Wood Reefers

[upjake]

Could you still find 40' wood reefers on railroads in the early 1960s era or were they all steel by then?

[cx500]

I got a picture of NWX15088, painted for the C&NW in March 1971, up north in Toronto.  That was a wood sheathed and steel framed reefer built in 1931.  But I took the photo mostly because it was so unusual.  The fresh ACI label seemed a bit anachronistic.

John

[7j43k]

Woody's were still around in the early sixties.  I recall seeing one in Stockton, CA around 1975.

I hear that one of the reasons steel came in a bit late for reefers was the corrosion introduced by putting salt in the ice bunkers--not good for steel.

Ed

[wjstix]

Keep in mind that the "billboard" style lettering had been (in effect) banned c.1938, so the wood reefers around in the 1960's would have simpler lettering than they would have had in the 1910's-1930's era.

IIRC a number of 38' wood reefers stuck around in meat service, because the doors of the packing plants had been built before 40' cars were the norm, so the doors were spaced too close together to unload a string of 40' cars.

[jrbernier]

  Wood reefers lasted in reefer service into the 60's and some even into the early 70's.  Most still in service in the 70's were being used in 'ventilator' service(no ice) or for company service.  As soon as sufficient numbers of mechanical reefers became available, ice cooled reefers were pulled from service.  It was too expensive to maintain both icing facilities and mechanical reefer service at the same time.  Also, the number of reefers being used declined as much of the refrigerated business went to trucking.

Jim

[UP 4-12-2]

Intermountain sells an HO scale 40' reefer that appears to represent some of the late Fruit Growers Express reefers (and similar prototype cars) of the 1960's.  The Intermountain models have rebuild and/or repaint dates into the late 1960's--perhaps even as late as 1971.  The include a number of FGE paint schemes as well as Western Fruit Express (not to be confused with Pacific Fruit Express--which was a largely steel fleet), plus I believe some Great Northern cars.

The "ice age" ended at different times in different locales--as late as 1970 Santa Fe still had some ice reefers of their own in service.  After the "ice age" ended, the remaining cars were often used to haul things that needed to be cool but not necessarily cold (ventilator service as mentioned above)--e.g. cantalopes, melons, pumpkins, etc.  This extended the lives of the wood sided cars still out there for several years.

[BRAKIE]

Here's a woodie on the PRR west of the Columbus Union Station Columbus,Ohio 1962.

 

 

 

[wjstix]

Some of the wood GN / Western Fruit Express wood reefers lasted long enough to be painted in the "Big Sky" scheme with the large herald, introduced in 1967.

[Ron High]

I remember FGEX wood reefers in the 1960s here in New England . It seemed frequent enough that it was not unusual but not an every day every train thing.

Ron High

[dknelson]

The last wood reefers I recall seeing were very early 1970s.  They had become rare enough by then to be remarkable.  I am not going to say they were still common in the 1960s but were decently represented in the trains I saw. 

Dave Nelson

[locoi1sa]

You may find this very interesting.

http://s-clmodeler.aclsal.org/currentissue/fgexwoodencars.pdf

   Pete

[FlyingCrow]

Thanks for plug and , yes, this article is loaded on our website and available FREE along with the 4 current issues of Seaboard - Coast Line Modeler.   We invite all to take advantage of this fine e-magazine.

 

Buck Dean, Webmaster

SEABOARD - COAST LINE MODELER

 

[locoi1sa]

Mr. Buck Dean.

   It is us modelers that owe you a big Thank you. The society modeling magazines are second to none in content and quality. While I have been a member of the PRRT&HS for a few years now.  I could not find it in the TKM site or the B&Os. Keep up the great work so we can keep the fallen flag railroads going at least in our hearts and basements.

         Thank you again and again.

                  Pete

[upjake]

Wow that publication is outstanding!  I can see why hobbyists join railroad historical societies.

[rrebell]

Billboards were not banned but restricted and that was for interchange only. If you were shipping hormel products in a Hormel car, that was OK till I beleave the 60's

[delray1967]

My dad has an excellent book on reefers that I've borrowed several times.  I believe it's Refrigerator Car Color Guide by Morning Sun Books.  It lists cars by railroad/owner and has a lot of info.  I think I have seen photos of wood reefers in the late 60's in other books I have (I'm out of town so I can't check them right now).

[wjstix]

rrebell

Billboards were not banned but restricted and that was for interchange only. If you were shipping hormel products in a Hormel car, that was OK till I beleave the 60's

 

The size of the lettering you could use for cars in regular interchange service was limited after the late 1930's so you didn't see the big six-foot "billboard" style lettering anymore. I forget the exact number, but I think the largest lettering you could use was about 30" high. You could use larger lettering, but you had to be prepared to pay the cost to ship the empty car back to you as I recall.