diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/models/trainer.py b/pytorch_lightning/models/trainer.py
index fc1fb8f5..4d72618b 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/models/trainer.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/models/trainer.py
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ class Trainer(TrainerIO):
         for name in checkpoints:
             if '.ckpt' in name:
                 epoch = name.split('epoch_')[1]
-                epoch = re.sub('[^0-9]', '' ,epoch)
+                epoch = int(re.sub('[^0-9]', '' ,epoch))
 
                 if epoch > last_epoch:
                     last_epoch = epoch