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PFE Reefer Operations
PFE Reefer Operations
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jecorbett
Member since
November 2005
From: Utica, OH
4,000 posts
PFE Reefer Operations
Posted by
jecorbett
on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 4:24 PM
I have several questions regarding PFE Reefers.
1. After delivering their commodities to east coast cities, would the reefers make the return trip to the west coast as empties or would they occassionally or regularly be used to ship perishables from eastern seaports to destinations in the midwest and west.
2. Would they be returned west in express trains or would they be sent back to the west on general freights.
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CP5170
Member since
October 2009
129 posts
Posted by
CP5170
on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 5:21 PM
When I worked in the Canadian Pacific yard in Windsor ON during the early sixties, PFE reefers would arrive from Toronto and Montreal and all points East as empties on a regular train. They were usually sent to Detroit by ferry along with other cars returning to the USA. What happened after they arrived in Detroit, I don't know.
Hope this helps...Ken
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egmurphy
Member since
January 2003
From: Mexico
2,629 posts
Posted by
egmurphy
on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 7:19 PM
...would the reefers make the return trip to the west coast as empties or would they occassionally or regularly be used to ship perishables from eastern seaports to destinations in the midwest and west.
You might want to check out the forum "Citrus Modeling". It may require joining the group (not a big problem) to have access to the messages and files. They do have a lot of good info.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/citrusmodeling/
They've had some discussion regarding this question. If I remember correctly they said that the majority returned empty, but that there were a number (certainly less than 50%) that returned loaded. This could be reefers used to ship perishable items westbound (normally in insulated boxcar type service, rather than iced fruit). But it also involved using reefers for lcl (less than carload) freight.
Also, during peak fruit shipping season, PFE and it's competitors were more anxious to get their cars returned. Outside of the rush season they weren't as fussy, as they got paid for the use of their cars and they didn't need the excess capacity.
Regards
Ed
The Rail Images Page of Ed Murphy
"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home." - James Michener
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ericsp
Member since
May 2015
5,134 posts
Posted by
ericsp
on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 8:02 PM
http://www.signaturepress.com/pfe2.html
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
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jimrice4449
Member since
April 2004
From: North Idaho
1,311 posts
Posted by
jimrice4449
on Thursday, November 10, 2005 12:16 AM
The MTs would generally be returned scattered in westbound trains. At least 1 exception I had personal experience w/ when I was working the 3 trick opr job at Venture on the SP was a PFE reefer that had been returned loaded w/ Montgomery Ward catalogs (one of the duries of the opr was to drag mail sack from the set-out xp box car to the door for the USPS truck driver to load into his truck) On this occasion we got 2 set-out cars, the regular xp box and the catalog reefer. Never say never
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