PHOTOS BY JIM PROVIDENZA OR AS NOTED
Kitbashing Santa Fe mechanical refrigerator cars
Modeling the “missing” Rr-87, Rr-90 and Rr-91 cars in HO scale, Part I/Jim Providenza I
t has been over 20 years (Septem- ber, 1990) since I wrote an article for RMC describing how I kitbashed At-
hearn’s Pacific Fruit Express R70-20 mechanical refrigerator car into three other classes of PFE reefers. Several years later Con-Cor came out with a model of the R70-16 with the peaked roof, and Red Caboose and InterMoun- tain have made additional models of the PFE 57-foot mechanical reefers since then. Each car has been a step up in de- tail, but this has been to the almost complete exclusion of other players in the mechanical refrigerator car game.
The competition By the late 1950’s mechanical refrig- erator cars had come of age. The four major railroad-owned companies in- volved were Fruit Growers Express, owned by Chesapeake & Ohio, Atlantic
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RMC/Dremel Kitbashing Award........
A minimum of $100 and a Dremel Rotary Tool Kit with a variable-speed Multi-Pro rotary tool, flex shaft attach- ment and accessories are awarded to the monthly win- ners of the RMC/DREMEL KITBASHING AWARD. Entries must consist of at least two photos (5″×7″ or 8″×10″ prints or two color slides; more may be included) and a short text. Models must use at least 50% commercial components; unused entries may be held for BOOMER TRAIL.
Coast Line, New Haven, Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Western Pacific, et al; Pacific Fruit Express, owned by South- ern Pacific and Union Pacific; Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry.’s Santa Fe Re- frigerator Department; and Western Fruit Express-Burlington Refrigerator Express, owned by the Hill roads (Northern Pacific; Great Northern; and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) in part- nership with FGE. Each company tended to develop its own designs based on customer needs and corporate philosophy. For more in- depth information on the history of these cars and those owned by private companies, see the bibliography at the end of Part II of this article next month. At the high point of the mechanical refrigerator era, car ownership was dis- tributed as follows according to the Jan- uary, 1971, Official Railroad Equipment
MAY 2012
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