Refrigerator cars have played a major role for railroads as a means of conditioning all sorts of products while delivering them to their markets. The most prominent of them are the reefers that transported meat and produce. There have been many upgrades and improvements to such cars and this thread is intended to be a show place for reefer models. The following model was marketed in kit form from Walthers in the 70's and early 80's.
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First a couple of early Scale-craft wood kits from the 30's
And a mix of Faber/Lobaugh tin side reefers. Faber stamped the Lobaugh sides and also sold some cars. Litho sides are marked Faber or Lobaugh.
An Athearn O reefer
Couple of All Nation wood reefers
Couple of Westbrook reefers
And a couple of Lionel/MTH tinplate 2814 reefers on the high line above a yard full of woodplate scale bocars and reefers
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I don’t have a lot of reefers because there are not many in O scale with the correct markings for the late 40s. Plus, I don’t buy duplicate car numbers. Here are some of what I have. All of these schemes lasted until at least the 50s.
I have three Pacific Fruit Express (PFE) schemes on my layout.
PFE scheme used from 1936 to 1942. Side 1
PFE scheme used from 1936 to 1942. Side 2
PFE scheme used from 1942 to 1946. Diagonal removed, side 2 unchanged
PFE scheme used from 1946 to 1950. Both sides the same. In 1950 the UP shield became B&W.
I have two Fruit Growers Express (FGE) reefers, one steel and one wood. The scheme was used from 1929 to 1952.
I have two American Refrigerator Transit (ART) cars with the scheme used until 1949 (start date unknown).
While 36-foot wood reefers were pretty much gone by the post WWII era, the meat packing industry still used them as well as 37-foot wood reefers. This Oscar Mayer scheme was from 1939 to 1948 (need to confirm the exact dates).
PFE with no strip is Weaver (too orange). OM is MTH. The rest are Atlas.
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Gentlemen, Thanks so much for all the great posts tonight. I certainly learned a lot from them. I am looking forward to seeing more on the many different refrigerators. Thanks again for posting. Bill
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A short video that I made over 10 years ago....
Have a great weekend, folks!
Peter
This one was made about 4 years ago......now I have more New York Central cars.....
Peter
Putnam, I love that you didn't even bother to take your tie off!!! Good job!
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Here are some of mine.
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Here are some more.
It's Easter weekend. . . have to have some good kielbasa.
And, of course, something to wash it down.
Happy Easter.
Bob
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SFRD
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Previously shown in another Forum thread...
12 ATSF 50' reefers from Ambroid O-8 (+ Gloor) kits over a period of years. Each a different car number as per prototype series.
No more!...enough is enough!...
(Single car shown was redone along with the other 11 to have ATSF logos with white backgrounds and the panel above the door painted car-color, as per prototype images. Weaver trucks, all.)
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https://photos.app.goo.gl/bAKGizsfEeK26mPn7
A few days before Easter, a loaded refrigerator express pulls through a small New York village headed for New Haven's Cedar Hill Classification Yard. While the consist is predominantly produce, a Kahn's Meat reefer and a Hormel meat reefer are tucked into the consist. Most likely they have Easter hams for Connecticut markets.
What's crazy about a reefer collector? Seems perfectly sane to me, although l impose narrow geographic constraints. Some time ago, a few years ?, someone on here opined that Atlas had only splashed the surface of an ocean of once existent different billboard reefers. I have found that the few publications barely touch that supposed quantity. So l wonder if if there were once lists of them, maintained by the line, shippers, or railroads, but with all the fallen flags and mergers, guess they were recycled. A book l would buy, even without pictures. AtticTeacks' pictures may show me one l need a duplicate for.
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AtticTracks writes: “Here are a few from a crazy reefer collector.”
Absolutely amazing, Stan. Love how you used the reverse side of the stairs as shelves.
Mark, those aren't really the reverse side of the stairs as shelves. Some of the shelves are hung on the inside of the attic roof and the shelves that look like the reverse side of stairs is an optical illusion as that is just a straight vertical set of shelves. Glad you enjoy them and appreciate how discerning you are with your observations. Have a great day.
Stan
Taking a break from practicing again. My right-hand fingers and thumb are about worn out. 😳 Anyway, my only two freight reefers are shown toward the first part of this thread, above. Then here are my two passenger train express reefers that have also been posted before.
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Here are some of mine :
Lionel "Blue Bell" Ice Cream from the Lionel Modern Era
"Pioneer Expressen" (Denmark) ...Kole Vogn from the 50's
Lionel candy bar refers from the 70's
Marx 6" refers from the 40's
Marx "scale (3/16" scale)" from 1948
Best Wishes everyone
Don
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I'm guessing your Blue Bell car is custom made. I can't find one anywhere.
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The Blue Bell Ice Cream car is a special run by MTH for the TCA Lone Star Division. It was released in 2017. MTH 20-94404.
Neal Jeter
Thanks. Now I know what to look for. I actually belong to that TCA chapter, but I just joined this year.