The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch was a
railroad refrigerator car line established as a subsidiary of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1884 to carry perishable commodities. Though the line started out with a mere 25
ventilated fruit cars and 8 ice-cooled refrigerator cars, by 1910 its roster had swollen to 6,055 total units (compared to the 8,100 units its largest competitor, the
Pacific Fruit Express
Pacific Fruit Express was an American railroad refrigerator car leasing company that at one point was the largest refrigerator car operator in the world.
History
The company was founded on December 7, 1906, as a joint venture between the Union P ...
, operated).
As of 1929 the line was carrying some 43 percent of California's citrus crop, most of which travelled aboard its "Green Fruit Express" refrigerator car special. Some 100,000 produce loads were shipped from the fields of Arizona and California to East Coast markets each growing season.
Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch Roster, 1890–1970:
Source: ''The Great Yellow Fleet'', p. 17.
References
*
*
* White, John H. (1986). ''The Great Yellow Fleet''. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. .
*
External links
Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railway #21335— photo and short history of a steel-sheathed "billboard" car.
"Coast to Coast"article by Richard Hendrickson at th
Pacific Southwest Railway Museumofficial website.
{{Refrigerator Car Lines of the United States
1894 establishments in the United States
Refrigerator car lines of the United States