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PFE insulated box car 10628 from Kanab, Utah. The whole story has been posted in various threads on trainorders if you are a subscriber.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... ?1,2923306

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... ?1,2945366

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... ?1,2974868

I'm glad to see the car preserved. I had looked the cars over for another interested party, and they really were in nice shape. Kanab's weather is great for preserving this kind of stuff. They had been there since the 1970s. The cars had been used as cold storage for a grocery store they were connected to that is now for sale. The first owner of the store owned a heavy haul trucking company out of Lancaster, CA (I think) where he saw and acquired the reefers (and several other box cars and a mechanical reefer) for this venture. The other car was too heavy because of the nice cement/tile floor they had poured into it.

They are indeed ice reefers, complete with roof hatches and drains and all the other fun stuff that goes with them. I couldn't believe how complete they were. Both cars were missing one set of side doors, and it seems the remaining car was cannibalized to complete the now-restored car.

It was fun to climb around on the real deal that I had only seen models of before. (And don't worry, the realtor is a friend and I had his blessing to be on the property.)

Rather than being upset by the "faux" reefer, we need to celebrate that the transit agency thought that a railroad themed display was appropriate, and worth the cost.

I assume that the reefer is not the real center of the display and message... as such, it (the wrong car with locally inspired paint) tells a story, and as a steel car won't rot as fast.

With a bit of luck it will raise awareness of railroad history sufficiently to have someone visit Ogden or the Golden Spike site...

Randy

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WRM was asked for a historic interurban car for permanent installation at a regional transit station under development. It wasn't just for display; they planned to use it to house mechanical equipment. We were not able to accommodate them, but the idea was sensible in principle. I would not be surprised to see such a car either plumbed with pipes going in/out and emitting that 60 cycle hum... or simply used for storage for maintenance of the station. To NOT store stuff in a boxcar etc. is just crazy.

By the way, in the picture, I REALLY REALLY LIKE the stairs going over the car. That means they have easy roof access for maintenance. Run a cable down the center of the cars, pull it taut, tie it off to the stairwell structure... and you have a safety line to boot!

A great photo of this car has just came through on railpictures:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 1&nseq=127

I noticed from old photos that advertisements on some cars could be pretty elaborate. They really resembled highway billboards. I would love to see more of this kind of artwork recreated on some generic reefers and boxcars. This kind of thing would provide a cultural link the general public would understand. The exhibits would be popular.

Attached is a scan from Ebay (not mine). I will remove it soon.

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