I've been adding cars to my milk train, having discovered the lovely little 40-foot Athearn-Roundhouse HO scale reefers.
One of the cars I own is a 50' express reefer painted for Fairmont Creamery -- one of these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275006839791
I own the Kalmbach milk train book, and it appears that Fairmont was a processor -- they'd recieve milk and process it into products like butter and cream (which presumably are not as perishable).
So, my question is -- would the Fairmont car have been on a milk train, delivering milk? It's clearly not a bukl tanker car -- or would it have been in other trains (express, etc) delivering those processed products like other perishables?
Thanks
Aaron
Presumably if the Fairmont car is carrying milk, it would be from dairy farms to the Fairmont creamery. I would suspect, though, that the required setout to drop the car there would not suit typical milk-train operation.
Far more sensible is that the Fairmont car would have been part of an inbound milk train, carrying either packaged or bulk cream and butter to be sold alongside the product of the other dairy farms or processors the train would carry. The operational question then is how the car came to be in the milk-train consist when it originated, and how it would have been loaded (and, presumably, iced or cooled) either before or during the milk-train's run.
If it ran 'dedicated' in a milk-train consist, look for the train to be spotted at a platform convenient to the creamery, and the products quickly loaded the same way the various kinds of milk packaging would have been at other stops. A potential consideration is that milk loaded on the car 'earlier' in the trip could be unloaded for the creamery at the same stop any Fairmont products were loaded -- but dairy farms further 'in' would be inaccessible. On the other hand, if milk were being offloaded to local communities along the route, as well as to a terminal facility, it would be possible for Fairmont products to be distributed at later, but not earlier, stops...
Fairmont had cold storage facilities and sold their own products across the US. Perhaps these cars were used to distribute products from Nebraska throughout the US.
AEP528Perhaps these cars were used to distribute products from Nebraska throughout the US.
They might have been an interesting case to consider as trucks became more and more competitive with express reefers in dedicated service...
I misread the question as his asking how an express reefer might be used in a model milk-train consist.
It appears that Fairmont Creamery used three different reporting marks as of 7/1935; FCAX, Fairmont Cooperative Creamery Association (North Western Refrigerator Line Co.); FDL, Fairmont's Dairy Line (FDL 30120-30154 & 30220-30224 (American Refrigerator Transit Co.); FDL, Fairmont's Dairy Line (FDL 30205-30219) (North American Car Corp.) FDL, Fairmont's Dairy Line (FDL 30110-30119 & 30185-30204) (North Western Refrigerator Line Co.); FDL, Fairmont's Dairy Line (FDL 45015-445029) (General American Tank Car Corp.) (*were these the bulk milk tank cars?); FDLX, Fairmont's Dairy Line(FDLX 30047-30109 & 40585-40590)((Union Refrigerator Transit Co.)
The anomaly that I find is that the car that you linked on eBay is #30045, whereas the starting # appears to be 30047; but that aside, my inclination, based on the minimum of research is that that reefer would be used for the outward, processed products.
¼ Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
AutonerdSo, my question is -- would the Fairmont car have been on a milk train, delivering milk? It's clearly not a bukl tanker car -- or would it have been in other trains (express, etc) delivering those processed products like other perishables?
Milk generally was not transported from the farm to the creamery via some type of tank car, even those reefers with interior tanks for milk were fairly rare. 100 years ago, farmers brought raw milk in large metal cans (see link below) to loading points where the cans were put onto trains to be taken to the creamery to process. Reefers were preferred especially for milk going a long way, but the milk as I understand it didn't have to be refrigerated as long as it got to where it was going fairly quickly (like a few hours).
Milk trains were effectively passenger trains, although there may be few if any actual passengers. Passenger engines would pull the trains, baggage cars were often used to haul the milk, and trains operated at high speeds between stops. So express reefers set up for that type of high-speed running would I would think be preferred over regular freight reefers.
Once the milk was processed into cheese or butter or whatever, regular reefers could be used to transport the products to where they needed to go in regular freight trains.
Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Metal Milk Can (liveauctioneers.com)
I have a pair of Railway Express reefers labeled as " express reefers" which I usually run at the front end of passenger trains. I assume they are meant to transport high-value perishables.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
wjstixMilk trains were effectively passenger trains, although there may be few if any actual passengers. Passenger engines would pull the trains, baggage cars were often used to haul the milk, and trains operated at high speeds between stops. So express reefers set up for that type of high-speed running would I would think be preferred over regular freight reefers.
I've forgotten who said it, but I once heard, "A slow milk train rapidly becomes a yogurt train"
BEAUSABREI've forgotten who said it, but I once heard, "A slow milk train rapidly becomes a yogurt train"
OvermodBut a typical fast milk train might rapidly become a butter train...