XENIA, Ohio — An Ohio couple is turning old train cars into places you can stay for the night. They're turning the trains into Airbnbs and hope to revitalize the community. 

What You Need To Know

  • Ray DeVite took an old drive-through and made it a Crossfit gym in Xenia and now he hopes to do the same with old train cars 

  • He's turning the train cars into places that would be Airbnbs for visitors 

  • So far, they've started work on two of the train cars and have room to add three more 

  • He hopes to have them up and running this summer 

Ray DeVite works out with military precision. He’s a former airman and turned an old drive-through into his own Crossfit gym in Xenia.

He said he thought his next restoration would be shipping containers, but when his wife saw something; they got another idea.

“One night, we were watching TV. She looked on Facebook marketplace and saw the caboose behind us for sale,” said DeVite. 

They bought an old train caboose, set it up near a bike path in Xenia, and are turning it into an Airbnb.

“It’s right next to of all five bike paths that run through Xenia and we just, you know, we’d like to, we just want to invest in it,” said DeVite. 

So far they’ve re-painted one, and have plans on making enough room on the inside for two to four people. 

A second train caboose is also in the works with enough space on the lot for three more train cars, along with an empty building next door.

“We do want to rent that building out, hoping that somebody wants to put a bike shop or a coffee shop or a sandwich shop or something there,” said DeVite.

He said they hope to have the Airbnbs up and running by this summer.

“We often think that if you're not investing in Xenia now, you're going to wish you had five years from now," said DeVite.