Merci Train - Nebraska
The late Andy Dolak reported, in an early 1980s report, that the Nebraska Merci car had a short life here in The U.S.
Read about Andy on the South Carolina Page.
".....it was shunted from place to place. It went first to the state historical society, then to the Neb. Forty and Eight Society, and finally to a playground in Lincoln. In 1951, an attempt was made to return it to the historical society, which did not want it. So it was sold to an Omaha junkyard for $45. (There) its wheels and metal parts were pounded into scrap and its body converted into a storage shed. Its humiliation finally ended in 1961 when the junkyard was relocated and the box car was demolished."
Some people have told me it was burned to enable the rest of the metal to be salvaged for scrap. We would welcome any further historical or current information about the box car.
It was reported to us in 2010 or early 2011 by Deb Arenz, Senior Museum Curator at the Nebraska State Historical Society museum, that the society has a collection of about 250 of the Merci Train gifts that came to Nebraska in their boxcar in 1949.
The society's web site, History.Nebraska.gov, has photos of most (if not all) of the wonderful and beautiful gifts sent by the people of France in that state's Merci Train boxcar. However, the society does not have the items on display at the museum. For a real treat, visit the web site by clicking on the link above".