As printed in yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune.

Regards,
Burlington John

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By Brendan Riley
ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 8, 2002

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Half a century ago, Nevada was given a rickety, gift-laden boxcar – one of 49 "Merci" boxcars sent by France to U.S. states in gratitude for this nation's help during World War II.

Now, after decades of neglect, the old military boxcar is in line for restoration at the Nevada State Railroad Museum – providing enough money can be raised for the project.

Shipped across the Atlantic by freighter, the boxcars arrived in the United States in February 1949 – repaired, freshly painted and decorated with the coats of arms of the 40 provinces of France.

The railroad cars were filled with 250 tons of gifts that ranged from toys, children's drawings and ashtrays to rare paintings, a Louis XV carriage, silk wedding dresses and a church bell.

Just a few years before, Allied soldiers arriving in France had been packed into the boxcars and sent into Germany to fight the Nazi forces.

When Germany occupied France, the boxcars also had been used by the Germans to transport people to prisoner-of-war and concentration camps.

And years before, in World War I, the boxcars had been put to work hauling troops and horses.

The narrow-gauge boxcars – called 40-and-8s because they could carry 40 soldiers or eight horses – date to the 1870s when they were first built.

David Parsons, 78, of Sparks, started the fund-raising effort for Nevada's boxcar after seeing it in Carson City and recalling how he was jammed into one with other U.S. soldiers arriving in 1946 in Le Havre, a port northwest of Paris.

"They marched us down to the railroad tracks, counted us out by 40 and told us to get on," Parsons said. "When you put 40 men and all their gear on, you couldn't turn around or do anything. We were crammed in, one on top of another."

Parsons recalls riding for six days in a boxcar, scrambling for rations and getting off briefly when the train would stop for water.

"We went deep into Germany," he says. "That's the last time I rode in one."

In 1957, driving through Carson City, he first spotted Nevada's boxcar at a state museum, still in good shape. Years later, he found that it had been moved to the state Railroad Museum and had deteriorated badly.

Parsons and his wife, Denise, whom he met in France, decided to help restore the old boxcar. They've been able to raise about $6,000 in donations to pay for repairs.

But Tod Jennings of Carson City, also active in the restoration effort, said about $120,000 is needed to restore the rail car and build a structure to protect it from the northern Nevada elements.

Jennings said several businesses have offered steel, concrete, paint and other building materials, plus labor. But more is needed to finish the job.

Parsons said the effort is worthwhile given the 40-and-8 boxcars' role during two world wars and their reminder of France's gratitude.

"We should keep a little of our military history," Parsons says. "Something has to be done or we were going to lose Nevada's boxcar completely."

San Diego Union-Tribune
BurlingtonJohn@trainorders.com

> The narrow-gauge boxcars – called 40-and-8s
4t built.

Very interesting article, except that the "40 and *'s" were STANDARD gauge. Maryland's car sits on the same track at the B&O Museum as Maryland & Pennsylvania RPO #35.

Oh well, unless Don Phillips is doing the writing, you can never trust the 4th Estate to get anything correct about railroads.

I'm delighted that the car is being looked after, and that she will not meet the fate of a dozen or so of her less fortunate sisters that are no longer with us.



kevin.r.gillespie@verizon.net

I don't mind posting the links to stories on the Interchange, but if you post the text we are potentially violating copyrights, unless you ask for, and get in writing, permission first.

In fact, that is the main reason I created the Flimsies section, so we could post links, and credit the sources, and let people go to the source and read the article.

So, please feel free to post links to stories on the Interchange, but you might consider doing it on Flimsies too. Or, you could put the link directly on Flimsies, and make a note of it on the Interchange, that would work too.

I know posting text on the internet is commonly done, and it would be very unlikely anybody would take action against us (other than maybe ask we remove it), but we try to play by the rules, be upfront, and legal.

Thanks for you cooperation.

Flimsies
hkading@rypn.org

> I'm delighted that the car is being looked
> after, and that she will not meet the fate
> of a dozen or so of her less fortunate
> sisters that are no longer with us.

Actually, I think only 5-6 of the Merci cars are no longer with us. The rest survive in varying states of preservation. Earl Bennett maintains an excellent database on the Merci cars, hosted right here on RyPN.

See it at the link below.


Merci Train
hkading@rypn.org