Fruit Growers Express (FGE) Paint Schemes in Late 1940s

I am modeling early 1950 and I have several reefers like these. I will compare these against  mine. I already see one needs a dark roof. Thanks for the information, this is very helpful.  Bill

Bill, I wouldn't worry too much about a darker roof.  It may have started out dark and if so would have faded over the years to a lighter flatter color so you should have some room there.  One might ask if the brown shown on the Atlas car is in fact correct for as new paint.  It likely is, I do not mean to suggest it is not, however, in general our model mfrs aren't always corerct with paint colors!!

Here is one that I saved the  pictures of for future reference as I have a few early Scale Craft reefers I will want to re-finish., For this forum, I have just pasted in the link to the on line photo...

Thanks Dennis. This car has a complete yellow roof like the side color. It did look funny all the same color.

Those of you really interested in learning everything there is to know about Fruit Growers Express, might want to purchase the book "Fruit Growers Express", Second Edition (one of the authors is Robert J. Church). It is THE source on FGE, and is full of fantastic photos also.

I have a tendency to not go into paint schemes in much detail after 1950.  Reread one of the few articles I can find on FGE cars (someone needs to do a book, especially the politics).  A Martin McGuirk, then at InterMountain models, said of the photos he had for the mid-50s showed about 0.03% (my calculation) had silver, or aluminum, roofs, but still had brown ends.  Could have been more, but not common.  No mention of a yellow roof.

A Bill Welch, in an article on the web site Steam Era Freight Cars, said the silver roofs starting showing up in the 40s.

So, you could have a car with a silver roof, even in 1949.

ADDED:  I see someone has done a book - thanks Hot Water.

My images above are of Atlas' 40' FGE wood side reefer.  Just received today from Trainz the Atlas FGE 40' steel reefer.  Both these cars are great (and the correct paint scheme for me).

@CAPPilot posted:

I have a tendency to not go into paint schemes in much detail after 1950.  Reread one of the few articles I can find on FGE cars (someone needs to do a book, especially the politics).  A Martin McGuirk, then at InterMountain models, said of the photos he had for the mid-50s showed about 0.03% (my calculation) had silver, or aluminum, roofs, but still had brown ends.  Could have been more, but not common.  No mention of a yellow roof.

A Bill Welch, in an article on the web site Steam Era Freight Cars, said the silver roofs starting showing up in the 40s.

So, you could have a car with a silver roof, even in 1949.

ADDED:  I see someone has done a book - thanks Hot Water.

They got lazier as time went on.  By the end of the yellow cars, they were all yellow. Probably late 60s or so. I dont know how many 40 footers would have been around by then (the stripes fell by the wayside too). Lots of the 50 foot RBLs were all yellow. The Yellow mechanical reefers started out with oxide ends, and aluminum roofs, but those roofs migrated to yellow too.

Found this writeup from what looks to be a joint effort of historical societies while googling out of curiosity. Relevant to the time frame discussed

CAPPilot, don't forget Western Fruit Express (Great Northern) and Burlington Fruit Express were part of the Consortium and I believe they would send car East certain times of the year depending on the Florida and Southern states harvest schedule and vice versa for the Western harvest.

A consist I'm working on will look like this:

15 FGEX Steel and Woodside

7 WFEX Steel and Woodside

3 BREX Steel and Woodside

russ

@Hot Water posted:

Those of you really interested in learning everything there is to know about Fruit Growers Express, might want to purchase the book "Fruit Growers Express", Second Edition (one of the authors is Robert J. Church). It is THE source on FGE, and is full of fantastic photos also.

I cannot find any reference to the book "Fruit Growers Express", Second Edition by Robert J. Church.

What I do find is "Pacific Fruit Growers Express, Second Edition, by Robert J. Church, Anthony W. Thompson and Bruce H. Jones ?

Arthur, the book you're looking for might be: The Great Yellow Fleet by John H. White Jr.

I can't put my hands on my copy right now, but I think this book will cover FGE along with the other big reefer companies.

russ

@Arthur posted:

I cannot find any reference to the book "Fruit Growers Express", Second Edition by Robert J. Church.

I could not find a book on just FGE either.  There are PFE books by Mr. Church out there.

The two best articles I have found through web searches:

- The Keystone Modeler:  "The Wood Sheathed Cars of the FGEX/WFEX/BREX Freight Refrigerator Fleet: 1940-1953" by Bill Welch.

- The Pennsy Modeler: "Interchange: Fruit Growers Express" by ?  No name attached to the article (Jerry Britton?), but may be from the old Keystone Crossings web site.

White's book The Great Yellow Fleet - A History of American Railroad Refrigerator Cars - Golden West Books - covers the evolution of the reefer as well as histories of the various companies. The book is 185 pages long and has 6 Chapters.

Chapter 5 is titled Private Refrigerator Car Lines - the brief states - "Explores in greater depth a subject introduced in Chapter 1 using the case history method. Two of the larger eastern private car line operators, Merchants Despatch and Fruit Growers Express, are examined. Merchants is one of the country's oldest fast freight lines that for many years was a wholly owned New York Central subsidiary. Fruit Growers started much later, but grew into a business giant soon after its founding in 1920.  Both lines had western subsidiaries.

Chapter 6 is titled Pacific Fruit Express - Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch - the brief states, "Three major western railroads created their own reefer lines. The Union Pacific and Southern Pacific joined forces during the Harriman era to create the nation's largest refrigerator car line - Pacific Fruit Express. The Western Pacific's abortive effort to start its own line and subsequent envelopment into the PFE operation is discussed. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe created the Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch  in 1884. Its growth and decline over ten decades is traced.