Were the Pacific fruit reefer cars strictly used by Southern Pacific and Union Pacific only, or were they used by or leased to other roads ?.
Tracklayer
Pacific Fruit Express (I assume you mean) provided reefers for those two roads and the Western Pacific. But they would be found anywhere in the country in interchange. That’s how the oranges loaded in So Cal get to Philadelphia, being delivered by the Pennsy, for example. So you might see PFE reefers on any railroad, but they were owned by PFE, which had agreements to provide the reefers for SP/UP/WP. PFE in turn was owned by SP/UP.
Is that what you mean?
Jon
Yes Jon, that’s what I meant. Thanks a lot for the info. Sorry about forgetting to add the “Express”. Also, I’m delighted to know that Western Pacific used them because it just so happens I have a Western Pacific Mikado…
Again, thanks.
Tracklayer
WP came late and left early in regards to PFE. Whether or not WP was part of PFE depends on the era. Signature Press has a book about Pacific Fruit Express. If you really want to know about PFE I suggest it, although it is $75.
Thanks all the same ericsp, but I could buy a good used loco or several pieces of rolling stock for $75.00… ([:p]) I do appreciate the suggestion though.
Tracklayer
Look for it in libraries or used, then–it’s a worthwhile book to have if you want to model the fruit/vegetable industry at all–more than you’d ever want to know about PFE reefers! It’s a big thick book, too–practically a phone book!
I’m as proud of my railroad bookshelf as of my collection of rolling stock, although I got a lot of both used or otherwise for well under retail…but there were a couple that I just couldn’t pass up and paid full retail!
One thing to not worry about: PFE reefers spent more of their time off their home roads than on them, so don’t worry about whether the roadname of the reefer car matches your road or even your region of the country. They were PFE property, and as long as they were carrying fruit & veggies to market (or going back to get more) they didn’t much care what part of the country they were in at the time…
Although WP paid for a block of PFE reefers (wood sheathed as the Tichy kit) that had the WP rectangular logo instead of the UP/SP the WP cars were mixed in w/ the rest of the PFE pool and might be loaded on any of the 3 RRs just as WP, ordering X number of cars from the PFE car distributor would wind up w/ a random selection and any cars having the WP herald would just be a coincidence
If you’re looking for some WP PFE reefers, Accurail, Red Caboose and Athearn have all produced kits for them. Microscale also has decals for the WP cars, in case you want to convert some of your existing reefers. Just remember that if you want to be prototypical, WP never had any steel PFE reefers, just the wood ones. But they look really cool with that rectangular “Feather River” logo.
Tom [:P][:P]
This was very helpful info Jetrock. Thanks a lot. It worries me to death to think I’m not pulling the right rolling stock with the right road…
Tracklayer
Thanks Tom. I really like the photo…
Tracklayer