Tony; I shot the 51000 in service in November 1967 in Jackson, MS, and, if I remember correctly, the lettering was green on the bare aluminum sides. Incidentally, the 51000 is preserved and

Coast, but itseems unlikely to me. There is a photo in volume 3 of Lloyd Stagner's "Santa Fe in Color" series showing an IC reefer in an eastbound Santa Fe train> climbing Cajon Pass. I've assumed

I think you may hit the nail on the head. Speed for the buyer and seller and not for the fruit. Thank you Larry Jackman I don't care who you are fat man. Get that sleigh and reindeer off my roof.

Denny Anspach writes: Some, if not all, of the 1937 IC steel reefers apparently had aluminum painted roofs; I have a photo of nearly-new 50034 at Jackson MS in 12/37 and the roof is clearly aluminum.

ok

Hi All, Am I correct in my guess that most cut levers are about 1" in dia? Thanks Bill

Ted Schnepf said: Basically true, Ted, though as Richard Hendrickson found out publicly, the eating banana of today is a Cavendish variety, introduced around 1960 or so and visibly different from

Denny Anspach asked (in part): I am pretty sure this one was inspired by IC's lone aluminum reefer, actual number 51000. Whether the prototype had green or black lettering isn't clear from the B&W

Larry Jackman persists: Larry, I'm so glad you have come forward with this vital information about banana ripening. Imagine, all those years the railroads rushed around with those cars of bananas

Roger, Thanks for the info. Now if we could only get a kit of these? I know there are plans out there, Hmm where have all the kit makers gone? Joe

Thank you Larry Jackman I don't care who you are fat man. Get that sleigh and reindeer off my roof.

I am building a F&C 6411 FEC Ventilated Boxcar Rebuilt to Insulated Boxcar. Things were going rather smoothly until I got to the B end details. I am confused over what type of hand brake arrangement

There's a Paul Dunn photo in the Richard Burg Collection showing MDT 9532 with a GM&O herald c 1953 Bob's Photo has MDT 9616 with GM&O in 1954 and MDT 9669 with GM&O in 1952 If one doesn't mind

NRC was set up as a float of cars available to NP and IC since they had different seasonal needs and this became a fairly nice business model. NRC was acquired as Tim states by MDT/NYC in the late

of any dark green thrown in except for the emblem. IC had a large fleet of cars of their own and there's already another email floating around speculating on the amount of color variations Roger

In my "collection" of ancient HO Athearn metal cars and car kits are two IC reefers (identical model numbers- #402), but with two different car #'s - 50456, and 50234. Both have yellow sides and green

Here's more on the IC banana trains, from Terry McMahon's "Banana Traffic on the Illinois Central Railroad" in the "Green Diamond." * The rush was to get the bananas to the consumer in the preferred

Proper storage temperature for green bananas is 56-58 degrees F, according to the USDA. At that temperature, the fruit has an average storage life of 1-4 weeks. Compare this to grapes, with an average

Jerry's probably right. I hadn't looked up the date and wasn't sure off the top of my head if it was late in '47 or early '48 that the order was rescinded. It gave the Santa Fe (and probably PFE also)