The Friendship and Gratitude Trains - G-Scale Friendship Train Car Available

This story begins with the French "40 and 8" wooden boxcars, built to carry 40 men or 8 horses. They were well known to American veterans of WW I and WW II. 

Maine Merci Train Car at Boothbay Railway Village

The 40 and 8 society for veterans was formed after World War I and was associated with the American Legion. More information can be found at  http://www.fortyandeight.org/ 

Last year at Togus I met a 99 year old veteran of WWII who remembered riding on them during his service in France as a tank driver.  He also remembered growing up in Maine when they did not plow the roads between towns in the winter because everything came in by train.

                                                                                                                                                         

The Friendship Train was the brainchild of columnist Drew Pearson just after WWII. It send 270 freight car loads of donated supplies from America to the children of France and Italy  in 1947. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Train

France responded in 1949 with the Merci Train of 49 40-and-8 boxcars, one for each U.S. State plus 1 to be shared by DC and Hawaii, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merci_Train

MTH issued  several Friendship Train cars in 2011.  The O-Scale versions are available on the internet under stock numbers 20-93522, 20-93523, 20-93524, and 20-92331.

The G-Scale version is New York Central and the link is http://mthtrains.com/70-74072. MTH Club Members get a discount if they order and pay by phone