Over a span of years starting around 2000 Pecos River Brass imported a line of factory painted brass Sante Fe (SFRD road initials) 40' refrigerator cars. I have been able to identify 9 different classes ranging from Rr23 to Rr40 they modeled. The prototypes were former USRA fish-belly underframe wood ice reefers that were re-built in the ATSF shops with all steel bodies starting in the late 1930's and continuing into the 1950's. Over 6000 USRA reefers were rebuilt. A distinctive feature of the rebuilt reefers which makes them stand out in a train are their 5' wide doors, while contemporary Pacific Fruit Express 40' reefers had 4' wide doors. Other differences included the roof walks and the orientation of the ice hatches. The photo below attempts to highlight the differences in the bodies between PFE and ATSF steel reefers. Of interest to modelers is that the ATSF painted one side of their reefers with a route map, while on the opposite side they advertised their passenger trains (Super Chief, Chief, El Capitan, Scout, Grand Canyon). The Pecos River models faithfully capture the subtle body differences in the various rebuilt classes, and carefully matched car numbers to the slogans on the prototype cars.
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Apparently, the Pecos River Brass ATSF rebuilt USRA reefers are in quite demand I sold 8 of them on a Groups' O scale yard sale listing this morning in a matter of minutes- and could have sold dozens more. I think AtlasO , Golden Gate Depot, and perhaps Lionel should consider producing an injection molded plastic model of Santa Fe 40' rebuilt USRA steel reefers. Given the interesting variety of lettering schemes and distinctive body details (especially the 5' wide door and reverse hatch opening) we'd likely see an updated version of O scale Reefer madness.
Keystoned Ed
Seems you know about Pacific Fruit Express cars. Some questions re UP Fruit Express as I’m trying to put together a consist with some accuracy.
Bigboy and Challenger pulled the fruit express trains correct?
Challenger in black for freight.
Did Northern FEFs pull fruit express trains? Also what caboose would be correct for fruit express trains? Steel with center cupola? In UP yellow? Your knowledge is appreciated.
You know why they went fast Ed.
They were $335 apiece when new... brisk sellers back then.
Occasionally seen used but more often than not with inflated prices.
John Smith, who owned Pecos River Brass, was also an academic and professional musician -- actually still is, I believe, conducting a brass band named Pecos River Brass that he organized in 2000. He was a vivid character and used to write a series for O Scale News 48/ft ( I think that was the magazine) entitled "Crapola from the Cupola" in which he opined on brass imports and the economy and many other things. I drove to O Scale West with him in his panel van one time (he picked me up in Tucson after driving over here from Texas) and it was an adventure that involved a lot of talk and a lot of eating. John had a pile a of stuff in the back of the van that he was taking along to sell at O Scale West, including a very large model of an oil refinery complex that had been built for the large club layout he had above his store. But we had to drive back with it because there were no takers.
Check out this biographical sketch: https://www.thetrumpetblog.com/8085-2/
John Smith.....................................used to write a series for O Scale News 48/ft ( I think that was the magazine) entitled "Crapola from the Cupola" ...............
"Crapola from the Cupola" was a column in the the first 13 issues of O Scale Trains.
Train Steve : I have done a fair amount of research on PFE reefers and operate a 32 car reefer block on my PRR railroad (featured in the Feb 2024 issue of a competitor's mag). For in-depth coverage of PFE rolling stock, facilities, and operations I recommend PFE Pacific Fruit Express by Thompson, Church, and Jones - a 400+ page masterpiece. It has photos of PFE reefer blocks headed by a wide variety of UP Power, including 4-12-2's, 4-8-4's, 4-8-2's, 2-8-8-0's, 4-6-6-4's and Big Boy 4-8-8-4's.
Thank you "mwb" for correcting my reference. It was indeed O Scale Trains. John had lots of opinions.