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In the 1920s,
the Pfaudler Company and General American Car Company manufactured
hundreds of 40' wood sheathed, insulated milk cars. Designed as
bulk milk carriers, the cars were built around two 6,000 gallon
glass lined tanks and a brine cooling system, designed to keep
the milk at a constant 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Riding on passenger
car trucks, these unique wood sided cars were often painted Pullman
green to match the color of the most common passenger cars of
the era. These specialty cars hauled bulk milk into the early
1950s .
In 1932,
Pfaudler and General American merged and became the General American
Pfaudler Corporation. Reporting marks became G.P.E.X. instead
of the earlier G.A.R.E. of General American.
According to the General American Car Company brochure of 1928
these cars are used for:
• Transporting whole sweet milk from country receiving plants
to city distribution plants.
• Hauling concentrated milk from “feeder” plants
to main condensing plants for “finishing off” the product.
• Shipping sweet cream from rich dairying sections to the
metropolitan markets.
• Transporting ice cream “mix” from the milk producing
regions to the city plants for freezing.
• Transporting skim milk from country plants to various users.
General American
cited a number of advantages that this design had over the traditional
“milk can” cars:Loading Advantages and Savings
• Milk is loaded directly from the cooler to the car through
sanitary piping.
• Can washing is eliminated.
• Avoids spillage which is incurred in can shipping.
• Elimination of cans reduces investment.
• Labor is reduced in every step of loading and unloading
. . . .
• No icing is necessary, eliminating cost of ice and labor.
• One refrigerator milk car has a capacity equal to three
of the usual milk can cars.
• Eliminates losses due to frozen milk adhering to sides
of cans in severe winter weather.
• There is approximately one fifth the surface in a refrigerator
milk car as compared to cans required to carry a like amount.
Consequently, the adherage of milk in refrigerator cars is but
a negligible fraction of the usual loss in cans.
Quality and Safety
• Authorities agree that glass lined receptacles are ideal
for storing or shipping human foods. Quality is maintained.
• Bacteria count is controlled, not merely influenced as
under the old transportation methods.
• Average variation of temperature of milk in transit, has
been negligible during periods as great as one hundred hours under
the most severe climatic conditions.
Economic Advantages
• Dairy products can be shipped distances many times greater
than under the old methods.
• Dairying regions are benefited because the output of the
producers is maintained at higher quality in shipment and this
is reflected in their financial returns.
• Because of the money savings and improvement in quality
of product through use of the refrigerator milk car, the dairy
industry profits. The benefits are cumulative.
A most interesting and informative article on milk cars was written
by Bob Schleicher and published in the August 2005 issue of "Railmodel
Journal" magazine.
Key Features
- Fully
assembled and ready to operate
- Separately
applied brake wheel
- Screw
mounted trucks for accurate tracking
- Truck
mounted magnetically operated knuckle couplers
- Plastic
wheels
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