Intermountain produced a HO Pacific Fruit Express (PFE) Express reefer in Pullman green, and, as far as I can tell, this car is prototypical. My question is: In what type of train would you find this car? In a “normal” freight train among the other reefers? In the head end section of passenger/express mail trains? Any other possibilities?
Thanks for your help
JW
By definition, an express reefer is designed to operate in a passenger train (not to be confused with any ordinary PFE reefer). It would have steam and signal lines as well as high-speed wheels/trucks. As such, it is classified as a “passenger car.” Such cars were normally located in the front end of the passenger train (but behind the locomotive(s)) along with any express box cars which are similarly equipped…
I think your right that it would be up front in a express passenger train. I had a family member who was division fleet manager of PFE in San Francisco. I’ll try to find some info.
Thanks for the help. I thought is should be in a passenger train; I was just confused by the fact that this specific model is a 40’ reefer with standard freight car trucks (I should have mentioned this in my original post). However, I found out in the meantime that the trucks on the model are probably wrong.
Thanks again
JW
Hello JW,
Here’s a bit more detail, from the book Pacific Fruit Express by Thompson, Church, and Jones.
In the spring of 1953, 50 R-40-10 steel PFE reefers were re-assigned as express reefers to relieve a shortage of such cars. At the time, Railway Express Agency couldn’t supply sufficient cars for the traffic on the SP and UP.
The 50 steel reefers were re-classified BR-40-10 and repainted a dark olive color with imitation gold lettering. They were all recently overhauled cars and already had electric fans and Apex steel grid running boards. New equipment for express service included steam and signal lines, marker light brackets, and new trucks with passenger-rated axles and “high-speed” solid bearings. Cars 901-925 (as re-numbered when reclassified) received Chrysler FR-5-D trucks, while cars 926-950 got Symington Gould XL trucks.
The Chrysler trucks resembled conventional freight trucks but had outboard snubbers (shock absorbers) attached to the ends of their bolsters. Brass Symington Gould trucks are available from Precision Scale Co.
By 1961 the need for express reefers had diminished, and all the BR-40-10 cars were re-painted and re-assigned to freight service as R-40-10 reefers with conventional freight trucks.
So long,
Thanks Andy. That was precisely the info I was looking for.
One word of warning - Intermountain “cheated” on their first green reefers. IM’s first steel reefer kits were PFE R-40-23s, wwith the prototype built circa 1947. To get the most mileage out of their product IM painted the cars in schemes that were found on cars CLOSE to the R-40-23 and they produced a run of those cars in Pullman Green. Years later Intermountain produced a true R-40-10 and these are the cars that belong in Pullman Green - not the R-40-23s. IM did a run of the R-40-10s in the Pullman Green scheme.
By the way, in “the old days” during harvests for crops like cherries the PFE (and other roads) would run whole trains of express reefers on passenger schedules to get the first fruits to market. The first releases of the crop commanded good prices and were shipped rapidy.
I can remember hearing about the “salid bowl express” being run coast to coast. B&O had the banana express with FGE cars loaded in Va. and shipped to the mid-west. these were on express trains. I was looking at some pullman green reefers that my LHS had and was thinking about buying them. Now I think I will to add to my fleet of cars.
When I lived in I had also seen these cars in freight trains.
Have fun, Rob