Mysterious wooden train car — almost 100 years old — unearthed in Belgium, photos show
A crumbling wooden train car from the 1930s was unearthed, sparking a transnational mystery. The rare discovery baffled the archaeologists in Belgium who found it and the company in the United Kingdom that owned it.
Archaeologists unearthed the almost 100-year-old train car during a construction project in Antwerp, Belgium, the city said in a March 19 post on Facebook.
Photos show the partially buried train car. It has a block-like shape and appears to be mainly wood with a metal frame. A rusted chain still holds the back gate shut.
The reddish-brown train car had partially readable yellow text on it. Archaeologists identified the phrases “‘...NITURE REMOVAL TO HOUSE,’ ‘Enquire at any station,’ ‘BK 1820’ and ‘LNER’” on the car, The Brussels Times, a Belgian newspaper, reported.
The “rare” train car dates to the 1930s and belonged to the LNER, a railway company in the U.K. that still operates today, the outlet reported.
The London North Eastern Railway company, or LNER, said in a March 22 news release that the train car was a “wooden removals truck, used to carry people’s belongings when they moved.”
During the 1930s, train cars used for moving were “painted reddish-brown,” the Times of Brussels reported. “The red container was only in use for a few years before changing to a distinctive blue.”
“It’s a mystery as to how the carriage came to be in Antwerp,” the company said in its news release.
LNER was formed in 1923 and operated routes in the U.K., according to the railway company’s website. The railway was best known for its non-stop route between London and Edinburgh, Scotland, and its high-speed trains.
Antwerp is a port city in northern Belgium, about 30 miles north of the capital city of Brussels and along the border with the Netherlands. The city is about 200 miles southeast of London and across the English Channel.
Google Translate was used to translate the Facebook post from the City of Antwerp.
This story was originally published March 25, 2024 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Mysterious wooden train car — almost 100 years old — unearthed in Belgium, photos show."
