France sent 49 boxcars to the U.S. in 1949, each filled with thousands of gifts. New Jersey’s car, received by Gov. Alfred Driscoll, drew 20,000 people to a Trenton ceremony.

The boxcar, built in the 1890s and used during World War I, was rediscovered in Tennessee in 1993. It was donated to URHS by the National WWI Museum and Memorial.

A French-built boxcar, long tied to New Jersey’s World War history and missing for decades, is stepping back into the spotlight.

The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey will launch its campaign to restore the state’s Merci Train boxcar at the annual Railroad Museum for a Day in Boonton on Sept. 28. The event begins at 10 a.m. at the society’s Restoration Facility, which opens to the public only once a year.

“The Merci train is a unique symbo

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