I recently ran across a non-color photo of a wood refer on display with no explanation as to its location. The car rode on arch bar trucks which sat on two short sections of track located under the trucks only. The car was nicely painted and carried the reporting marks on the one visible end of U.R.T.Co. 3765. On the one visible side, the left side of the car showed SCHLITZ and THE BEER THAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS along with a large Schlitz "world" trade mark. To the right side of the center door, Union Refrigerator Transit Company was spelled out with the car number 3765 listed and also "Built 1891" shown, all of this in a "script" type lettering. In the background was obviously a freight yard with a couple of Milwaukee Road heralds visible and also a refer showing a "Dubuque" herald. Further in the background was a modern steel deck highway bridge which obviously went over the yard. The entire series of freight car photographs stated that the collection was "circa 1960's". I can't seem to find any lists showing this particular car as being preserved. Anyone have any additional info? Thanks.

Les

I generally feel that model railroad stuff doesn't belong here, but there apparently was an HO scale version of your car made in the 1960s http://www.hobeercars.com/manufacturers/mrmag.html That's all I found. A book is available on URTCo. but is from 1985 so I don't know how much light it would shed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Ref ... ansit_Line

PMC -

The lettering on that HO gauge car side is very close to the lettering on the displayed car in the photo. The two lines of data were not on the car and is, in fact, the area where the "BUILT 1891" was located. Of course, I can't verify the colors as being the same since the photo was non-color. The car HAD to be preserved, but where it was located and if it survived, is the preservation question.

Thanks for finding the link!

Les

Les,
We have the Pacific Fruit Express #74583 wood reefer in Car Barn Three at the Western Railroad Museum. The car was built by Standard Steel Company at Pittsburg, PA in 1922; the car was re-built by the PFE Shops at Colton, CA in 1941. It carried 10,600 pounds of ice in the bunkers.
The California State Railroad Museum has a PFE reefer also; but i do not have the details right at hand. The Western Pacific Railroad Museum has PFE #52138, but it is in poor condition.

A number of mechanical reefers are at the museums; like the Illinois Railway Museum.

The Colorado Railroad Museum made an insulated box car into a Coors Billboard car.

If you send me an e-mail at tedmiles1950@gmail.com I can send you details of the other seven or eight freight cars we have in the support collection.

Ted Miles

Les,
Perhaps you should forward the photo you found to the museum in the Schlitz Brewery. I would bet that car was preserved nearby, though it may have not lasted when it started to age and not look so good.
http://www.brewingmuseum.org/museum/schlitz-brewing-company

I would suspect that the model built followed this prototype, as several model manufacturers and Kalmbach are/were based in Milwaukee.

IRM does have several wood bodied reefers, PFE 68428, URT 2034, 5348, & 26507. There is a wood insulated box car on the roster, but I am not sure if this is the one which was scrapped in the last decade.

Olin -

Thanks. I actually tried to send an e-mail to that "Brewing Museum" yesterday on their website. But after I explained everything (I don't have a photo from the website I found it on), a note came back that the e-mail did not go through. I'm not sure if I screwed it up somehow, or if there is a glitch on their end. I intend to try again.

Les

We recently found two Swift refridgerated cars built into a house in Cheyenne, lots of hardware still on them and reporting marks, the meat hanging hook positions are still visible.

mike pannell

Mike -

Neat find!


Les

The location sure sounds like Milwaukee, WI. In addition to being the hometown of the Milwaukee Road and Schlitz Beer, there was a sizeable URTX facility close to downtown.
Any way to share that photo?

Kevin Kassay

Kevin -

The photo is on the Lake States Railway Historical Association website and is part of the Ed Wilkommer collection. LSRHA sells photos (I have made a photo purchase from them) and I'm not sure if it would be ethical, or legal, to post this particular photo on the internet.

Les

I came across a wood-bodied ice reefer in Shasta, CA when I was out there several years ago (2003), in the collection of McCloud museum-grade stuff stuck on the storage yard west of town. This is before everything was lifted.

The car was in extraordinary physical condition even though there wasn't a scrap of paint on the outside; but the interior looked like it could be loaded and the perishable inspection certificates were still stapled up inside. I remember it was a hot day and it was noticeably cooler inside, it was still working.

No stencil on the outside, but inside, above the door "SN 2349"

Anybody know what ever became of that car?

It shows up in 2008 on this link:
https://justseeds.org/help-support-the- ... ic-boxcar/

SN 2349 is a double sheathed 40’ boxcar. It is well traveled but still around. Google it and lots of information will pop up.

Thanks to the Milwaukee Road Historical Site Facebook page, I was able to confirm that the location of the Schlitz reefer was at the URT shops that used to be located in Milwaukee, WI. Unfortunately, it appears that the car has been scrapped.

Google Map link to approximate location:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/N+Gre ... 87.9349582

Kevin Kassay

OK, my mistake. There were two cars out there, both wood bodied.

I've got a good photo of the side of the reefer; no reporting marks and I can't find any notes to record what the inside of that car was marked.



I've found a few cars like this out in the wild, one success was the wood boxcar I found in a shed at Belfast, ME that is now in the Roundhouse Railroad Museum in Savannah. But finding identification and history for provenance can really be an issue.

Thanks Kevin. I tried to look up the Facebook page of the Milwaukee Road Historical Association to check out the location but, unfortunately, was unsuccessful. Was there a photo of the cars location, or what?

Les