QUICK FACTS

Model: 50’ boxcar
Built: December 1979
Builder: FMC Corporation (Gunderson Metal Works), Springfield, OR
Past Railroad Owners: Minnesota, Dakota & Western, GE Railcar, Wells Fargo Rail
Current Owner: TOYX, Inc.

Boxcar No. 1947 is numbered for the year that the Toys for Tots Foundation was founded. This car was built in December of 1979 by the FMC Corporation at their Gunderson Metal Works in Springfield, Oregon. The 50-foot long, 5,277-cubic-foot capacity boxcar was originally Minnesota, Dakota & Western Railway (MD&W) No. 8061, assigned to haul rolls of paper throughout the northwestern United States. In 2012, the car was sold to General Electric (GE) Railcar (a leasing company), where it was renumbered NADX No. 8206 and continued to be leased out in paper-hauling service. The car was stored in Michigan around 2015, shortly before GE Railcar sold its entire lease fleet to Wells Fargo Rail of Chicago, Illinois.

The car sat unused until August of 2018, when Wells Fargo Rail graciously donated the car to Operation Toy Train. Using funding donated by Liberty Historic Railway, the car was repainted into a unique winter camouflage scheme in November of 2018, featuring the artwork from the very first Toys for Tots advertising poster from 1948 and the Toys for Tots logo that was designed by Walt Disney.

The car arrived in Port Jervis, New York on December 12, 2021. This car will continue to be used for Operation Toy Train’s annual Toys for Tots collection trains.