Delaware's Merci Train boxcar made the news recently in our local paper. I think someone here was keeping track of these cars. I've not seen Delaware's in some time but the photo shows it to be in good condition. They pull these articles down after a few days so get whatever information you want while it's up.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2 ... /1006/NEWS

It's sad that much of this Merci History has been forgotten about and or lost over time. Kudo's to the people who have preserved this slice of history.

This should have been and still should be a model for other countries in terms of gratitude for the billions in aide that we front them, or have fronted them over the years, often over looking our own people. Instead, most countries look to "US" as though it is our duty to give them said aide without hesitation.

Its really a shame that things like this are thrown by the wayside. I have taken US and World History classes for the past 6 years, and the Merci Train was not mentioned in a single one of them. The only reason I learned about the Merci Train was from volunteering at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. For a time, the Connecticut Car was stored at the museum and I learned about it from going over our museum history.

Half size boxcars!!! These are full size standard gauge European boxcars. We have one here in Cheyenne well looked after.

Mike Pannell

Perhaps this site will be of interest to you. It details the disposition of each of the cars. http://www.themetrains.com/html/merci-train-main.htm

I would be very interested in any information on the origin of the 40 et 8 French boxcars from WWI sent back as the 49 cars of the Merci Train. At the Pullman Library, we have a number of foreign freight car drawings, numbering in the hundreds to thousands if including Middletown Car, including the era of WWI from Standard Steel Car and Haskell & Barker (Michigan City IN), ordered by the military and sent over to Europe, also the next wave of WWII US-made cars. It would help greatly in the search for drawings of Merci boxcars. I measured the gauge of the car at the Boothbay Railway Museum in Boothbay Maine and without locating my measurements know they are definitely not standard gauge. Also for WWI, we have original drawings on the 60-cm 8-wheel cars that serviced the trenches and were discussed in the book by Richard Dunn. Thanks for any info. Sincerely,
Ted Anderson
Pullman Library
Illinois Railway Museum