1: The car cleanout track at Roseville in November
1962, showing a freshly unblocked drain at left dis-
charging meltwater, and body ice being pulled out
of cars (this was ice that had been placed within the
original load). Note the broom on a clip on the open
door. The men are repacking a journal. The cars are
pretty dirty in this view because it dates from well after
the cessation of PFE car washing. –PFE photo, author’s
collection.
1
Getting Real Column - 2
of PFE cars, but again, nothing directly on modeling. I will rem-
edy that in this column.
For many modelers, refrigerator cars are the main thing to be
modeled about PFE, and there are good, commercial models
in several scales for major PFE car classes (I will restrict myself
to HO in this column). I'll discuss the major classes, along with
opportunities to model some of the non-major PFE classes.
2: An interior view of
an ice bunker, looking
toward the car side, with
one of the grates raised
to the half-stage level.
These grates could be
set at half- height in the
bunker so only a half-
load of ice is used. At
top is an ice hatch open-
ing. – “Dick” Whittington
photo for PFE, courtesy
California State Railroad
Museum (CSRM).
2
Modelers in every corner of the country can and should
include PFE reefers among their freight cars.
Not only can the cars modeled, operations can also be mod-
eled, whether it's perishable loading locations in the far west,
movement of blocks of cars across the country, or cars arriving
at destinations throughout the North America. Understanding
the kinds of operation conducted by a company like PFE is
essential to successfully modeling the operations side. A signifi-
cant part of this is the icing of cars in transit. I will include some
brief notes on modeling icing facilities.
Many procedures and features of PFE operations were shared
by the Santa Fe’s Refrigeration Department (SFRD), Fruit
Growers Express (FGE), American Refrigerator Transit (ART) and
others. But because I know the details best for PFE, I will con-
centrate on it.
I will limit my discussion to a single era, my own modeling
period of 1953. I hope by describing the way I have approached
MRH-Sep 2013
