Many people in the Lansing Community have seen the Big Black Train driving down the streets or in Parades. It usually has a bunch of men wearing Red Coats and wearing funny blue, red, or white hats. The whistle blows, the bells ring, or the cannon booms. These are the men of the Voiture 946, 40 et 8 veteran’s organization. These men help to support community projects such as youth sports, nurses training, child welfare, health care, Americanism, Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service, and POW/MIA programs.
La Societe des Quarante Hommes at Huit Chevaux, an independent fraternal organization of veterans, popularly known as the FORTY & EIGHT, was organized in 1920 by American Legionnaires as a fun and honor society. Now composed of veterans of both World Wars and the Korean, Vietnam and Desert Storm conflicts, it draws its origin from World War I when young Americans were sent to France to fight a war to end all wars. The narrow gauge railroads of France had boxcars (Voitures) that carried little more than half the capacity of American boxcars and these voitures were used to transport the men and horses to and from the fighting fronts. On the side of these little boxcars was stenciled the capacity of each, holding either forty men or eight horses, and these voitures became the trademark of our organization. If one could laugh at the train ride from the coast of France to the trenches crowded in these little boxcars only recently vacated by eight horses, one could surely adapt to the changes in his life when he returned home. Membership in the Forty & Eight is by invitation only for recognition of service to the American Legion and/or its programs
Our locale Voiture Chateau is located at 2949 S. Waverly Rd, Lansing, MI 48911. We have an all you can eat fish dinner every Friday night from 5-7:30PM that is open to the public. Dinners for $6.75 includes, fish, choice of potato, soup and salad bar. Steak, chicken tenders, shrimp, and smelt are also offered on Fridays with our most expensive meal being $10 with all the fixin’s. We have our Friday night dinners from the Friday after Labor Day to the Friday before Memorial Weekend with the exception of major holidays. Also come out on Tuesday nights for burgers and fries from 5 to 7 pm. Come by and see our refurbished French Boxcar and our U.S. and Services flag memorial! We are located behind the Lansing Optimist Club/John Smoltz Baseball fields. Call for information 882-2602.