A retired couple in Wisconsin found a big surprise hiding literally behind a wall in their backyard.
Bill and Sharon Krapil of Weyauwega, Wisconsin, were doing work around the house and were attempting to tear down an old building in the backyard. What they found was the building was a converted Chicago train car from the early 1900s.
A 110-year-old Chicago trolley car was discovered masquerading as a shack in a WI backyard. http://t.co/M07NVkpDjI pic.twitter.com/dOwPSFWHOR
— Norman Charles (@NormanCharles88) June 8, 2015
“It’s like history stepping out of time, into my backyard,” Sharon Krapil told WLUK-TV.
She found out that a couple lived in the trolley more than 60 years ago.
“They were very popular for the time and while they were popular, there were a good deal of them running around the U.S., when the service stopped, it became surplus,” Bob Lettenberger, who is the education director of the National Railroad Museum in Ashwaubenon, told the station.
.@cta Pretty sure I found an old interurban car of yours: http://t.co/EEQUIZqGo3 @fox11news #chicagosurfacelines pic.twitter.com/b8Zr4KbOlX
— billmiston (@billmiston) June 5, 2015
On the train, the letters “C,” “S” and “L” are seen—which stand for the Chicago Surface Lines, which was the railway agency that existed before the Chicago Transit Authority.
“They make great hunting cabins, they were playhouses for kids, as you see, with this one, it was somebody’s actual residence,” Lettenberger said. “They’ve cropped up all over the place.”
“I heard stories from people in my family too,” Sharon Krapil said, according to Fox-11. “They said a man lived in here, for a while, and they said, I think it’s a train car, they actually never said a trolley car.”
