Uncataloged RailKing O Gauge Schmulbach Brewing Modern Reefer Cars Announced Pre-order Now
September 14, 2021 - M.T.H. Electric Trains has announced two exclusive RailKing O Gauge Modern Reefers in Schmulbach Brewing liveries for Patrick's Trains in Wheeling, West Virginia. These very limited reefer car releases are available in two different color schemes and only available for order on a first-come, first-served basis. The anticipated delivery is December 2021
.
Item No. 30-78229 Schmulbach Brewing Modern Reefer Car
Cream & Green
Pre-Order Price: $54.99 (plus freight)
Click HERE to order.
Item No. 30-78230 Schmulbach Brewing Modern Reefer Car
Maroon & Cream
Pre-Order Price: $54.99 (plus freight)
Click HERE to order.
ABOUT THE RAILKING MODERN REEFER
The coming of the railroad changed the way America ate and drank. Before the iron horse connected every town of any importance to the outside world, most food was grown or produced locally. The arrival of cheap, fast, refrigerated transport — in the form of the woodsided reefer with ice bunkers at each end — enabled local brewers, dairies, meat processors, and other food businesses to become players on a national scale. Among other things, the reefer enabled Chicago to become "Hog Butcher for the World"; in pre-reefer days, livestock had been transported to local markets and butchered as close as possible to the final consumer.
In the 19th Century, ice for reefers was harvested from frozen ponds each winter and stored as well as possible in insulated icehouses. The advent of mechanical ice-making around 1900 greatly increased the capacity of the reefer fleet, which at its height consumed over one million tons of ice annually. Since loaded cars needed to be re-iced about once per day, icing stations were erected around the country on shipping routes that could be as long as coast-to-coast.
Famed railroad historian John H. White referred to reefers as "the most conservative of all American freight cars," as reefers retained wood frames and sides long after other types of cars had converted to steel construction. Steel reefers like this RailKing model became common only after 1940, and many wood reefers ran well into the 1960s. Mechanical reefers, with self-powered refrigeration units in each car, became the norm in the second half of the 20th century, and the practice of stopping a train to re-ice during shipment gradually disappeared.
Order directly from:
Patrick's Trains
142 29th Street
Wheeling, West Virginia 26003
(304) 232-0714
www.patstrains.com
patstrains@aol.com
