What was Transport Arts Corporation

[sirenwerks]

I know the lineage of these cars but have no idea what Transport Arts Corp shipped. Was it a leasing company, a specialty hauler, what? And how many of these cars were in its fleet? I found one decent prototype pic online and Atlas did an HO scale version. Any info would be handy.

[wcfn100]

My 1979 ORER lists the following.

RB  Refrig 7158, 7160, 7162
RB  Refrig  7163-7203 (36 cars)
RB  Refrig  7165, 7169, 7172, 7196, 7197

Home points; Des Plaines, IL ,Jacksonville, FL, Peoria, IL.

No clues as to what they may have carried.

Jason

[C855B]

Corporate registration for Transport Arts lists a "G Gustafson" as agent or corporate representative, with the company founded in 1972, three years before REA dissolved. I was trying to make a connection between Gustafson and possibly his working for REA, with no success. I find it interesting that the shop date on the prototype car pictured above was 1972, so I would tend to guess that TACX was created one way or another as a means to capitalize on REA's rolling stock liquidation as they were downsizing towards the end.

[Missaberoad]

Nakina.net states the reporting mark was added 4/1972, eliminated 4/1988.

Being so late, my guess would be they were used to haul potatoes like the SLC cars... something that would require the insulation but not refrigeration (since icing facilities were mostly long gone by then)

In fact this page has a very poor 1973 photo of one in Fullerton Ca with what looks like two SLC reefers bracketing it...
http://www.trainweb.org/chris/barry.html

and a later shot of a couple in Minnesota, far too late for potato service I would think tho...
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3277315


Looks like a good weathered car for @Shipsure 

[C855B]

... Being so late, my guess would be they were used to haul potatoes like the SLC cars... something that would require the insulation but not refrigeration (since icing facilities were mostly long gone by then)

In fact this page has a very poor 1973 photo of one in Fullerton Ca with what looks like two SLC reefers bracketing it...
http://www.trainweb.org/chris/barry.html ...

Funny you would mention Fullerton, and the year. I lived nearby at the time and they were still hand-icing reefers in '73.

[central.vermont]

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3277315

Not necessarily Ryan, up in Maine they would still be shipping because a lot of the harvested taters were stored in a lot of tater houses and shipped as needed.

Jon

[Missaberoad]

Not necessarily Ryan, up in Maine they would still be shipping because a lot of the harvested taters were stored in a lot of tater houses and shipped as needed.

Jon

By late I meant the year, on the Soo at least by the mid/late 1970's most potato traffic was shipped by truck...

Funny you would mention Fullerton, and the year. I lived nearby at the time and they were still hand-icing reefers in '73.

Cool... Interested to know where they went, traffic local to California perhaps? I can't imagine icing being widespread in the 1970's.

[C855B]

Don't know destinations. The little ice house across from the ATSF station typically had 4-5 cars sitting there waiting for icing. I think they were from local citrus growers - or, rather, the handful still left in the area - who didn't have full packing house facilities. I can't precisely recall the exact month/year, but I didn't have a car yet, so would ride my bike over the hill from school (CalPoly Pomona) to watch the action there and catch up with friends. That would put it roughly late '73 or early '74. I'm all but certain this operation came to an end in '74.

EDIT - That San Luis Central car hints that this operation would have been for destinations in Mexico. Considering the time, that would make perfect sense.

[nkalanaga]

As far as I know the last reefers were iced on the BN in 1974, but old ice-bunker reefers were used for potatoes for at least a few more years.  Just like Maine, Washington potatoes were stored in climate-controlled sheds, and could be shipped year-round.  Also, a lot of Washington's potatoes were, and still are, sold for processing, so shipping by rail was viable.  Idaho spuds tend to be sold for eating, and I have no idea how they were shipped.

Today. most of the major processors have plants in the Columbia Basin, so fewer potatoes are moved by rail.  It's only a few miles from the shed to the plant.

[DominicSan]

As far as I know the last reefers were iced on the BN in 1974, but old ice-bunker reefers were used for potatoes for at least a few more years.  Just like Maine, Washington potatoes were stored in climate-controlled sheds, and could be shipped year-round.

Today. most of the major processors have plants in the Columbia Basin, so fewer potatoes are moved by rail.  It's only a few miles from the shed to the plant.

Yes that's right, most of it's moved by trucks these days I think.