I bought two cars on eBay and the nice dealer noticed that one car was cracked and wnated to substitute. The car he wants to substitute is a built in '31 reefer with Canada Dry on the side.
Would it still be in service in 1950, or would it have been banned in '36?
Hi, Chip,
Very possibly, both of the above. The billboard advertising was banned in 1936, but the (repainted) car might easily have survived into the transition era.
Fun, isn’t it?
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in 1964 - with plain white reefers)
Chip,
I assume it’s the Athearn Canada Dry woodside reefer. As Chuck said, those were gone no later than 1939. There were still a lot of woodside reefers around in 1950 so it would be OK if you wanted to repaint and decal it but it wouldn’t match a 1950 train in that paint scheme.
Well, you learn something every day! [:)]
Why did they ban billboard advertising?
George
PA&ERR, you have a business called the ABC Frozen Widgets Company and one day you have need of a reefer and you call up your servicing railroad - in your case the Onion Specific - and order a car to make a shipment. Lo and behold, when the OP pushes a reefer up to your loading dock there, emblazoned on the side in big bold letters is XYZ Frozen Widgets, your competitor. You’re paying the railroad to ship your product while, simultaneously, you are paying your competitor’s advertising.
Are you likely to be a ‘Happy Camper’???
Hmm, I was under the impression that the billboard cars were owned by the company that was doing the advertising on the side and that the RR just picked them up – IE treated them as a “non-home-road” car, similar to the NYC hauling a train made up of PRR, NYC, NKP, UP, etc cars.
Yes the car was owned (well actually in 99.9% of the time, the car was leased) by the company whose name was on it. (If the reporting marks end in “X” the car is leased.)
They were called “Billboard” reefers because the sides were used like rolling billboards ‘advertising’ the lessee’s product they carried. The problem as noted earlier was that shippers would sometimes refuse to use a car which carried their competitor’s name in large lettering on it. As I understand, the gov’t banned cars with lettering over a certain height from general service, but then also limited the right of the shipper to refuse a car - making things easier for the railroads.
BTW I believe a company could continue to use “billboard” lettering if the car was in some type of captive service - going between two plants owned by the same company for example - and/or if the lessee was OK with paying for the car to be shipped back to them empty.
Actually, I would. Because I know that somewhere XYZ Frozen Widgets are traveling the country in one of my brightly colored ABC Frozen Widgets reefers.[;)]
That doesn’t explain why the ICC would dictate an end to billboard railcar advertising.
Stix,
Your answer makes more sense. However, if it was that big a problem, one would think it would have been addressed much earlier by the railroads themselves. After all, all the railroads had to do was to stop making billboard railcars.
A history of billboard railcars would make a good article for Trains (if it hasn’t already been done).
George
OOOPSSSS!
I seem to have hijacked this thread. Sorry!
George