Bill,

I guess with so few photographs as examples one cannot be 100% sure.

Can you confirm the rebuild date of 1938 as stated in the caption in the
"Postwar Freight Car Fleet"? I am surprised that I can find no orders
for these cars unless another car builder did the conversions.

FWIW, WIF should be West India Fruit Company.

Bob Witt



Bill Welch wrote:

Bob

The WIF mechanical is a conversion of one of the FGE cars in question.

Bill Welch

This photo reminds me of the mechanical refrigerator built for the
Western Indian Fruit Company WIF 800, which seems to based upon a
similar rebuilding of a USRA DS box car although the ends differ

from

that illustrated in the book "The Postwar Freight Car Fleet". The
caption states these cars first appeared in 1938. Looking at the

summary

of freight cars built for the years 1936-1938, I find no listings

for

refrigerator car orders placed by the Fruit Growers Express.

Below are the links to these photos of WIF 800 from the Florida

Railroad

web site.

Main page: http://www.flarr.com/fgeco.htm

FEC Picture #005 <http://www.flarr.com/wifsc1.htm>
West India Fruit & Steamship Co. - Mechanical Refrigerator Car. View

1

FEC Picture #006 <http://www.flarr.com/wifsc2.htm>
West India Fruit & Steamship Co. - Mechanical Refrigerator Car. View

2

The photo captions state that this rebuild occurred in 1957.

Regards,

Bob Witt




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