Very Interesting Back Story
Love that it was called a "40 or 8" Boxcar because it held either 40 soldiers or 8 horses !
NJ's Merci Train Boxcar — United Railroad Historical Society of NJ
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@Richie C. posted:Very Interesting Back Story
Love that it was called a "40 or 8" Boxcar because it held either 40 soldiers or 8 horses !
NJ's Merci Train Boxcar — United Railroad Historical Society of NJ
That is a great find since some of these 40 and 8 boxcars are still “lost”. Thanks for posting this. The 1947 Friendship Train and 1949 Merci Train are great stories of friendship and cooperation between allies after a very devastating war. The history of the 40 and 8 boxcar is fascinating also, starting in the late 1800s carrying those soldiers, horses, cargo, prisoners, and many to the concentration camps.
Lionel and MTH made Friendship Train boxcars but I don’t know of any Merci Train 40 and 8 boxcars made, at least in O. I would want one to put on display on my layout.
Anybody seen the Colorado Merci car? Still missing and nobody knows where it went.
According to their info 6 were missing and now NJ has been found. Donated towards getting it shipped to their NJ facility for evaluation and restoration. These are the guys that have the restored NYC 20th Century cars running trips on Amtrak so I'm sure the project will go forward.
@Scotie posted:According to their info 6 were missing and now NJ has been found. Donated towards getting it shipped to their NJ facility for evaluation and restoration. These are the guys that have the restored NYC 20th Century cars running trips on Amtrak so I'm sure the project will go forward.
Yes .... we took the day trip aboard the restored 20th Century Ltd. dining car last year from Penn Station to Albany and back and received the e-mail from them about the Merci boxcars because I'm on their mailing list. Nice train trip if you ever get the chance.
I just looked up the one for West Virginia, it's in Welch WV in a roadside veteran's display. This should be something either MTH or Lionel should make, I know I would have to have the whole set if they did.
ETS in Czechia makes the wagon. You have to put the regional crest stickers on yourself.
Very interesting read. I had never heard of the Merci cars. Is there a complete list of known and missing cars?
I've since learned that my home state of Nebraska scrapped their Merci car. The following list are missing or scrapped: Nebraska, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey (found)
