Clark, thanks for continuing to provide data and information. I speculate that by the 50’s trucks were starting to take over the local reefer traffic. As this was a lesser used “branchline” the grocery distributors were in larger communities off line and would have used trucks to supply the local grocery stores. Hence the rail traffic was more outbound, ie eggs and butter. Reefers were used to keep certain goods from freezing in winter, ie the canned goods or merchandise in Nov. Also Reefers had less cubic feet than boxcars, and sometimes the shippers preferred them for smaller shipments.

The PFE 200082 on 4/16/53 with a load of Juice from St James to Minneapolis is an oddity. As the CMO had direct access to Minneapolis why pass the car off at St James? There certainly were no juice producers in that area. Could this be a wayward car, perhaps lost or mis-billed?

Doug Harding

www.iowacentralrr.org

Clark,

Thanks for sharing these data. I was surprised that MDT lead the list of unique car numbers. I would have guessed it would be FGEX/BREX/WFEX. I was also surprised to see three SRDF so far North of home rails. Did M&StL interchange with ATSF in IL or MO?

It looks like I need to add a couple of ART, MDT, NRC, and SFRD, and URTX reefers to my roster. I’ve been laboring under the impression that ATSF and SFRD particular didn’t have much of a presence in IA or MN.

Nelson Moyer

Nelson look closer at the data Clark posted and you will see the same car listed multiple times. You will see multiple listings for MDT cars because they were making multiple stops, but not that many cars. This may have been because MDT cars were easier to capture. PFE was known for getting their cars returned via their agents. And remember the data Clark is posting is for a line that only saw two trains a day, #60 & #61. It was essentially a branchline serving low population rural areas.

The M&StL had a major interchange with the ATSF at Nemo ILL (the M&StL did not serve MO). Most of the reefer traffic went east to Peoria and connections in Peoria. But a share of reefer traffic headed north to Iowa, Minnesota and beyond. The Santa Fe served major fruit and produce regions which were sold across the country, so you would find SFRD cars everywhere. Same with PFE cars, which may have come to Minnesota via the CMO or CNW connections at Omaha and then handed to this M&StL line via connections at St James (CMO) or New Ulm (CNW).

Reefer traffic was dictated more by what the cars contained and where they were loaded. SFRD and PFE cars are coming out of California with fruits and vegetables. ART cars are coming out of Colorado and Texas, also with fruit and vegetables, but sometimes different fruits and vegetables than what are grown in California. MDT was affiliated with the NYC system so might contain produce grown in the NE and New England. FGEX/BREX/WFEX cars served both the Pacific NW, ie apples, and the SE part of the country, esp Florida.

Doug Harding

www.iowacentralrr.org

Nelson XR means empty reefer. Either a car being delivered to a shipper who ordered a reefer, or a car that has been unloaded and is now being routed back to its owner or the railroad where it originated. Reefers were also used to ship other items besides fruit, esp non PFE or SFRD reefers.

Note PFE 200082 on 4/16/53 was routed St James to Minneapolis with a load of juice. Knowing the line and connections, that information tells me the car was interchanged from the CMO at St James and then returned to the CMO after being unloaded in Minneapolis. On 4/20/53 we see the same car as an empty routed from Winthrop to St James. Winthrop was where trains 60/61 terminated. So the car came back via the M&StL from Minneapolis to Winthrop, where the conductor of #60 picked it up and recorded it in his book. It then traveled M&StL to St James where it was given back to the CMO who no doubt took it back to Omaha to give to the UP for return to PFE.

Merchandise could be just about anything that needed protection from weather yet would not be bothered by the dampness that prevailed in reefers. It also had to be something that could fit through the 4’ door on a reefer. Canned goods were common in winter months as were other food stuffs such as potatoes or onions. The reefer essentially was an insulated boxcar and may not need to be iced for a particular load.

As the list Clark is sharing was created by a conductor, the content listed is what ever made sense to the conductor. Some were more detail focused then others. If he didn’t need to know or it did not matter to his job, he might use a very generic work, ie merchandise. The word merchandise tells me the car was not iced, so the conductor did not need to be concerned about getting it to its destination in a timely fashion. You also need to know that trains 60/61 only ran between Winthrop and Estherville. So what looks like it a load that originated in Estherville is probably a car that came to Estherville on another train and the load actually originated somewhere else. Likewise Estherville, St James and New Ulm were interchange points with other roads, so again the car most likely originate somewhere else and was simply delivered to the M&StL for delivery or forwarding.

The URTX cars could actually be M&StL leased reefers, but as the reporting marks were URTX. I would have to look up the car number to confirm.