Merci Train

The Merci Train, also known as the French Gratitude Train or the Forty and Eight, was the 1949 Europe-US response to the Friendship Train. Composed of 49 cars and filled with "gifts of gratitude", the Merci Train arrived in New York City on February 3, 1949, and was divided amongst the 48 states with the remaining car to be shared by the District of Columbia and Hawaii.[1]

Quarante et huit (Forty-and-eights)
Forty and Eights boxcar at the Kentucky Railway Museum.
Capacity	40 men or 8 horses or 20 tonnes (19.7 long tons; 22.0 short tons) of supplies
Operator(s)	French Army and French railways
Specifications
Weight	7.9 tonnes (7.8 long tons; 8.7 short tons) tare
Braking system(s)	Air
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Boxcar of a "Merci Train" at McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, Arizona

Background

The idea to send a "thank you" gift to the United States for the $40 million in food and other supplies sent to France and Italy in 1947 came from a French railroad worker, and World War II veteran, named Andre Picard.[2] Donations from the Merci Train came from over six million citizens of France and Italy in the form of dolls, statues, clothes, ornamental objects, furniture, and even a Legion of Honour medal purported to have belonged to Napoleon.[3]

The "Forty-and-eight" boxcars

Photo showing the arrival of the Merci Train.

Forty-and-eights were French 4-wheel covered goods wagons used as military transport cars. The term refers to the cars' carrying capacity, said to be 40 men or eight horses.[4] Built starting in the 1870s as regular freight boxcars, they were originally used in military service by the French army in both World Wars, and then later used by the German occupation in World War II and finally by the Allied liberators.

In 1949, France sent 49 of those boxcars to the United States (one for each state then in existence and one for Washington, D.C. and Hawaii to share) laden with various treasures, as a show of gratitude for the liberation of France. This train was called the Merci Train, and was sent in response to trains full (over 700 boxcars) of supplies known as the American Friendship Train sent by the American people to France in 1947. Each of the Merci Train boxcars carried five tons of gifts, all of which were donated by private citizens.[5]

The Train and all 49 cars arrived aboard the Magellan on February 3, 1949, with over 25,000 onlookers in attendance. On the side of the gift-laden French freighter was painted, "MERCI AMERICA".[5] Immediately the trains were distributed amongst the states.

Current status of boxcars

Many of the trains were opened and turned into exhibits before distributing the objects as each state saw fit. Most states continued to exhibit the boxcars to the public after their gifts were distributed.

Various websites (see external links) count 43 of the 49 boxcars still in existence. The state boxcars of Massachusetts, Illinois, Nebraska, Connecticut, and New Jersey are known to have been destroyed. The Colorado boxcar has been missing since 1954, and its fate remains unknown. Most of the surviving boxcars are displayed in various parks and museums in their respective states; such locations include:

State	City	Location	Notes
Alabama	Huntsville	U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum	website
Arizona	Scottsdale	McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park	The Arizona Capitol Museum holds the contents of the train with a display of gifts and a scale model of the boxcar,[6][7] while the McCormick-Stillman Railroad park has the train car. website
Arkansas	Helena	American Legion Post 41 Intersection of Pecan & Porter Streets	Restored and new shelter built for the car in 2012
California	Fresno	Fresno Federal Post 509 3509 N. First Street
Colorado	Missing
Connecticut	Destroyed by fire in the 1950s
Delaware	Seaford	Intersection of Front Street and Poplar Street	Owned and maintained by the American Legion’s Society of the 40 & 8, Voiture #1320 Forty & Eight Boxcar Historical Marker
Florida	Holly Hill	City of Holly Hill Municipal Complex	Merci Box Car Historical Marker
Georgia	Kennesaw	Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History	The museum also maintains a collection on display of various gifts from the train that have been donated over the years.
Hawaii and D.C.	Ewa, Hawaii	Hawaiian Railway Society
Idaho	Boise	Inside a building at the Old Idaho State Penitentiary
Illinois	Missing, presumed scrapped
Indiana	Fort Wayne	Veteran's National Memorial Shrine 2122 O'Day Road
Iowa	Cedar Falls	Antique Acres Campground 7610 Waverly Road	The State Museum in Des Moines has a collection of gifts from the boxcar.
Kansas	Fort Hays	American Legion Post # 173 1305 Canterbury Drive	The Prairie Museum of Art and History in Colby, KS has a doll from the Kansas boxcar on display.website
Kentucky	New Haven	Kentucky Railway Museum
Louisiana	Baton Rouge	Old Louisiana State Capitol
Maine	Boothbay	Boothbay Railway Village	website
Maryland	Baltimore	B&O Railroad Museum	website
Massachusetts	Missing, presumed scrapped
Michigan	Lansing	The Forty & Eight Society 2949 South Waverly Highway http://mercitrain.org/Michigan/ [ Artifact collection at Michigan History Museum, 702 W. Kalamazoo Street, Lansing, Michigan
Minnesota	Little Falls	Minnesota Military Museum
Mississippi	Jackson	Behind the restored Gulf, Mobile & Ohio (GM&O) train depot, 618 East Pearl Street	website
Missouri	Sedalia	Missouri State Fair Grounds	Maintained by 40/8 Voiture 333 The Merci Boxcar Historical Marker
Montana	Helena	Montana Military Museum, Fort Harrison	website
Nebraska	Missing, presumed scrapped		Information and pictures of the gifts in Nebraska's boxcar
Nevada	Carson City	Nevada State Railroad Museum	website
New Hampshire	Manchester	Reed Street near Bremer Street	website
New Jersey	Destroyed by fire.
New Mexico	Albuquerque	Expo New Mexico	website
New York	Whitesboro	Oneida County 40&8 5163 Judd Road
North Carolina	Spencer	North Carolina Transportation Museum	website
North Dakota	Bismarck	612 E. Boulevard Avenue	website
Ohio	Camp Perry	Near the Camp Perry Lodging and Conference Center	The boxcar has been refurbished three times since 1949.[8] Several of the gifts are now housed at the Ohio Historical Society.[9]
Oklahoma	Norman	J. D. McCarty Center 2002 East Robinson Street
Oregon	North Bend	Sherman Park 1220 Sherman Avenue	Coos Historical & Maritime Museum
Pennsylvania	Fort Indiantown Gap	Fort Indiantown Gap National Guard Training Facility Intersection of Fisher and Clement Avenues	40 & 8 Boxcar Historical Marker
Rhode Island	Woonsocket	Inside the Museum of Work and Culture 42 South Main Street	website Fully restored in 2004[10]
South Carolina	Bishopville	South Carolina Cotton Museum and Lee County Veterans Museum	website Previously in Greenville and Columbia[11]
South Dakota	Huron	South Dakota State Fairgrounds
Tennessee	Bristol	American Legion Post #145
Texas	Austin	Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry[12]	Boxcar's own website or museum website (though the museum website apparently does not mention the boxcar)
Utah	Ogden	Utah State Railroad Museum	French Boxcar Historical Marker
Vermont	Colchester	Camp Johnson
Virginia	Newport News	Virginia War Museum
Washington	Yakima	Sarg Hubbard Park	Information, Map: the Merci Car
West Virginia	Welch	Veteran's Park
Wisconsin	Ashwaubenon	National Railroad Museum
Wyoming	Cheyenne	American Legion Post 6 2001 E Lincoln Way	Restored by American Legion members in 2017[13]

See also

• Forty and Eight veterans organization

References

1. "MerciTrain.org".
2. "Merci Train".
3. "WWII Encyclopedia: The Forty and Eight".
4. "What is the 40 & 8".
5. "The "Merci" Train". Life Magazine. 26 (9): 72–74. February 28, 1949. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
6. "December 20, 2013 – Arizona State Capitol". Retrieved 8 July 2015.
7. "CONTENTdm". azmemory.azlibrary.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
8. Herbert, Lou (February 14, 2012). "The Valentine Heard Round the World Stopped in Toledo". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
9. "Whatever Happened to Ohio's Gratitude Train?". Ohio History Connection Collections Blog. Ohio History. May 11, 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
10. Lewis, Richard C. (December 6, 2004). "Historic French Boxcar finds R.I. home". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
11. Wilkinson, Jeff (October 4, 2017). "How a WWI-era boxcar — a gift from France — is moving from Columbia to Bishopville". The State. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
12. Barnes, Michael (4 September 2016). "Merci Train brought thank-you gifts from France to Austin". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
13. Zoellick, Sarah (April 9, 2017). "Restoration of Merci Train outside American Legion Post 6 complete". Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Retrieved 13 August 2017.

External links

• Merci Train
• The 1949 French Merci Train / Gratitude Train at ThemeTrains.com
• 'The Merci Train: Remembering the World Wars in 52,000 Objects'