Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch

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An ice-cooled reefer of the Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch "Bulk Fruit Express" circa 1894. There is disagreement among historians as to the color of these cars: white, ivory, light gray, or canary yellow.

The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (AAR reporting mark SFRD) was a railroad refrigerator car line established as a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1884 to carry perishable commodities. Though the line started out with a mere 25 ventilated fruit cars and 8 ice-cooled refrigerator cars, by 1910 its roster had swollen to 6,055 total units (compared to the 8,100 units its largest competitor, the Pacific Fruit Express, operated).

As of 1929 the line was carrying some 43 percent of California's citrus crop, most of which travelled aboard its "Green Fruit Express" refrigerator car special. Some 100,000 produce loads were shipped from the fields of Arizona and California to East Coast markets each growing season.

Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch Roster, 1890–1970:

'''1890	'''1900	'''1910	'''1920	'''1930	'''1940	'''1950	'''1960	'''1970
496	1,032	6,055	9,899	18,291	14,514	14,514	13,512	10,288

Source: The Great Yellow Fleet, p. 17.

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

• [Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railway #21335] — photo and short history of a steel-sheathed "billboard" car.
• ["Coast to Coast"] article by Richard Hendrickson at the [Pacific Southwest Railway Museum] official website.

SFRD #33055 bears an advertisement for the railroad's Chief passenger train. "Billboard" advertising such as this was placed on the company's refrigerator cars (and boxcars) from January 1940 to April, 1947. Note that the ice hatches are in the "ventilator" position.

SFRD #4206 bear's the railroad's slogan "SHIP AND TRAVEL Santa Fe...all the way." The white chalk marks are not graffiti, but have been placed by railroad personnel to indicate the car's status.

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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