Red Caboose
Reefers

New releases are included below. If you are looking for something specific, please e-mail us. We will keep adding until we have them all loaded.
Wrong page? Click here to go back to Red Caboose.

---

57' Mechanical Refrigerators
Between 1964 and 1966 Pacific Car and Foundry built three versions of 57' mechanical refrigerator cars for Pacific Fruit Express. While these cars look almost identical, there are small changes between the series such as exhaust stacks and rivet patterns (though ever so small). The Red Caboose car represents the R-70-14, built in 1964, the R-70-15, built in 1975 and the R-70-16, built in 1966. The car also closely represents the R-70-17 through -19 series of car, the main visual difference is in the basic door lever design.

Pacific Car and Foundry also built cars of this type (with some variation) for ART, BAR, Erie, KATY, Maine Central and Northern Pacific. With mergers and splits you can find these cars in many paint schemes besides the as delivered schemes. SP and UP both had many different schemes after their split and since the merger more UP variations have appeared. Burlington Northern has painted their cars, BN green, orange and white and since the Santa Fe/BN merger more schemes in mineral brown have appeared. The prior mentioned paint schemes listed illustrate that many paint variations on this car can be found for many roads.

And after 34 years of service, many of these cars can still be found doing what they were originally designed for, keeping products cold or frozen.

N Scale 57' Mechanical Refrigerator Cars are available as decorated and undecorated Ready To Run Cars.

R-40-23 Steel Ice Refrigerators
The mid-30s saw the growth and acceptance of steel as a valuable material for the construction of refrigerator cars. By the late 30s and early 40s wooden refrigerator car construction had become a thing of the past even though many remained in service well into the 60s. This steel refrigerator car depicts the Pacific Fruit Express R-40-23 class built in 1947.

Steel Side Plug Door Refrigerators
Experimentation with plug doors on refrigerator cars began shortly after World War II ended. Shippers and distributors were looking for wider doors to ease loading and unloading and the plug door was the answer. By the early 1950s railroads began to accept sliding plug doors and new production cars were being built with them. A number of earlier cars were also rebuilt with sliding plug doors. This car depicts both new and rebuilt cars of the early 1950s that utilized the plug door. A number of the newer cars were even converted over to mechanical refrigerator cars before being retired.

N Scale Refrigerator Cars are available as decorated and undecorated Ready To Run Cars. All reefers come with Red Caboose Bettendorf Friction Bearing trucks.

Reefer Details:
Dreadnaught Ends
Steel Roof and Roof Walk