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Refrigerator cars, also commonly referred to by their shortened name as "reefers" were a revolutionary design that allowed for the widespread shipment of perishable food products such as dairy, meat, and vegetables. The earliest such cars date back to the mid-19th century, naturally using ice as a means of cooling. After the development of the frozen food industry in the 1950s the reefer began to loose its near monopoly on the country's perishable business. Likewise, by the 1970s railroads were dropping LCL (less-than-carload) and short-haul business allowing the trucking industry to pick up most perishable traffic, which continues to this day. However, refrigerator cars and their precious contents are making a comeback as perishable centers are becoming more centrally located and distances to the products' final destinations are becoming further and further.
Once the American public realized railroads were the fastest and most efficient means of transportation during the first-half of the 19th century it did not take long for businesses to realize that trains could move about anything imaginable. This, of course, included food products. However, this poised a problem since food, naturally, is perishable and during the mid-19th century no type of refrigeration had been invented. By 1851 the first refrigerator cars were being tested on the Northern Railroad (later part of the Rutland Railroad) in New York state. These cars featured some type of insulation and blocks of ice to keep the contents cool. While quite successful much better insulation and cooling techniques needed to be developed before the reefer could be utilized year-round.
Experimental refrigerator cars became increasingly common throughout the 1850s with some simple solutions merely using blocks of ice in standard boxcars. Around 1860 the first true refrigerator cars were born using heavy insulation, roof hatches, floor drains, and ice bunkers located at either end of the car. These early cars usually employed some type of natural insulation such as mattes of cow hair, saw dust, or even plain old dirt! In 1867 J.B. Sutherland of Detroit, Michigan patented the first reefer, using a design very similar to that just mentioned. In addition, Sutherland attempted to control the flow of air in the car to keep the food products well refrigerated. However, despite these early advances in reefer technology, railroads were quite slow embracing the new car. Traditionally, railroads were, and still are to some extent, resistant to new technology on the basis of cost versus return. This was the case with reefers whereby railroads felt that spending large sums of money for a fleet cars which would only carry one type of commodity was not worth the investment. Additionally, railroads had already spent heavily on the development and movement of livestock along their lines. Realizing the need for refrigerator cars private shippers, particularly meatpackers, decided to build their own fleets. By doing so, reefers were some of the first privately-owned cars to be used on railroads (known today as private-car lines). As such, names like Armor in their classic yellow, and Swift began to appear on the sides of many refrigerator cars. It was not uncommon to see large cuts of these cars leaving Chicago and bound for the east coast all of the way through the 1950s. By just the 1880s refrigerator cars had become quite advanced built with very heavy insulation and a standard size of about 36-feet in length since loading doors at packing plants were based on 36-foot centers. Additionally, private shippers had developed large and sophisticated icing stations, which were usually located along major railroad division points. While trains were being reclassified, engines maintained, and crews replaced the refrigerator cars would be transferred to these icing stations to restock their ice supplies. All freight cars whose designation letters end in X are privately owned {non-railroad ownership}in this case Reefer or refrigerated / ventilated cars for processed meat products.
The use of "billboard" advertising on freight cars was banned by the Federal Governments Interstate Commerce Commission in 1937, and thereafter cars so decorated could no longer be accepted for interchange between roads.