Gene, you've made me wonder about the relative sizes of Swift, Armour and Wilson. (To say nothing of Oscar Mayer, et al) Looking at fleets, in 1953 there were = 3747 ARLX (Armour) reefers = 1469

Paul It sounds like from your description and Andy's that if there was a specially equipped unloading dock then paper rolls could be transloaded. But that's far from the suggestion of spotting a load

Tony replies: "Paul's description sounded like the rolls were not set down on the dock, but picked up in the cars and carried to the trucks." Understood Tony, and that is certainly a good

Thanks to all who answered. Your answers were about what I expected but, since I really didn't know, I thought I would ask. My layout would likely only see the occasional Wilson reefer. Swift and

Yes Sir, Clark, No more eBay. But my workbench and tools are still in El Paso. But you have a really good idea. Gene Green

Paul, Paper rolls of any kind require a "paper quality floor" or dock. You can only imagine what would happen to a roll paper if the surface that you were unloading on were to create even small holes

There was a paper mill at Ticonderoga which I remember from when I was a kid, the hydrogen sulphide (sulfide?) smell was overwhelming. I believe they made newsprint, among other papers. SGL

Tim: Not entirely true. The LA Times does not have a direct rail siding. Most of the newsprint was received at the Southern Pacific's 8th Street paper dock and trucked to the Times paper plant.

Guyz,             If it helps with the understanding of the paper shipping; the Boston Globe has it's own siding into the plant. Newsprint arrived almost daily by rail. Not so sure about

Guyz,              If the shipper was willing to pay the extra fee for express reefers, they most likely went by pass schedule. The PRR fans have numerous photos of express reefers on the

Tim - It is as cold here for most of the last few weeks as it was back in Naperville last month! Very unseasonably cold weather for us! I do not think the express reefers were removed from the

Thanks Andy, on further digging I found a newsprint mill in Jay, Maine, that closed this year after 110 years in business. Newsprint consumption is down 30% in 2009... Tim O'Connor

Beings I picked up a bunch of the Ertl cars cheap and have built just Westerfield USRA DS cars. I have never paid any attention to the Accurail car. The toughest part of building any kit for a car

"Newsprint is delivered directly to printing plants. The rolls are way too big and heavy for transloading at team tracks." Not so fast, Tim. For many years the "Milwaukee Journal" received newsprint

Newsprint is delivered directly to printing plants. The rolls are way too big and heavy for transloading at team tracks. I don't know about your New England statement however -- newsprint comes

Dennis, nowadays we uses Archer rivets... no more embossing. :-) But I see what you mean. Tim O'Connor

Dennis Storzek wrote: Archer rivets, my man, Archer rivets. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705

My recollection of that kit is that it had scribed, silk screened wood sides. Second rate even for that time. I think any other kits would end up as much better looking USRA DS cars - Westerfield,

I am modeling a Wilson meat plant in the 1920s and I've collected photos of various Wilson meat reefers. I'm pretty confident that I know the different paint schemes that Wilson reefers wore from 1916