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Refrigerator Cars


lead photo copyright © Roy Meissner; used by permission.

Refrigerated box cars, or, more commonly, reefers, are fully enclosed railway cars that can maintain a consistent temperature for an extended period of time. They are used to carry perishable goods, such as meat, fruit, vegetables, etc. The two common methods for keeping the insulated interior cool are using blocks of ice or some sort of mechanical refrigeration. Ice was used starting in the late 1800s, and was common until more modern refrigeration units were invented and installed. Dry ice and liquid nitrogen have been used only in experimental cars, as they proved to be too expensive in practical use.


Houston S Gaugers club's icing facility
photo copyright © Peter Vanvliet; used by permission.

In the mid-1800s, Swift was the first company to design a reefer that proved to be successful, in that it held ice in racks at the top of the box car, and meat at the bottom of the car. This started the Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL), which had over 7,000 cars by 1920. By 1924 150,000 reefers were in use in the United States. The Fruit Growers Express Company of Alexandria, Virginia built a large number of reefers. The blocks of ice used in those reefers could weigh between 200 and 400 pounds, and would have to be replenished once a day when the car was in use. This required a network of ice-making and ice-loading facilities around the country, employing thousands of men. Pacific Fruit Express (PFE) created the sliding plug door in 1947. Their R-40-26, built in 1951, were the first series of cars to use those doors. The same for the Santa Fe's SFRD cars of that year. Mechanical refrigeration came out around 1950.

Some insulated box cars had refrigeration units mounted under the floor of the car, but most "insulated box cars" were just that, insulated, with no attempt at keeping them at a certain temperature. We have "insulated box cars" listed as part of the "Box Car" sub-category. The cars listed here are supposed to have some sort of refrigeration method, which may not necessarily be visible on the outside of the model. Many cars' data text shows a length of 30-something feet, which refers to their available interior space, with the rest of the typical 40-foot length of the car being taken up by the icing system or refrigeration unit. Note that "billboard" cars, i.e. those that showed a large advertisement for a company or a product, were outlawed in 1937. A large majority of S-scale's reefer cars represent models from before that time frame.

In our reports, you may see some duplication of cars between the various brands. This was due to product lines being bought out and continued over time. Kinsman Scale Models cars were manufactured in the Northeastern Scale Models facilities. Main Line Models bought out Kinsman at some point in time. Its owners re-released the Kinsman kits under the name "Ye Olde Huff-N-Puff". Years later, Don Heimburger bought Kinsman, and he re-released some of the reefers under his "Scenery Unlimited" brand name. "NE Prototypes" (Bill Morris) bought Kinsman from Scenery Unlimited in 2009, but only sold parts and remaining inventory. Bill passed away in 2025. Ye Olde Huff-N-Puff was bought by Gene & Dorinda Metzgar, and in 2018 was bought by LaBelle Woodworking, but neither of them released any reefers. LaBelle is closing in 2026. Also of note is that some of Midgage Models' reefer kits appear to be very similar to Cleveland Model & Supply's kits. We are unsure if Midgage simply commissioned Cleveland to manufacture their sides, or if Midgage bought out Cleveland's reefer kits. Similarly, Super Scale Models released a number of reefer kits, which Perma-Bilt Models later re-released when they bought out that company. ACE Model Railroad Company bought Perma-Bilt and released some reefer kits when it itself was bought out by Downs Model Railroad Co. later on. S-Helper Service produced a little over 34,000 individual reefer cars via 14 different production runs during that company's existence. MTH later produced additional cars when SHS had to shut down. MTH sold their S-scale product line to ScaleTrains, who are now releasing new reefers based on SHS' original tooling. So, to sum it up, the research that went into composing the reports below took quite a bit of time due to these confusing histories.

Below are links to the various reports that show all of the S-scale reefers ever produced. Click whichever report gets you to the information that wish to find. The bottom of this page has additional references that might be of interest.

Contact person: Webmaster

  1. By Model Manufacturer
    Entries are sorted by manufacturer, then by road name, and then by type of reefer.
  2. By Model Manufacturer ID
    Entries are sorted by manufacturer, then by the product ID, and then by road name and road number. This report is handy if you know the manufacturer and the product ID.
    This report is limited to entries that have a known manufacturer ID set.
  3. By Car Owner
    Reefers are different from most other freight cars, in that they typically were owned by a company, but then long-termed leased to another company. This report shows the cars by the owned company name. All entries are included in this report, including undecorated models.
  4. By Lessee
    Sometimes reefers are more dominantly decorated with the name of the company leasing the car, so this report is limited to those cars that show the lessee's name.
  5. By Advertiser
    This report is limited to those cars that show a dominant advertiser or product name, also known as "billboard" reefers. This may help you find a particular car of interest.
  6. By Type
    Entries are sorted by the reefer's type, then by road name, and then by model manufacturer on the final pages.
  7. By Gauge
    Entries are sorted by wheel gauge, then by manufacturer, and then by type of reefer. The final pages have the entries sorted by the reefers' road names.
  8. By Model Introduction Year
    Entries are sorted by model year, then by manufacturer, and then by type of reefer. The final pages have the entries sorted by the reefers' road names.
    This report is limited to entries for which the model introduction year is known.
  9. By Material
    Entries are sorted by the dominant material from which the model (especially its body) is made, then by manufacturer, and then by type of reefer. The final pages have the entries sorted by the reefers' road names.
    This report is limited to entries for which the dominant material is known.
  10. By Photo
    A mini photo album of sorts, this report shows the primary photo for each entry. Click on a photo to see that model's details and possible additional photos. The entries are sorted by the car owner for which it was decorated, the model's manufacturer, and the car's road number. This is a huge page, so it may take some time to load.
    This report is limited to entries that have at least one photo set.
  11. Missing Photos
    This report lists all of the entries for which we do not, yet, have a photo. If you have this model and can take a photo of it, please contact the webmaster.
  12. All Entries
    This report lists all entries in one page, and you can click on an entry to see its model information.
  13. All Entries (text only)
    Entries are sorted by model manufacturer, type, road name, road number, model year, and product ID, all on one page (no details, no photos). This is handy for when you just want a basic list of what has been produced.
  14. Downloadable Text File
    Entries are sorted by model manufacturer, manufacturer ID, car owner's name, road number, type of reefer, gauge, model year, product type, and finish. Note: To import or open this file in a spreadsheet software application, use the hat, ^, character as the column separator (see the "6" key of your keyboard). Most spreadsheet applications will let you pick the separator or delimiter; if not, open the file with a text editor and replace all "^" with a character of your choice, and then try it again.

Report Definitions

These definitions, in alphabetical order, may clarify some of the terms used in the reports linked-to above:

  • Finish
    Where the "|" (vertical bar) is used in the text, it indicates that the model was available in more than one finish, where each finish format is separated by the "|" symbol.
  • Gauge
    "AF": for models that come only with A.C. Gilbert-style or -compatible wheels and couplers.
    "S": for standard-gauge (4'8-1/2" rail-spacing) models that come with either no wheels and couplers, with scale wheels and/or couplers, or with "hi-rail" wheels and couplers but have scale wheels and couplers included in the box.
    "Sn3", "Sn2", "Sn42": for the various narrow-gauge rail spacings.
  • Prototype Volume
    This is the interior volume as marked on the car's data decal, which may not have a bearing on the scale model's interior volume.
  • Prototype Year
    If the real-world introduction year of a car is not known, then we indicate the year printed on the model, if shown. Note that the model's year number may indicate a built-new, rebuilt, or re-packaged date, whichever is later.
  • Car Owner's Name
    The railroad name (prototype, freelance, or fictional) for which the model was decorated by the factory, or, if undecorated, for which the model was specifically designed. If no road name is listed, then it is a generic model.
  • Lessee's Name
    The name of the company that is long-term leasing the car, as the model was decorated by the factory.
  • Road Number
    If the model was factory-decorated with a road number, it will be listed. If the model was released with more than one road number but otherwise is identical, then each road number is listed on the model's final page, but not listed as a separate entry. If the road number is shown with a series of question-marks, then that indicates that a road number was released but we don't know what it is. Each series of question-marks represents one unknown road number, thereby indicating the total number of unique road numbers with which we know the model was released.
  • Style
    The overall configuration of the box car.

Additional External References

Click the red header text for the external web site, listed here in alphabetical order; the sentence below it provides a high-level description of what you will find on that web page.

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