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Sliding door reefers?

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  • #1

    Sliding door reefers?

    I recently bought a couple lots of MDC 36' boxcars from ebay in various states of repair. I see these came with separately applied roof hatches like a reefer, but I've never seen a reefer with a sliding door?

    Does anyone have any photographic evidence of a sliding door reefer?

    Or maybe, do the roof hatches just make it a ventilated boxcar?

    Or should I just remove the hatches from the boxcars that have them installed and call them boxcars?

    Not quite sure what to do with the hatches so any advice would be useful. Even tho I'm not from Missouri, I'm still a show-me kind of guy, so I'd love to see a pic of a boxcar with a sliding door AND roof hatches if one exists.
    Ian
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  • #2
    PRR had these. There was a conventional reefer door behind the sliding 'boxcar' door: http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRd...ffrt&sz=sm&fr= I think those were relatively unique to PRR.

    dave
    Modeling 1890s (because the voices in my head told me to)

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    • #3
      I don’t believe you are meant to apply the hatches. If my memory serves me correctly, MDC used the same sprue of details for various kits and you’re meant to use only the ones appropriate to your kit. I might be able to check whether I’m right when I get home.

      Mike
      _________________________________________________

      Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin

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      • #4
        That makes sense, Michael. These cars are used tho, and the previous owner glued them on some of the cars. I was thinking I'd take them off, but if there were more examples of cars with both sliding doors and roof hatches, maybe I could just decal them for those. The car Dave posted really doesn't look much like the MDC cars. So I'm thinking I will probably just take the hatches off.
        Ian

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        • #5
          Beer reefers often had reefer doors but no ice hatches.

          dave
          Modeling 1890s (because the voices in my head told me to)

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          • #6
            Dave:

            So those hatchless beer reefers weren't iced? Was beer iced at all?

            Andre

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            • #7
              I think that's right, no ice for beer, just keep it "cool".

              dave
              Modeling 1890s (because the voices in my head told me to)

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              • #8
                Well I'll be... I learn something(s) new everyday.

                Given I want to be in the early 1880s for my mental peace of mind (in view of my fictionalized history), I think I'm going to be very limited as to beer reefers: There weren't many then, and I doubt I'll find appropriate decals/transfers for same.

                Oh well... I am freelancing, right?

                Andre

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                • #9
                  Art Griffin had a lot of beer reefers in his inventory, and I think Clover House also has beer reefer dry transfers. Heinz also ran cars that had reefer doors but no ice hatches, and you can get Westerfield kits and decals for those, -I think-. (You might have to go to the secondary market if those are not still in production.)

                  dave
                  Modeling 1890s (because the voices in my head told me to)

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                  • #10
                    Well, my earlier 2000-2003 or so explorations of actually modeling TOC19 were in Sn3. (Got so far as the all bench work and backdrop completed, and even a bit of track in place!) I didn't necessarily desire beer reefers then.

                    Actually modeling TOC19 (this time in HO) first came back onto the radar screen back about 2018, I think. I was too late to the HO scale TOC19 party to have taken advantage of Art Griffin's offerings. However, I think I have most of the Clover House reefer sets that were applicable for the 1880s which includes some beer reefers, but I was going to do the late 1880s at the time I purchased them. With my theme shift, I really would like for it to be the early 1880s, but it's all a mind game anyway. We shall see!

                    Andre

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                    • #11
                      It's not beer, but John Nehrich said railroads started carrying milk in the 1840s. He had an article "Quick Milk Cars" in the January 1997 MR. He said the early 40 ft cars were insulated like express reefers and had no ice hatches or bunkers because the milk cans were covered by crushed ice. He said the Rutland converted freight reefers to milk cars by removing the leak prone ice bunkers and hatches.

                      I'm not sure if John may have at one time also converted a couple MDC 36ft reefers and/or boxcars (changing to boxcar doors to reefer doors) to milk cars. My freelanced C&V RR has one 36ft MDC milk car based on that article because shorter cars look better on the tiny layout.

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                      • #12
                        Are the doors separate parts in HO scale? That would be nice. I'm in N scale, and the whole body is one cast piece. So putting reefer doors on would be major surgery. Removing the roof hatches will be much easier.

                        I have seen insulated boxcars with reefer doors and no roof hatches before.
                        Ian

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                        • #13
                          So I stumbled upon this webpage completely by accident:

                          http://www.hawaiianrailway.org/histo...atGotAway.html

                          Lo! A ventilated boxcar with roof hatches and sliding doors. Granted, the roof hatches aren't exactly like a reefer's hatches. But it is a precedent.

                          Ian

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