In the 19th Century, ice for reefers was harvested from frozen ponds each winter and stored as well as possible in insulated icehouses. The advent of mechanical ice making around 1900 greatly increased the capacity of the reefer fleet, which at its height consumed over one million tons of ice annually. Since loaded cars needed to be re-iced about once per day, icing stations were erected around the country on shipping routes that could be as long as coast-to-coast.
Famed railroad historian John H. White referred to reefers as “the most conservative of all American freight cars,” as reefers retained wood frames and sides long after other types of cars had converted to steel construction. Steel reefers like this RailKing model became common only after 1940, and many wood reefers ran well into the 1960s. Mechanical reefers, with self-powered refrigeration units in each car, became the norm in the second half of the 20th century, and the practice of stopping a train to re-ice during shipment gradually disappeared.
Features:
Intricately Detailed Durable ABS Body
Metal Wheels and Axles
Die-Cast 4-Wheel Trucks
Operating Die-Cast Metal Couplers
Colorful, Attractive Paint Schemes
Decorative Brake Wheels
Fast-Angle Wheel Sets
Needle-Point Axles
Opening Car Doors
Operates On O-27 Curves






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