KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It took more than 50 years and a trip to Kansas City to solve the mystery behind a missing railroad boxcar.
In appreciation for the United States’ role in World War II, France gifted several “merci train” boxcars to the US, including one to New Jersey in the 1940s.
"The original train cars for this Merci Train were late 19th-century French train cars that had been used in World War i. So these were really iconic for especially American soldiers who remember moving to and from the front lines in France in these train cars. So when one of these was discovered in Tennessee in the 1990's, our staff at the time jumped at the opportunity to have an original World War I train car," said Dr. Chris Juergens - Full Curator at the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
As the trains were paraded around in celebration of the end of the war, some of the boxcars disappeared and historians speculated destroyed.
The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey runs the Boonton Yard, about 30 miles west of New York City. Researchers there were able to track the missing boxcar from the 1940s to a location on Long Island in the 1980s, but weren’t able to keep track of where it went after that.
In the 1990s, an old rundown boxcar was found in Tennessee. That same boxcar eventually wound up at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.
Researchers took a closer look at the boxcar in Kansas City and discovered it was the long-missing boxcar from New Jersey.
"It was put in a warehouse sort of awaiting its fate, and it was only last year when we took another look at it when we realized, he this is actually one of these Merci Train cars," said Dr. Juergens.
“Items like this don’t just pop up - it’s literally like finding lost treasure,” Kevin Phalon of the United Railroad Historical Society told NBC4 New York. “It’s rare something this important disappears then reappears.”
There's a wonderful community surrounding this Merci Train. A lot of researchers, a lot of enthusiasts that are just in love with the story. So they helped us figure out exactly which state it had come from. And basically, our priority was to get it back to its home state. That's the more compelling story that this boxcar can tell. So people are really excited to get it restored, get it back on public display," said Dr. Juergens.
Historians in New Jersey want to bring the boxcar back east. They’ll need to raise $20,000 to transport the boxcar back, but rail historians there are excited about the possibility.
“We’re gonna bring it back and restore it,” Phalon said. “We’re going to make it beautiful like it was. It’s incredibly significant.”
If you would like to donate to the restoration of the Merci Trainyou can do so here.
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