What year did 40’ plug door box cars go into regular service?. I’ve got a couple in N scale that are dated for the late 50s and wanted to make sure they were right before I start using them with my late 50s trains.
Thanks in advance.
Tracklayer
Your plug door box cars should be fine for a late 1950’s time period.
I disagree. The first plug door cars were introduced in the 1960’s.
The first refrigerated boxcar enters service on the Northern Railroad of New York in 1851.
- 1857: The first consignment of refrigerated, dressed beef travels from Chicago stockyards to the East Coast in ordinary box cars packed with ice.
- 1866: Horticulturist Parker Earle ships strawberries in iced boxes by rail from southern Illinois to Chicago on the Illinois Central Railroad.
- 1868: William Davis of Detroit, Michigan develops a refrigerator car cooled by a frozen ice-salt mixture, and patents it in the U.S. The patent is subsequently sold to George Hammond, a local meat packer who goes on to amass a fortune in refrigerated shipping.
- 1876: German engineer Carl von Linde develops one of the first mechanical refrigeration systems.
- 1878: Gustavus Swift (along with engineer Andrew Chase) develops the first practical ice-cooled railcar; soon thereafter, Swift forms the Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL), the world’s first.
- 1880: The first patent for a mechanically-refrigerated railcar issued in the United States is granted to Charles William Cooper.
- 1884: The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (SFRD) is established as a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to carry perishable commodities.
- 1885: Berries from Norfolk, Virginia are shipped by refrigerator car to New York.
- 1887 Parker Earle joined F.A. Thomas of Chicago in the fruit shipping business. The company owned 60 ice-cooled railcars by 1888, and 600 by 1891.
- 1888: Armour & Co. ships beef from Chicago to Florida in a car cooled by ethyl chloride-compression machinery. Florida oranges are shipped to New York under refrigeration for the first time.
- 1889: The first cooled shipment of deciduous fruit from Califor
Jeff,
impressive posting, but probably exactly in that point inaccurate. I have a video showing SP Cab Forwards in the mid 1950s, and they were hauling plug-door box cars!
The source you were qouteing from says “1960s” - which is far away from being accurate.
Additionally, PFE used plug doors on its R40-25/26 reefers being built in the 1950s as well. There probably are other examples, too.
OK, you were looking at plug door box cars and I was looking at plug door reefers.
[quote user=“jeffrey-wimberly”]
I disagree. The first plug door cars were introduced in the 1960’s.
The first refrigerated boxcar enters service on the Northern Railroad of New York in 1851.
- 1857: The first consignment of refrigerated, dressed beef travels from Chicago stockyards to the East Coast in ordinary box cars packed with ice.
- 1866: Horticulturist Parker Earle ships strawberries in iced boxes by rail from southern Illinois to Chicago on the Illinois Central Railroad.
- 1868: William Davis of Detroit, Michigan develops a refrigerator car cooled by a frozen ice-salt mixture, and patents it in the U.S. The patent is subsequently sold to George Hammond, a local meat packer who goes on to amass a fortune in refrigerated shipping.
- 1876: German engineer Carl von Linde develops one of the first mechanical refrigeration systems.
- 1878: Gustavus Swift (along with engineer Andrew Chase) develops the first practical ice-cooled railcar; soon thereafter, Swift forms the Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL), the world’s first.
- 1880: The first patent for a mechanically-refrigerated railcar issued in the United States is granted to Charles William Cooper.
- 1884: The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (SFRD) is established as a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to carry perishable commodities.
- 1885: Berries from Norfolk, Virginia are shipped by refrigerator car to New York.
- 1887 Parker Earle joined F.A. Thomas of Chicago in the fruit shipping business. The company owned 60 ice-cooled railcars by 1888, and 600 by 1891.
- 1888: Armour & Co. ships beef from Chicago to Florida in a car cooled by ethyl chloride-compression machinery. Florida oranges are shipped to New York under refrigeration for the first time.
- 1889: The first cooled shipment
Thanks Mr.SP. Now I can use the car without wondering whether it’s right or not. Something like that wouldn’t bother most people but it bugs the living you know what out of me…
Tracklayer
Actually plug door boxcars date back to the 1890’s:
http://www.win.org/library/services/lhgen/SCcarco/CarCo4.htm
Look at ATSF 19215 and PV 572.
Look at the PRR XL class boxcars.
Dave H.
Plug door box cars and plug door ‘bunkerless’ reefers look very similar. The difference is the ‘insulation’ in the walls/roof. The reefer version(RBL type) provide 3-7 days of constant temp storage while in transit. These cars many times are ‘pre-cooled’ before loading, and canned goods or even flash-frozen foods are loaded.
Plug door boxcars provide a smooth wall surface(when the door is closed) for stacking the load against. There are many example of combination plug/sliding door cars that are dual service, in that they have a large opening(forklift accessible), and the plug doors can be closed to provide more ‘cubes’ of ‘load’ area. The area across from the sliding door usually does not have any cargo placed there. ‘Dunnage’ keeps the load from shifting. The exceptions to no cargo by the sliding doors are items like grain or lumber.
Jim
JW - Sorry to prove you wrong.
This is from Branchline Trains’ website. They’re usually very good with their historical research. Note that it says “gained in popularity” in the 1950’s which would mean that they were invented prior to then.
http://www.branchline-trains.com/blueprint/50boxcars/50pdaar/50pdaar.htm
http://www.branchline-trains.com/blueprint/50boxcars/50'pdgarx/50pdgarx.htm
A different source references a 40ft boxcar with plug doors designed in 1950.
http://dti.railfan.net/Equipment_Database/DTI19000s40’InsulBoxcar/ArtDTI19300s.html
JW, also would have been nice if you cited your source. As it is, it looks like a chronology you created from your own research, instead of the work of someone else.
I already stated that I was in error. They were talking boxcars, I was looking at reefers.
In addition to the plug door error, this list states in error “1958: The first mechanical reefers (utilizing diesel-powered refrigeration units) enter revenue service.”
FGE introduced the first production mechanical reefers in 1949, although there had been earlier experiments with such cars. PFE and Santa Fe introduce mechanical reefers to their fleets in 1953.
Bob Chaparro
Citrus Industry Modeling Group
Bob, the thread is 10 years old, and Jeffrey is no longer with us, as he has moved on to that great model railroad above, [angel], with no way to defend himself, except maybe a lightning strike!
Mike.