hauled it north,” Ray said.
With HVAC, electric, plumbing, and renovation complete, the first two cabooses will be ready to rent out, hopefully within the month, Ray said.
The Chessie still retains its original floor, sink and other elements, and the bedrooms in the caboose are where the conductors’ seats used to be. By contrast, the Nickel Plate was more of a “down to the studs” renovation compared to its companion, Ray said, with a little more space to work with.
“I think we’re both relieved to kind of be done, but also scared that we may have missed something,” Ray said. “We want to create a good stay and a memorable stay for everybody.”
The DeVites have a fourth caboose already lined up to be placed on the property, with the end goal being a total of five. The couple want the fifth and final one to be a boxcar, Ray said, as it would be wide enough and low enough to be accessible to someone in a wheelchair.
“We don’t want to forget people that have disabilities. We do want to bring a box car in and renovate that so that people that need help getting inside, can stay in something like that,” Ray said. “(Boxcars) are not as difficult to locate, but they’re five times as hard to move.”
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