The Armour Refrigerator Line (ARL, one of the Armour Car Lines) was a private refrigerator car line established in 1883 by

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

meat packer Philip Armour, the founder of Armour and Company. To get his products to market, Armour followed the lead of rivals George Hammond and Gustavus Swift when he established the ''Armour Refrigerator Line'' in 1883. Armour's endeavor soon became the largest private refrigerator car fleet in America. By 1900, the company listed over 12,000 units on its roster (one-third of all the privately owned cars in the country), all built in Armour's own car plant. One of the Armour Car Lines' subsidiaries was dedicated to produce hauling. In 1919 the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

ordered the company's sale for antitrust reasons. On March 18 of the following year the new entity, to be known as Fruit Growers Express (FGE), would take with it 4,280 pieces of rolling stock, repairs shops at

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

and

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, and numerous ice plants and other facilities scattered throughout the East Coast.

References

* White, John W. (1986). ''The Great Yellow Fleet''. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. . *

External links

* article at the official website. {{Refrigerator Car Lines of the United States American companies established in 1883 Refrigerator car lines of the United States Transport companies established in 1883 1883 establishments in Illinois Armour family