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Accurail HO 40-foot refrerator car
See Accurail’s own website for information on which paint schemes have already been produced. The firm nearly always makes the fully decorated cars in the order shown on that site.
The Fruit Growers Express, Great Northern (WFEX) and Burlington (BREX) reefers had straight side sills like the model. At least some of the other cars had “tabbed” side sills with open spaces between some of the cross pieces of the underframe, but the spacing for the cutouts are cast into the interior of the model’s car body.
Most of the plug door reefers were built from the very late 1940’s on. The ones with the traditional “swinging” doors – which Accurail has also modeled – were mostly built a little earlier. Accurail’s website shows built and in many cases “reweigh” dates (when a car may have been repainted) for the models that have already been produced.
Despite the cast-on ladders and grab irons I find these kits fun to build.
Are all of the paint schemes are prototypical?
A few of our operating group have invested in fleets of these reefers. The separate end details, underbody details, and stirrup and door steps set this car apart from earlier offerings. One reason for Accurail being our choice for operations is their good appearance and ruggedness. We are curious to see how well the fine scale strirrups hold up.
PS The painted, undecorated models are also appreciated.
I’ve always liked Accurail kits. Can’t wait to get my hands on this one
Accurail should be commended for bringing out this long ignored car. It matches many of the photos in Gene Green’s “Refrigerator Car Colol Guide” in the FGE / BREX / WFE / NMX section. It sure looks good when mixed in with the Intermountian steel refrigerator cars.
The only issues I have with the car is that it is missing the door stops on the right side of the car (open position), mechanical / electrical fan detail, supports at the roofwalk ends and roof corner grab irons.
I did take an undecorated kit and removed the cast on ladder and grab irons, tabbed the side sills, add a second, wider spaced row of rivets using Micro Mark decals and new ladders and other details left over from Intermountian kits. This resulted in a real close model of a PFE 40-26.