Back in the late 60's/early 70's, Peavy bought used steel reefers for grain loading. They removed the ice bunkers and loaded them with grain. They were painted blue. I remember seeing them, but never took a photo. A search of the usual web sites has not resulted in a picture - Any one have pictures of those cars they can post?
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Jim,
Were these similar to the ART reefers coverted to flour cars by the MP in St Louis?
Charlie
Charlie,
I suspect they may be similar. I cannot beleive that I never took a photo of the cars when thery were in service here in Minnesota!
Jim, you said reefers converted to grain cars. I would think they would be a bit small for hauling grain. Since Peavey shipped a lot of flour, that is where I got my idea.
I knew a couple of NYC carmen who took the buyoff after the PC merger and went to work over in St Louis converting the ART cars for MP. I don't know who's shop the work was done in but it was around 1969 or 70.
I saw some of those little cars later on and they looked kind of small even next to a regular 40' box car. Of course the plug doors were replaced with conventional sliding doors.
I never saw any of the Peavey cars even though the big flour mill in Alton Il used to be a Peavey operation. Maybe they snuck in and out without me ever being around when they were.
From my January 1970 ORER:
PVRX 15000-15074 refrigerator internal length 40'-5" inside height 7'-11" doors 8' wide, 7'-7" high 75 cars
Also appear in April 1971 ORER
Do not appear in January 1973 ORER
They were listed under General American Leasing.
Interesting!!!
Ed
I have done a bit of dirty math and if one of those cars was filled to cubic capacity with grain, it would come out to around 130,000 lbs or 65 ton payload. Is that a bit heavy for a reefer of that vintage? Even so, I am not sure PVRX stands for Peavey. Google it.
charlie9 I have done a bit of dirty math and if one of those cars was filled to cubic capacity with grain, it would come out to around 130,000 lbs or 65 ton payload. Is that a bit heavy for a reefer of that vintage?
I have done a bit of dirty math and if one of those cars was filled to cubic capacity with grain, it would come out to around 130,000 lbs or 65 ton payload. Is that a bit heavy for a reefer of that vintage?
The capacity is listed as 80,000 pounds. Remember that box cars were never fully filled when loaded with grain, anyway. Boxcars were typically loaded to about 65% cubic volume for wheat. And 65% of 130,000 pounds is 85,000 pounds.
Even so, I am not sure PVRX stands for Peavey. Google it.
I am sure. I am looking at the book right now.
Your weight calculations make sense. I think this was during the great box car shortage, not? Evidently, the AAR re-assigns reporting marks when they are no longer used.
PVRX Reporting marks have been reassigned a number of times
Platte Valley Railroad - Piedmont & Western Railroad Club list, No date
General American Transportation Corporation - Piedmont & Western Railroad Club list, No date
Pook Valley Rail Systems - Piedmont & Western Railroad Club list, No date and other lists (RailServe, Trains) - Company founded in 1998 per PVRS website.
Marchand Machinery Maintenance Company, LLC - National Railroad Museum list dated 4-2008. Company founded 1972 per Dun & Bradstreet.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
I think PVGX are the correct reporting marks for Peavey grain cars. Peavey was purchased by ConAgra in 1982....
40' house cars were usually only loaded to depth of a little over 4' - About 40 tons of wheat. ..
From Piedmont & Western list
"PVFX and PVGX both were "WHOLLY OWNED SUB. OF CONAGRA, INC. [PEAVEY CO.]"
apparently reissued to "GENERAL ELECTRIC RAILCAR SERVICES CORPORATION"
A pic of a Peavey RBL, PVYX 400: http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=66022
This car does not appear to be in grain service, so they seem to have had old reefers or very similar cars for both standard freight and for grain.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
PVYX is listed as a Merchants Dispatch Transportation Company. Found no other ownership listed.
RRpicturesarchives has a photio of PVYX 319. It appears to be same type of car as PVYX 400. It appears yellow/orange in photo dated 8-1-1979. Lettering is same style as PVYX 400 in photo link posted by Mike which is dated 3-00-81.. It is listed in Merchants Dispatch series PVYX 300-399. No 400 in series. Google image search found a couple other 300-399 series cars that appear orange.
Atlas has blue PVYX 394, 400 and 402 in their HO Trainman 40' Plugdoor Box Car series listed as Merchants Dispatch cars..
Only PVFX and PVGX cars I found - Peavey covered hoppers.
Trying to determine ownership from reporting marks should be simple but because of incompleter records on the Net can be very confusing.
A discussion on these cars came up on the Yahoo Modern Freight Car List just within the last week. Two photos were linked. Not sure either of these are what you're looking for.
http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=66022
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=798782
One of these was already linked above, but I thought I'd throw in the image for both.
Rob Spangler
7j43k From my January 1970 ORER: PVRX 15000-15074 refrigerator internal length 40'-5" inside height 7'-11" doors 8' wide, 7'-7" high 75 cars Also appear in April 1971 ORER Do not appear in January 1973 ORER They were listed under General American Leasing.
Also listed in the January 1970 ORER:
PVYX 100-299 refrigerator internal length 39'-7" inside height 9'-4" doors 8' wide, 9'-2" high 50 cars
The above were listed under Merchants Despatch
In the January 1973 ORER, Merchants Despatch had this addition:
PVYX 300-499 refrigerator internal length 40' inside height 9'-1" doors 8' wide, 8'-9 5/8" high 102 cars
And the PVYX 100-299 series was up to 67 cars
I suspect all of the above cars are not refrigerator cars, but insulated box cars.
And, I will note that, in the Index section, the PVRX reporting marks were listed under Peavy, while the PVYX were under Merchants Despatch.
7j43kI suspect all of the above cars are not refrigerator cars, but insulated box cars.
Most of what modelers consider "insulated boxcars" are AAR type RB (usually with an L suffix to indicate installation of load restraining devices) for "bunkerless refrigerator."
What is the difference between a bunkerless refrigerator RB and an insulated bo car XI? Could the same car be designated either type?
I found a list of AAR Mechinical Designationn Class Codes with dates of ORER where the code is confirmed to have appeared and descriptions of the car type. Descriptions of car types changed over the years.
The list appears to cover 1917-1999. The complete list is here: http://www.greatnorthernempire.net/index2.htm?GNE_AARCarCodes.htm
Sorry for posting descriptions twice. Second copy won't delete.
DSchmittWhat is the difference between a bunkerless refrigerator RB and an insulated bo car XI?
It's mostly the amount and type of insulation. An RB is essentially built like a normal refrigerator car, but with without either ice bunkers or a mechanical refrigeration unit. It can maintain a nearly constant temperature for a long period of time. An insulated boxcar has no standard for quality of insulation provided, so the shipper wouldn't necessarily be able to expect a given level of protection from external temperature changes.
The book "Merchants Despatch" by Roger Hinman lists PVYX cars as owned by MDT but leased to Peavey - page 276