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F&C meat reefer prototypes

nyc3001 .
 

Hi guys,

An early F&C kit was the 37' wood meat reefer. I was looking at images of it, and it seems to be a different prototype from the Rapido reefer (wider fascia below the roofline and perhaps a lower door).

Does anyone know what the prototype is?

Thanks,
Phil

O Fenton Wells
 

What does the label say. They made a few different ones


On Feb 9, 2021, at 4:57 PM, nyc3001 . <nyc3001@...> wrote:

Hi guys,

An early F&C kit was the 37' wood meat reefer. I was looking at images of it, and it seems to be a different prototype from the Rapido reefer (wider fascia below the roofline and perhaps a lower door).

Does anyone know what the prototype is?

Thanks,
Phil

nyc3001 .
 

Fenton,

I don't own any of the kits, but they come with either WCLX, CRLX version, or Oscar Mayer decals.

The side and end castings appear the same for all of these.

-Phil

Douglas Harding
 

The Rapido car is a specific prototype, built by General American between 1937-1941. Other 37’ meat reefers were built by other manufacturers with different features. And each meat packer had specific features they wanted in their cars. So lots of variety. Just ask the guys trying to figure out the Swift reefer fleet.

 

I don’t know what prototype F&C used for their early meat reefer, but they offered it with a number of different meat company decals. So generic at best.

 

Doug Harding

www.iowacentralrr.org

 

From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of nyc3001 .
Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 3:57 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: [RealSTMFC] F&C meat reefer prototypes

 

Hi guys,

An early F&C kit was the 37' wood meat reefer. I was looking at images of it, and it seems to be a different prototype from the Rapido reefer (wider fascia below the roofline and perhaps a lower door).

Does anyone know what the prototype is?

Thanks,
Phil

O Fenton Wells
 

My guess is whoever manufactured the Wilson reefers would be a close fit. 
I’m getting ready to bash a bunch of 37 and 40 ft meat reefers and have been accumulating magazine articles by Martin Loftin, Greg Martin John Nerich and others from the late ‘80’s and early 90’s. 
Then Sunshine showed up and bashing lost favor. I still prefer bashing so I’m off to the meat reefer races
Fenton 


On Feb 9, 2021, at 7:45 PM, Douglas Harding <iowacentralrr@...> wrote:



The Rapido car is a specific prototype, built by General American between 1937-1941. Other 37’ meat reefers were built by other manufacturers with different features. And each meat packer had specific features they wanted in their cars. So lots of variety. Just ask the guys trying to figure out the Swift reefer fleet.

 

I don’t know what prototype F&C used for their early meat reefer, but they offered it with a number of different meat company decals. So generic at best.

 

Doug Harding

www.iowacentralrr.org

 

From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of nyc3001 .
Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 3:57 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: [RealSTMFC] F&C meat reefer prototypes

 

Hi guys,

An early F&C kit was the 37' wood meat reefer. I was looking at images of it, and it seems to be a different prototype from the Rapido reefer (wider fascia below the roofline and perhaps a lower door).

Does anyone know what the prototype is?

Thanks,
Phil

Tim O'Connor
 


Photos show several different designs for Wilson 37 foot reefers, and there are more still
for the other owners. Does anyone have a photo of the completed F&C kit?


On 2/9/2021 5:09 PM, nyc3001 . wrote:

Fenton,

I don't own any of the kits, but they come with either WCLX, CRLX version, or Oscar Mayer decals.

The side and end castings appear the same for all of these.

-Phil



--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

O Fenton Wells
 

These are early F&C kits, so the chances of a photo are 2.....slim and none


On Tue, Feb 9, 2021 at 8:35 PM Tim O'Connor <timboconnor@...> wrote:

Photos show several different designs for Wilson 37 foot reefers, and there are more still
for the other owners. Does anyone have a photo of the completed F&C kit?


On 2/9/2021 5:09 PM, nyc3001 . wrote:

Fenton,

I don't own any of the kits, but they come with either WCLX, CRLX version, or Oscar Mayer decals.

The side and end castings appear the same for all of these.

-Phil



--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts



--
Fenton Wells
250 Frye Rd
Pinehurst NC 28374
910-420-8106
srrfan1401@...

nyc3001 .
 

Tim,

There are photos of a completed model at this link. 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/built-rtr-wilson-car-lines-wcl-funaro-1800129209

-Phil

Tim O'Connor
 

Thanks Phil.

Unfortunately, I have no photos of that number series (7xxx), but those were the only
37 foot reefers Wilson had in 1950 and they were gone before 1955. Wilson also had
a few series of shorter cars - 34 to 36 ft - And some of the 36 foot rebuilds lasted into
the 1960s.


On 2/9/2021 9:53 PM, nyc3001 . wrote:

Tim,

There are photos of a completed model at this link. 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/built-rtr-wilson-car-lines-wcl-funaro-1800129209

-Phil

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

Tim O'Connor
 

Phil

Thanks.

I have no photos of the 37 foot 7xxx series Wilson cars. They were gone before 1955.


On 2/9/2021 9:53 PM, nyc3001 . wrote:

Tim,

There are photos of a completed model at this link. 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/built-rtr-wilson-car-lines-wcl-funaro-1800129209

-Phil

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

nyc3001 .
 

Thanks for the info Tim. I suspect that the F&C kit is of a different prototype as it is pretty different from my WCLX Sunshine kit in a variety of ways. I really don't want to say it's a total foobie given F&C reputation for somewhat accurate models (despite variable quality in the early days), but I've never seen another reefer exactly like the kit.

-Phil

william darnaby
 

Is this the car you guys are referring to?  I purchased this from the Rensselaer Club some thirty years and I am sure F&C was doing the casting for them.  It does not match up with any of the Sunshine cars I have and I have at least one example of every Sunshine meat reefer and multiples of several.

 

Bill Darnaby

 

From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of nyc3001 .
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2021 3:14 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] F&C meat reefer prototypes

 

Thanks for the info Tim. I suspect that the F&C kit is of a different prototype as it is pretty different from my WCLX Sunshine kit in a variety of ways. I really don't want to say it's a total foobie given F&C reputation for somewhat accurate models (despite variable quality in the early days), but I've never seen another reefer exactly like the kit.

-Phil

nyc3001 .
 

Bill,

Nice photo.
It looks exactly the same as the kit at the Worthpoint link, but it looks slightly different from the Sunshine Armour 11000 series kit.

I recall an ad about these kits saying that NEB&W apparently made another version of this kit with a different underframe.

-Phil

Drew M.
 

Hi Phil,
   I have several meat reefer kits done by F&C - for their own line as well as Green Dot for the RPI club. The RPI kits feature two variants: a steel underframe and a truss rod and steel center sill underframe. The car sides have cast on attaching points for steel underframe cross bearer components to attach to and which are removed for the truss rod underframe. 

Drew Marshall in snowy South Philadelphia, PA


On Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 07:15:51 PM EST, nyc3001 . <nyc3001@...> wrote:


Bill,

Nice photo.
It looks exactly the same as the kit at the Worthpoint link, but it looks slightly different from the Sunshine Armour 11000 series kit.

I recall an ad about these kits saying that NEB&W apparently made another version of this kit with a different underframe.

-Phil

John Stanford
 

From the old NEB&W Freight car book its referenced that the truss rod version was based on plans of ARLX 12906 from the Aug 1987 MR.  The decals for kits F010 and F009 were based on WC Whittaker photo of ARLX 11414  from 11/1938, and F011 (star herald) from a Bill Sharp photo ARLX 11948 from 1957.

John Stanford
 

I'll add that the F&C Wilson kits were likely different from the former RPI Armour ones as they were both available at the same time with the Wilson cars shown being 37' vs 38' for the Armour kits.  The only note on those is they represent the 'standard meat reefer'.

-John Stanford 

nyc3001 .
 

Thanks for clarifying, Drew and John. I was not sure if the ends of the bolster were integral to the sides or not. What is striking about the ARLX and Wilson cars is that they both have a series of molded bolts interspersed among the grabirons. That and the identical-looking door hardware and roof seemed to indicate to me that the major components of the kit were the same. I had not considered that the length could be slightly different.

-Phil

John Stanford
 

Good observation Phil - on review the worthpoint Wilson image and Bill's photo do certainly seem to be the same side pattern - identical in all detail down to the exact same number, size and spacing of sheathing boards.

nyc3001 .
 

I bought one kit off of eBay and opened it up. To my surprise, the sides have some different details from Bill's ARLX reefer and the completed reefer on Worthpoint. The door hardware is different, there are no bolts interspersed among the grabirons, and there aren't any raised areas of the fascia. The ends also lack bolt detail and seem to different end sill detail. It appears that the F&C "37' Wood Meat Reefer Kit" represents an entirely different prototype altogether. It seems likely that the particular ARLX prototype represented in this thread previously can be ruled out. But then, what is it?

I've uploaded photos of the sides and ends into the below album and can take more images if you want to see them. As far as I can tell, the roof is the same.

https://realstmfc.groups.io/g/main/album?id=260721

-Phil

Tim O'Connor
 


Definitely an early alumilite casting. Such castings were also done for hobby shops including
the RPI NEB&W green dot kits. And repackaging of items on Feebay (often the seller is unaware
of this) is not unknown. So it may be the F&C kit. Or maybe there was more than one kit. Or...


On 2/13/2021 11:40 PM, nyc3001 . wrote:

I bought one kit off of eBay and opened it up. To my surprise, the sides have some different details from Bill's ARLX reefer and the completed reefer on Worthpoint. The door hardware is different, there are no bolts interspersed among the grabirons, and there aren't any raised areas of the fascia. The ends also lack bolt detail and seem to different end sill detail. It appears that the F&C "37' Wood Meat Reefer Kit" represents an entirely different prototype altogether. It seems likely that the particular ARLX prototype represented in this thread previously can be ruled out. But then, what is it?

I've uploaded photos of the sides and ends into the below album and can take more images if you want to see them. As far as I can tell, the roof is the same.

https://realstmfc.groups.io/g/main/album?id=260721

-Phil

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

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