On pages 233 and 234 of his book
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, Carl Sagan (1934–1996) tells
a story of a large piece of machinery that disappeared while being transported on a railway flatcar and then was discovered miles away some twenty years later. I had never heard or seen the story before and have been unable to find any sign of it online, other than in Carl Sagan's book [
books.google.com].
Do you know of this story? Is there any older source available than Carl Sagan's book?