N scale reefer madness- is it real?

[u18b]

I'm just curious.

Are all those dozens and dozens and dozens of paint schemes on old wooden reefer models-

Are they real?

Or foobie fun?

[mcjaco]

Isi t real?  Or is it Memorex?

[Chris333]

From the 1920's through 1937 billboard reefers were some of the most colorful freight cars to ever grace an American railroad. Billboard reefers came about when freight car leasing companies realized they could make more money by letting the companies leasing their cars paint billboard style ads on the sides of the cars. The railroads didn't like this for whatever reason and complained to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which issued a ruling which effectively eliminated the billboard reefer from America's railways

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reefers-shorty-Anheuser-Busch-Malt-Nutrine_ACF_builders_photo_pre-1911.jpg

[u18b]

OK.

Man, I'm sorry I'm so ignorant about this.

So many of these had ADS on them- so that what was printed was not necessarily related to what the car carried?

I always assumed a beer reefer (like the link you provided) carried beer.
But you're saying it might have carried fish and had beer advertising on it.

[LV LOU]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reefers-shorty-Anheuser-Busch-Malt-Nutrine_ACF_builders_photo_pre-1911.jpg

Chris,were billboards removed from all reefers by1937,or just no new ones allowed anymore?

[Chris333]

It is likely that the company who leased the car is the one who painted it or had it painted.
http://www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/287/21333/june-1999-page-7

In modern times there was that Sargento cheese car. Somehow the car got the whole side painted with their logo. Soon after the ICC law made them paint it out.
Before:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/setandcentered/3652351695/
After:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/setandcentered/3652356111/

[cv_acr]

From the 1920's through 1937 billboard reefers were some of the most colorful freight cars to ever grace an American railroad. Billboard reefers came about when freight car leasing companies realized they could make more money by letting the companies leasing their cars paint billboard style ads on the sides of the cars. The railroads didn't like this for whatever reason and complained to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which issued a ruling which effectively eliminated the billboard reefer from America's railways

Um, I thought the problem was SHIPPERS complaining, not the railroads. As I understand it, the prohibition is on RAILROAD-owned cars bearing graphics for other companies. Great for the railroads because advertising revenue. Not so great for the shipper when they get a car decorated for their competitor to ship their stuff in. (Think Coke receiving a railroad-supplied car all decorated for PepsiCo.)

If the shipper owns or leases the car, they're quite in the right to put their own name and logo on that car.

[Chris333]

Chris,were billboards removed from all reefers by1937,or just no new ones allowed anymore?

I was just reading my Trainlife link and it sounds like anything built after July 1938, but it also says in the late 1940's they lifted the law. By then the schemes weren't as "crazy" like the older paint jobs.

[Chris333]

If Gregg Mahlhov was still around he could straighten this all out 

[bbussey]

With a few notable exceptions over the decades (Burp-Oh-Beer, Phartz-and-Howe) , the schemes are real.  Whether they are prototypically correct for the model they appeared on is a different issue.  They also are from the early 20th century, so the overwhelming majority of them would be anomalies on post 1940 layouts.  For the most part, you can use the service date to determine if the model belongs.

Many of the wood meat reefers, while no longer featuring bold advertisements, continued to feature bold company graphics until their retirements.

Regarding the models — the MTL 40' reefers are (mostly) a PFE prototype; the IMRC reefer is specifically an FGE prototype.  I'm not sure what prototype the Atlas reefer is based on, but it's an early one with K-brakes.  Also not sure of the MTL 36' reefer or MDC 36' reefer.  The Con-Cor and Arnold reefers probably are total foobs from a design standpoint.

[JMaurer1]

Most all of the paint schemes you may have seen are usually accurate (taken with a grain of salt of course). If a company wanted to "lease" a car and have their logo painted on the side of a reefer, there were plenty of operators that would allow them to do so. Just because a car advertized beer or meat or whatever, it didn't mean that is what it had inside (unless the car was OWNED by the shipper and/or it was in restricted service). A billboard car could have anything inside. The following shipping companies were known for having billboard adverts (but there were a great many others, these are just some of the larger companies):

American Refrigerator Transit ART
Union Refrigerator Transit URTX
North American Dispatch NADX
Northwestern Refrigerator Line NWX

The larger meat packers also owned their own cars and they were usually restricted for shipping their own product. The following are examples of some of the larger meat packing companies who had billboard cars:

Swift SRLX
Rath RPRX
Armour ARLX
Wilson WCLX
Morrell MORX

It was the shippers who actually got billboard reefers banned. Usually, the railroad didn't care what the car said on it. If a company ordered a reefer to be delivered, the railroad delivered a reefer. If that reefer went to a meat packer or beer producer and had a competing companies logo on the side, the railroad didn't care, but the shipper did.

In July 1934, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) enacted regulation #201 banning billboard advertisements on LEASED freight cars. Then again in 1937, the ICC banned all billboard cars from interchange service bringing the billboards to an end.

[seusscaboose]

So
By 1953 you would NOT see Billboard refers in interchange service, I.e only restricted to the line they were on...

Well then... I will need to make sure my billboards aren't destined for any interchange tracks

Mmmmm

Maybe I can envoke the famous lee Weldon proto-fantasy act just pretend the railroads made an agreement

Either way
I love me some billboards and I am committed to 53'



EP

[mmagliaro]

If Gregg Mahlhov was still around he could straighten this all out 

Miss him.   

[strummer]

Most all of the paint schemes you may have seen are usually accurate (taken with a grain of salt of course). If a company wanted to "lease" a car and have their logo painted on the side of a reefer, there were plenty of operators that would allow them to do so. Just because a car advertized beer or meat or whatever, it didn't mean that is what it had inside (unless the car was OWNED by the shipper and/or it was in restricted service). A billboard car could have anything inside. The following shipping companies were known for having billboard adverts (but there were a great many others, these are just some of the larger companies):

American Refrigerator Transit ART
Union Refrigerator Transit URTX
North American Dispatch NADX
Northwestern Refrigerator Line NWX

The larger meat packers also owned their own cars and they were usually restricted for shipping their own product. The following are examples of some of the larger meat packing companies who had billboard cars:

Swift SRLX
Rath RPRX
Armour ARLX
Wilson WCLX
Morrell MORX

It was the shippers who actually got billboard reefers banned. Usually, the railroad didn't care what the car said on it. If a company ordered a reefer to be delivered, the railroad delivered a reefer. If that reefer went to a meat packer or beer producer and had a competing companies logo on the side, the railroad didn't care, but the shipper did.

In July 1934, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) enacted regulation #201 banning billboard advertisements on LEASED freight cars. Then again in 1937, the ICC banned all billboard cars from interchange service bringing the billboards to an end.

Very interesting and informative.

Mark in Oregon

[JMaurer1]

It's your railroad, do whatever you want to do. I know that I run 'em and anyone who doesn't like it isn't invited back