Rob Kirkham wrote:

I've come across a couple of photos showing the above noted cars in

Vancouver B.C. in 1952. That's a long way for a load of bananas to come
by rail, and kind of surprising to me. So I am wondering if my
guesswork is out of whack or this trip would have been repeated over the
years. More particularly, what is the chance such movements would have
been made in 1946? I ask not because I expect someone to know what cars
travelled in those cars to Vancouver that year, but rather for a general
sense of the banana trade in these cars - did anything significant
change in the market or marketing of bananas by this company during
those 6 years that might suggest a change?

I do have records showing the produce shipped into Vancouver for 1953,

and it identifies Central America alone as the source. But is says
nothing about whether shipments were delivered via one route or multiple
routes, and so it seems possible they might have arrived by train from
an east coast Canadian port, by train from a Gulf or Atlantic coast USA
port (explaining the cars in question), or via ship at a west coast
Canadian port. I wonder if there is any information supporting any of
these alternatives to the WIF&SS service?

What type of rail cars are WIF&SS #106 and #321, box, reefer, ...?

The WIF&SS was affiliated with as Bill Welch terms them, "Our
Companies", the Fruit Growers Express Group so the cars could just be in
general produce service.

Bob Witt