For many of us, it’s a fantasy made real: the chance to sleep in a refurbished rail car. For the French family in Deary, Idaho, restoring the car and placing it on Airbnb for fellow rail fans, it was a labor of love. It’s not every day you come across an abandoned train car... but that was the reward for Isaac French, who spied the car when he went to help an elderly farmer down the road from him.
The car was clearly historic, and French wouldn’t have seen it on the property if not for being a good neighbor. He researched the train and learned that it ran on the Washington Idaho & Montana Railway from 1909 until around 1955. The train ran between Bovill, Idaho, and Palouse, Washington, mainly as a lumbering line but also carrying cargo, mail, and passengers. French purchased the car—which looked like a derelict, haunted space—and relocated it to a hilltop site with the thought of making it into an Airbnb. Today, it’s gorgeous inside and out, a great example of historic reuse.
If you stay here, you’ll sleep in what was once the mail compartment where workers sorted mail while bracing themselves against the rocking of the rails (don’t worry, the train now sits motionless at its “depot”).
The vintage-styled bathroom was once the cargo area. In a bright yellow entryway with hardwood floors, you’ll find your luggage rack and a table to sit and write postcards; we’re not the only ones who do that, are we?
Finally, where passengers sat to watch the view from the windows, you’ll cook meals and relax in the kitchenette/lounge. Polished wood gleams everywhere because this train dates to the golden era of train travel (we could have another one!). It has handsome appointments and plenty of light flooding through large windows and transoms.
Interested? You can book this Airbnb right here.