1950s Frozen Fruit, Vegetables, and Food: Infrastructure, Freight Cars,Traffic Patterns and

Waybills

Charles Hostetler

RPM Chicagoland 2018

Wisconsin Cold Storage Co., Milwaukee Wisc.

PFE 200472R-50-5 Frozen Food Car

Background

●I'm modeling a short (4 mile) stretch of the Chicago - Milwaukee “Old Line” in Milwaukee from Bayshore to Lakefront Depot●The era is October 1957●The theme is transfer of freight cars among local yards via “Road Delivery Specials” and local switching●The Wisconsin Cold Storage Co. facility was located just off the National Ave. yard

Frosted Foods Inc.Columbus Ohio

Commodity Classes In This Study

Does Include:• Frozen Fruit (073)• Frozen Vegetables (095)• Food Products, Not Otherwise Specified, Frozen (765)

Does NOT Include:• Frozen Meats• Frozen Poultry• Frozen Seafood• Ice Cream• Ice

Overview of Localized CollectionsLocation Year(s) Frequency

Toledo Ohio 1948‐1950 0/298

Dallas Center Minn 1953‐1955 0/359

Watertown Minn 1954 0/579

Laramie Wyo 1951 6/2390 (1/400)

Sturgeon Bay Wisc 1962 1/400

Bellows Falls Vt 1961 7/9222 (1/1317)

Note:  Nationally, in 1957, there were 28,167 carloads of frozen goods originated, out of a total of 31,407,151 carloads originated.  This is a frequency of about 1/1115.  

Specifics from Laramie Wyo Records

Car Type Destination Contents

PFE 200056 R‐70‐2 Kansas City Frozen beans

PFE 200370 R‐50‐5 Kansas City Frozen beans

PFE 400484 (unknown, maybe R‐50‐5) Kansas City Frozen vegetables

PFE 200495 R‐50‐5 St. Joseph Frozen vegetables

PFE 5800 R‐40‐23 Kansas City Frozen vegetables

NWX 51022 NWX 50’ frozen food car Council Bluffs Frozen vegetables

Notes:  All are on eastbound trains through Laramie.  All are ice reefers, and at least 4, and maybe 5 out of the 6 carloads were in frozen food cars.  The R‐40‐23 car is a 40’ steel reefer built in 1947.  The destinations listed are the destination of the train the cars were in, and not necessarily the location of the consignee.  

Specifics from Sturgeon Bay Wisc. Records

OLHC Car Shipper Consignee Route Contents

SP PFE 400001R‐70‐11,mechanical, built in 1961

Calcagno Farms Ex Mello Cold Storage, Watsonville, Calif

Griffen Toohey Foods Inc., Sturgeon Bay, Wisc

SP – Ogden –UP – CNW –Green Bay ‐KGBW

112,000 lbs (3500 packages) frozen strawberries for $2034.45

Notes:  This was on a perishable freight waybill.  

Specifics from Bellows Falls Vt. Records

OLHC Car Shipper Consignee Contents

OE WFEX 7930 (RP) Kelley Farquhar, Salem Ore

United National Coop, Boston, Mass

29,530 lbs frozenberries

UP PFE 300986 (RP) Idaho Potato Inc, Ogden Utah

Sweet Life Foods, Springfield Mass

66,100 lbs frozen french fries

PT PFE 100422 (RP) Sunset Packing, Milwaukie Ore

Bonds Frozen Foods, Watertown Mass

45,962 lbs frozen fruit

UP PFE 100369 (RP) OreIda Foods, Nampa Idaho

Fall River Frozen Foods, Watertown Mass

17,555 lbs frozen vegetables

UP PFE 100057 (RP) Idaho Potatoes, Twin Falls Idaho

Quincy Market,Watertown Mass

41,961 lbs frozen potatoes

SP PFE 300645 (RP) Oxnard Food, Oxnard Calif

Pioneer Valley Ref. Stge., Springfield Mass

20,937 lbs frozen vegetables

UP PFE 100483 (RP) National Storage, Bonner Springs Kans

Fulton Packing, Watertown Mass

40,005 lbs frozen vegetables

North American Cold StorageChicago Ill

National Originations by CarrierCarrier Carloads % Interchanged

SP 6,563 91

ACL 3,906 93

UP 3,860 68

SAL 2,437 97

ATSF 2,104 88

NP 1,438 93

GN 1,286 93

SPS 1,249 100

CNW 719 79

CBQ 711 97

BAR 687 100

NYC 469 49

PRR 394 40

National Terminations by CarrierCarrier Carloads % Interchanged

PRR 4,162 94

NYC 3,895 94

UP 2,301 47

SP 1,680 65

ATSF 1,486 82

BM 1,234 100

BO 1,009 98

CBQ 1,000 98

NH 945 100

DLW 942 100

CNW 885 83

GN 584 84

CO 573 100

National Through by CarrierCarrier Through Carloads

CBQ 4,952

UP 3,912

RFP 3,077

PRR 2,230

LN 1,802

WAB 1,388

NP 1,285

CG 1,252

GN 1,141

CNW 1,076

SLSF 1,039

SAL 925

SOU 916

Carrier Through Carloads

NYC 904

MP 860

NCStL 841

NYCN 814

SOU (CNOTP) 796

BO 784

SPS 754

SSW 753

NKP 722

TNO 709

CO 695

RI 688

SP 675

National Originations by StateState Frozen Fruit Frozen Vegetables Frozen Food

California 1,400 3,100 1,700

Florida 6,000

Idaho 300 100

Kansas 100 400

Maine 100 100 500

Minnesota 500

Missouri 200 300 400

Nebraska 100 200 900

New York 100 200

Oklahoma 400

Oregon 1,400 2,100 100

Texas 300 200

Washington 500 2,900 100

Frequency vs. Time

Distance vs. Route Complexity

The Evolution of Route Complexity

1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 19621.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

Route Co

mplexity

Route Complexity vs. Time

Fruits Vegs Foods

National Cold StorageBonner Springs Kans

A Look Around a Smaller Facility

The Truck Facade

The Train Facade

Clarence Birdseye

Locations of Facilities

CS Yard in Denver

The Freight Cars

Frozen foods need temperatures of -5F to avoid during shipping and storage to avoid damage claims. The refrigerator car operators developed several approaches toward this goal:

• Regular ice cars with extra ice (30%)• Overhead bunker ice cars• Heavy insulation ice cars• Mechanicals

Overhead Bunker Ice CarsReporting Marks Total in 1957

CP 2876

CN 2658

FOBX 173

GTW 100

WOBX 50

PGE 15

PFE 5

Total 328 (excludes Canadian cars)

Heavy Insulation Ice CarsReporting Marks Total in 1957

FHIX 1,722

WHIX 836

SFRD 428

PFE 377

URTX 52

NWX 33

Total 3,448

MechanicalsReporting Marks Total in 1957

FGEX 904

PFE 714

WFEX 260

SFRD 235

NPMX 151

BREX 103

RMAX 75

URTX 50

NYMX 50

NWX 36

FHIX 3

Total 2581

Watsonville IceWatsonville Calif

References• Pacific Fruit Express (Thompson, Church, Jones, 2000)

• Santa Fe Railway Rolling Stock Reference Series Vol 2, Refrigerator Cars Ice Bunker Cars (Jordan, Hendrickson, Moore, & Hale, 1994)

• Santa Fe Railway Rolling Stock Reference Series Vol 6, Mechanical Refrigerator Cars (Moore, 2007)

• Merchants Despatch (Hinman, 2011)

• Refrigerator Car Color Guide (Green, 2005)

• Chicago & Northwestern in Color Vol 2 1954-1958 (Keyser, 1999)

• Railway Pr4ototype Cyclopedia Vol 16 (Wider, 2007)

• American Refrigerator Transit (Maher, Michels, & Semon, 2018)

Thank You for Your Time!