Richard Hendrickson wrote:

In the 1930s California Despatch Line had some wine tank cars which consisted of six tanks in wood racks installed in second-hand PFE cars. Will Whittaker photographed a couple of these cars in the late 1930s, out of service by that time but still with fancy billboard paint and lettering schemes.

Description of the PFE sale to CDLX, and the Whittaker photos, are in the PFE book, Chapter 4. But neither Whittaker image shows a "Fruit Industries" paint scheme, nor do I think RC did one on the PFE body. Moreover, such cars were not AAR class TW, which was a wooden container class. As Bruce was thinking, RC certainly DID do a "Fruit Industries" scheme on their welded tank car.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

On Jun 13, 2008, at 11:10 AM, Anthony Thompson wrote:

Richard Hendrickson wrote:

In the 1930s California Despatch Line had some wine tank cars which
consisted of six tanks in wood racks installed in second-hand PFE
cars. Will Whittaker photographed a couple of these cars in the late
1930s, out of service by that time but still with fancy billboard
paint and lettering schemes.

Description of the PFE sale to CDLX, and the Whittaker photos,
are in the PFE book, Chapter 4. But neither Whittaker image shows a
"Fruit Industries" paint scheme, nor do I think RC did one on the PFE
body. Moreover, such cars were not AAR class TW, which was a wooden
container class. As Bruce was thinking, RC certainly DID do a "Fruit
Industries" scheme on their welded tank car.

On re-reading the files, I see that Tony is correct; my apologies to
Bruce. The RC "Fruit Industries" tank car was based on another Will
Whittaker photo taken in 1-41 of a CDLX tank car built in the 1920s
by the Standard Tank Car Co. California Despatch Line did not own
postwar AC&F ICC-103W tank cars, so the model is obviously wrong with
that P/L scheme, and it is doubtful that the Fruit Industries
billboard P/L scheme was still in circulation in the mid-1950s.

Richard Hendrickson

Let's note, one more time, that the "TW class" portion of the subject line is WRONG. The original writer may have thought it stood for "Tank, Welded," but in fact it refers to wooden containers, such as vinegar or, yes, pickle cars. I don't want list readers to begin to associate the "TW" notation with the RC tank car.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

Well well! Any suggestions on another paint job or selection of
roadname which will allow the Fifties?

And thanks for all the answers.

Sincerely, Mark

Well well! Any suggestions on another paint job or selection of roadname which will allow the Fifties?

Use the original military paint scheme--we KNOW it's right. And those cars went all over the U.S.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

I would like to know what reporting marks and color these had. I have never seen a picture and until I asked about this never knew the government had reefers.
Would this be a USRA effort?

Thank You, Mr. Thompson

Sincerely, Mark

Mark: whoa. Tony is talking about the welded tank car offered by Red Caboose
not one of the reefers.

Brian J Carlson P.E.
Cheektowaga NY

Thanks, Brian. I really opened quite a discussion. Wonder why I bought the kit too!

Sincerely, Mark

Mark Morgan wrote:

I would like to know what reporting marks and color these had. I have never seen a picture and until I asked about this never knew the government had reefers. Would this be a USRA effort?

We are talking about tank cars, Mark. In any event, the "government" purchased the USRA cars but did so on behalf of railroads, and the railroads paid for them. There WAS a design of refrigerator cars created for the USRA but never ordered.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history