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Pacific Fruit Express( reporting mark PFE) was an American railroad refrigerator car leasing company headquartered in San Francisco. At one point, it was the largest refrigerator car operator in the world.
The company was founded on December 7, 1906 by E. H. Harriman, as a joint venture between the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads. [1] [ page needed ] It began operation on October 1, 1907, with a fleet of 6,600 refrigerator cars built by the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF). [2] In the period between 1901 and 1913, the Pacific Fruit Express was the largest refrigerator car company and transported perishable fruit and vegetables which allowed for the increased production of produce in California. [3] In 1913, executives from the PFE met with fruit growers in Lodi, California, to discuss improvements to communications and loading operations to improve service to growers. PFE executives also promised and additional 3,000 cars to avoid car shortages in previous years. [4] However, conflicts between growers and PFE about the number of available cars continued through the 1920s [5] The refrigeration cars initially used natural ice including from the Rocky Mountains and as late as the 1940s they were still harvesting ice from the Rockies to use for refrigeration. [6] One account describes the use of pond ice from Oregon from the early 1900s to 1912 when a refrigeration plant was built. [7]
| 1907 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 |
| 6,600 | 8,100 | 16,000 | 40,509 | 36,899 | 38,840 | 28,818 | 17,648 |
In 1923, the Western Pacific Railroad joined the venture by leasing its own new fleet of 2775 refrigerator cars to PFE. They were painted in standard PFE colors with only WP heralds on the cars instead of the paired Union Pacific–Southern Pacific markings. The Western Pacific cars were all retired by the late 1950s, among the last wooden refrigerator cars in PFE's fleet. WP ended its partnership with PFE in late 1967 and joined Fruit Growers Express instead. The PFE owned its own repair shops and produced its own ice for refrigeration. As of 1948, it owned and operated 18 ice production plants, supplying two million pounds of ice. [9] Competition from highway refrigerated transportation increased during this period, and the fleet decreased to 21,500 cars. [9]
Increasing competition from highway refrigeration led to decreasing profits and in March 1978, the company went out of business. [9] PFE's assets were divided equally between the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific when the company was split on April 1, 1978. At the time of the closing, the Southern Pacific maintained the name PFE and the new Union Pacific firm was named the Union Pacific Fruit Express. It is now a Union Pacific subsidiary. [10]
In 1970 a large fire destroyed the ice house owned and operated by the PFR in Tucson, Arizona. [11]
On September 1, 2022 Union Pacific closed the final Fruit Express shop in North Platte, Nebraska at Bailey Yard and all personnel and equipment were transferred to the North Platte Service Unit Car Department. [12]
Modern cars owned by PFE typically carried both UP and SP heralds and either "Union Pacific Fruit Express" or "Southern Pacific Fruit Express". The reporting marks were UPFE for cars operated by Union Pacific or SPFE for cars operated by Southern Pacific.
PFE's impact is still seen in Roseville, California, site of a major Union Pacific classification yard, where there is a road named "PFE Road". There are a pair of PFE tracks in the Union Pacific Albina Yard in Portland, Oregon and Tucson Yard Tucson, Az.[ citation needed ] PFE shops in Pocatello, Idaho are still used by the car department.[ citation needed ] A PFE boxcar is on final display in Cody Park in North Platte, Nebraska behind Centennial 6922.[ citation needed ]
PFE refrigerator cars are available as model railroad cars in several gauges, including O, HO, N, and Z. Model railcars of the PFE were available as early as 1928. [13] At the Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose, California there is a rollercoaster ride called the Pacific Fruit Express and the cars are stylized to look like wooden fruit cartons.
An episode of Tracks Ahead featured the Pacific Fruit Express in 2002. [14] A car in someone's backyard would be restored and eventually be on display at the Western Pacific Museum in Plumas County. [15]
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over 32,200 miles (51,800 km) routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, with which it shares a duopoly on transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western, Midwestern and West South Central United States.
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, 33,400 miles (53,800 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.
The Southern Pacific was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
A reefer ship is a refrigerated cargo ship typically used to transport perishable cargo, which require temperature-controlled handling, such as fruits, meat, vegetables, dairy products, and similar items.
PFE may refer to:
A refrigerator car is a refrigerated boxcar (U.S.), a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple insulated boxcars and ventilated boxcars, neither of which are fitted with cooling apparatus. Reefers can be ice-cooled, come equipped with any one of a variety of mechanical refrigeration systems, or use carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen as a cooling agent. Milk cars may or may not include a cooling system, but are equipped with high-speed trucks and other modifications that allow them to travel with passenger trains.
"Juice Trains" are the unit trains of Tropicana fresh orange juice operated by railroads in the United States.
Fruit Growers Express (FGE) was a railroad refrigerator car leasing company that began as a produce-hauling subsidiary of Armour and Company's private refrigerator car line. Armour controlled both the packing operations and the transport insulated railroad car line, and its customers had complained they were overcharged. In 1919 the Federal Trade Commission ordered the company's spinoff of Fruit Growers Express for antitrust reasons, which was accomplished by 1920.
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.
Burlington Refrigerator Express (BREX) was a railroad refrigerator car leasing company that was formed on May 1, 1926 as a joint venture between the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) and the Fruit Growers Express Company. The move helped the FGE expand its business into the Pacific Northwest, and added almost 2,700 ice bunker units to the existing car pool already under lease by the Burlington to the FGE and Western Fruit Express (WFE).
Western Fruit Express (WFE) was a railroad refrigerator car leasing company formed by the Fruit Growers Express and the Great Northern Railway on July 18, 1923 in order to compete with the Pacific Fruit Express and Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch in the Western United States. The arrangement added 3,000 cars to the FGE's existing equipment pool. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF), the Great Northern's successor. The success of the WFE led to the creation of the Burlington Refrigerator Express (BREX) in May 1926.
The Merchants Despatch Transportation Company was established in 1857 or 1858 by the American Express Company of New York. The entity was reformed as a joint stock trading company on June 1, 1869, with ownership divided among the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway (CCC&I), the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, and the New York Central Railroad (NYC), all part of the Cornelius Vanderbilt rail empire.
Two distinct and separate railroad refrigerator car companies have operated under the name Western Refrigerator Line.
The Armour Refrigerator Line was a private refrigerator car line established in 1883 by Chicago meat packer Philip Armour, the founder of Armour and Company.
The history of the Southern Pacific ("SP") stretched from 1865 to 1998.
J.R. Davis Yard is a railway hump yard in Roseville, California owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. It is located along the confluence of three of the railroad's lines: the Martinez Subdivision heading southwest to the Sacramento Valley, the Roseville Subdivision which runs over the Sierra Nevada Mountains into Nevada, and the Valley Subdivision which heads north to Lincoln and Marysville. It takes its name from the last president of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Jerry R. Davis.