The beer that actually made Milwaukee famous

[wacampbell]

I am wondering what time frame were these wooden beer reefers used? I see a NEW date of 4-38 on some of the cars. So would they be suitable for use on a 1950's route, or 1960's ? 1970s?

[buzz456]

I read, recently, that Billboard advertising on freight cars was banned by the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1937. Accordingly these cars were no longer interchanged between roads.

I wonder what happened subsequently to these cars: were they repainted into road liveries (assuming roads owned them) or if they were leased were they then sold on?

This depended on the owner of the car. For example, the C&NW did a lot of advertising for local midwest creameries and farm related companies on their NWX reefers. The basic rule was that if the product advertised on the car was not shipped in it - this was a violation of the new rule. The C&NW repainted the cars with their then standard gray sides.

A private owner car like Miller Brewing or Swift Packing could keep their special lettering, as long as only their products were shipped in them. That is why even in the 60's there were new insulated box cars lettered for Johnson's Wax and carried the reporting marks of JWAX - pretty clever advertising! Hamm's Brewing had at least 2 very colorful blue/white paint schemes on 50' cars in the 60's. The problem with them was that they were big 'advertisments' for kids to raid the cars for free beer!

[buzz456]

The practice of painting advertisements on the freight cars of shippers and car owners dates well back into the 19th century. But in the 1920s, leasing companies realized they could contract with shippers to pass back usage payments beyond some agreed minimum. This led to an explosion of car leasing and, as this book amply demonstrates, a corresponding explosion of billboard decoration of refrigerator cars. Railroad objections, especially to the usage payment rebates, led to hearings before the Interstate Commerce Commission, which, taking effect in 1937, banned most of the leasing practices which had generated the car leasing bonanza. After World War II, a restrained billboard style made a modest comeback. Car-side advertising was only a detail of that ICC decision. But because it was the basis for a remarkable diversity of refrigerator car paint schemes in the era, the photographs of these cars have long held an interest for historians, railfans, and model railroaders Thoroughly documented here are hundreds of these paint schemes, together with details of the leasing companies and car builders associated with the individual cars. More than 440 photographs, most previously unpublished, enrich this book. Even a modest amount of color information was available and is included. The authors, both recognized authorities on railroad freight car history, have done a superb job of collecting and organizing the information presented here. The book is sure to appeal to modelers and to many who are interested in railroad history.

[cnwfan]

Here's a couple of books from Kalmbach Publishing that briefly cover billboard reefers in one of their chapters. Both are easy reads, and do a good job covering their subject areas. Lots of useful information for "virtual" modeling. I pickup these subject books when they go on sale at the Kalmbach store.

Livestock and Meat Packing
https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/12473

Produce Traffic
https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/12500


And found this book on Amazon about billboard reefers. Book is published by Signature Press, and they are a highly respected publisher of railroad books.

https://www.amazon.com/Billboard-Refrig ... 1930013221

[buzz456]

How about some bacon? Everything is better with bacon.