Fruit Growers Express
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Fruit Growers Express (FGE) was a railroad refrigerator car leasing company that began life as a produce-hauling subsidiary of Armour and Company's private refrigerator car line. In 1919 the Federal Trade Commission ordered the company's sale for anti-trust reasons.
Incorporated on March 18, 1920 the firm took possession of 4,280 pieces of rolling stock, repairs shops at Alexandria, Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida, and numerous ice plants and other facilties scattered throughout the East Coast on May 1. By year's end, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois, New Haven, and Norfolk and Western railroads became major stockholders.
In order to compete with the Pacific Fruit Express and Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch in the west, FGE and the Great Northern Railway formed the Western Fruit Express (WFE) on July 18, 1923, a move that added 3,000 cars to the equipment pool. By 1926, FGE had expanded its service into the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest through the WFE and the Burlington Refrigerator Express (BREX), its other partly-owned subsidiary (formed in partnership with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) on May 1). That same year, FGE purchased 2,676 36–foot–long reefers from the Pennsylvania Railroad.
In February, 1928 FGE formed the National Car Company as a subsidiary to service the meat transportation market. Customers included Kahns, Oscar Mayer, and Rath.
- ; Fruit Growers Express Roster, 1920–1980:
| '''1920 | '''1930 | '''1940 | '''1950 | '''1960 | '''1970 | '''1980 |
| 4,280 | 8,025 | 14,114 | 12,063 | 12,446 | 8,384 | 3,182 |
Source: The Great Yellow Fleet, p. 16.
References
- White, John H. (1986). The Great Yellow Fleet. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 0-87095-091-6.
- White, Jr., John H. (1993). The American Railroad Freight Car. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. ISBN 0-8018-5236-6.
External links
- [The Florida Railroad Company Inc. / The Fruit Growers Express Company] official website
- [Fruit Growers Express Company #35832] — photos and short history of an example of the wooden ice-type "reefers" commonly placed in service between 1920 and 1940.
- [Fruit Growers Express Company #56415] — photos and short history of an example of the wooden ice-type "reefers" used in the first half of the 20th century for shipping produce.
| Major Private Refrigerator Car Lines of the United States | |
| American Refrigerator Transit Company>American Refrigerator Transit Co. · Armour Refrigerator Line · Burlington Refrigerator Express · Fruit Growers Express · General American Transportation Corporation · Hormel and Co. · Merchants Despatch · North Western Refrigerator Line · Pacific Fruit Express · Railway Express Agency · Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch · St. Louis Refrigerator Car Co. · Swift Refrigerator Line · Tropicana Products · Union Refrigerator Transit Line · Western Fruit Express · Western Refrigerator Line | |
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