New light shed on mystery of 100-year-old LNER wagon found buried in Belgium

A team from the Urban Archaeology department of the City of Antwerp unearthed the train carriage in northern Antwerp under a wall of an old fortress known as the Northern Citadel from the 19th century.

The archaeologists were excavating the area in collaboration with organisations building the ‘Oosterweel’ link, a ring road around Antwerp.

The link is part of a project to improve the city’s sustainable mobility.

Consultant Archaeologist Femke Martens said: “The wooden removals truck is thought to be around one hundred years old. It’s a mystery as to how the carriage came to be in Antwerp, and unfortunately there’s very little left of the relic as it disintegrated while being excavated.

"Upon closer examination, its only identifiable features were the inscriptions which included ‘FURNITURE REMOVAL TO HOUSE,’ ‘Enquire at any station,’ ‘BK769,’ (which identified the truck’s size – B – and its use, for furniture, - K) and crucially ‘LNER’.”

Internal LNER research suggests this ‘truck’ was the first model of LNER removal, which was briefly in service around the year 1930.

A much more common model was a blue edition which was used more widely, making the discovery of this earlier model all the rarer and more unique.

LNER Communications Director Stuart Thomas said: “This curious find has certainly generated lots of interest and we are delighted the team from the Urban Archaeology department of the City of Antwerp have helped shed more light on the discovery.

We’re fascinated by LNER’s history, and we’d like to thank the team for their help in unearthing more information about LNER’s proud past.”

The modern-day operator of trains on the East Coast Mainline, which has its headquarters in York, made contact with the team who dug up the wagon to try and find out more about the curious discovery.

It dates from the original London and North Eastern Railway which operated between 1923 and 1948.

The modern operator, using the same name, came into being in 2018.