Nostalgia & History > Reefer madness?

Was this AT&SF boxcar once an SFRD reefer in a past life? Or maybe some kind of early insulated boxcar? Either way, it appears to be well on its way to becoming just another miscellaneous M.O.W. car…

1. AT&SF boxcar #5 is sitting in Topeka, KS. (I made the single digit number bigger so you wouldn’t miss it). Photographer Bill Gibson would almost certainly have had the exact date on his negative sleeve, but there was no such date on this 5x7 copy print acquired from Spain’s Mountain. So I will take a stab and place it in the early 1950s.
Photo by William A. Gibson (WAG) Sr
(from the Dick Spain collection)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Dick Spain (isinern)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/20 12:38 by santafe199.

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Company ice service?

That single digit car number would certainly have attracted Bill's attention. Your early '50s date is a good guess; the late '40s would be reasonable as well since the most recent weight stencil date is 4-45. KJN

Normally ice refrigerator cars on the Santa Fe use SFRD marks. So the use of ATSF points to company service.
It would be really nice to be able to read the car class on the other end.

Is it missing its ice hatches or were they very low profile?  I see what appears as iron supports for the hatch covers.  

rrman6 Wrote: > ...  Is it missing its ice hatches or ...

Just a guess on my part... If the car was indeed converted for use as a misc M.O.W. boxcar maybe it's possible the hatches were removed and filled in???

Lance/199

The metal framework on the roof on both ends is on the ice bunker hatches. The framework holds the hatches off the roof when they're open for icing.