In 1947, citizens of the U. S. sent aid to France through a private relief effort. the French responded in 1949 with the "French Gratitude Train" or "The Merci Train". It consisted of 49 box cars sent to each state filled with items donated by the people of France. This is Utah's car also known as a 40 and 8 car because it could hold 48 men or 8 horses. It was built in the 1870's or 80's by Chantier de la Buire (Builders of Buire) at Lyons, France. They were used in World Wars I and II. The car resided in Salt lake City for 52 years until damaged by a tornado in the late 90's. It was then stored at the State Parks Department lot. A group of local veterans, calling themselves the "40 & 8",were able to obtain the car and move it to the museum for restoration on June 22, 2002. The project is virtually complete.
2002 WINTER OLYMPICS TORCH CAR
The torch car was originally built for 1996 Atlanta Olympics torch train. The car was rebuilt in Kansas City , using the original car as the base. The wall and the cauldron were replaced and applied the new design scheme for the 2002 Olympics. Several mechanical changes were made also. The biggest challenges was making sure the cauldron would stay lit while running at 70 MPH and not go out. Seven propane tanks were used, each holding 250 gals. They can provide enough fuel to last for 3 days. Electrical work also was done to make the cauldron more visible at night and a hose sound system was installed.
SALTAIR OPEN CARS
These cars were built in 1922 by the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western Railway in its shops. The novel open-air trailers which have been a trademark of the Saltair line ever since, are unique to Utah’s history. Thirteen of them were built, along with one closed trailer. These trailers seated about a hundred people each, and carried train lines permitting them to be sandwiched in between motor cars. For some reason, these open trailers were not equipped with lights, a fact which seemed to add considerably to their appeal on moonlit nights. (source: Don Strack’s Utah Rails.net)
