Will someone who knows please point me to an explanation and meaning of the various Reefer design types such as R-40-10, R40-23, etc? I had read something some time ago and now I cannot find it.
Thanks.
Those are the PFE/SP/UP class designations. The R means reefer. The 40 is the nominal capacity. Since I cannot find a better way to word it, I will say that the last number indicates how many 40 ton reefer classes came before that class. For example those were the 10th and 23rd classes of 40 ton reefers, which most likely means PFE ordered 9 and 22, respectively, orders of 40 ton reefers before those. It appears that sometimes some classes were skipped.
I believe ‘R’ stands for ‘Refrigerator’ and ‘40’ stands for ‘40 ton’ but I don’t know what the rest means. That’s the explanation I am looking for. An how does one spot them?
Perhaps the last two digits refer to the insulating capability of a particular car–sort of like the “R” ratings of home insulation. Just a guess.
Eric has it right: R-70-1 would be the first batch of 70-ton reefers, R-70-2 the second, and so on. Nothing about that final number will distinguish one type from another by itself. Look, for example, at UP’s CH-100-nn classes. They contain Airslide covered hoppers, Center Flows, and ribbed-side cars from several manufacturers and of varying sizes–all in the order in which they were acquired (when UP took over CNW, you got classes up into the CH-100-200s!).
The SP system was similar, but they lumped covered hoppers in with open-top cars, RBLs with box cars (UP had about six different classifications for box cars).
Santa Fe was even worse–gons, hoppers, and covered hoppers, were all in “GA” classes (no weight differentiation, either!).