Fruit Growers Express

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C&O #402021, an insulated boxcar, bears the colors and markings of the Fruit Growers Express "Solid Gold" line. FGE mechanical reefers are painted tan and bear the words "Solid Cold" in blue lettering.

Fruit Growers Express (FGE) was a railroad refrigerator car leasing company that began life as a produce-hauling subsidiary of Armour and Company's private refrigerator car line. In 1919 the Federal Trade Commission ordered the company's sale for anti-trust reasons.

Incorporated on March 18, 1920 the firm took possession of 4,280 pieces of rolling stock, repairs shops at Alexandria, Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida, and numerous ice plants and other facilities scattered throughout the East Coast on May 1. By year's end, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois, New Haven, and Norfolk and Western railroads became major stockholders.

In order to compete with the Pacific Fruit Express and Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch in the west, FGE and the Great Northern Railway formed the Western Fruit Express (WFE) on July 18, 1923, a move that added 3,000 cars to the equipment pool. By 1926, FGE had expanded its service into the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest through the WFE and the Burlington Refrigerator Express (BREX), its other partly-owned subsidiary (formed in partnership with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) on May 1). That same year, FGE purchased 2,676 36–foot–long reefers from the Pennsylvania Railroad.

In February, 1928 FGE formed the National Car Company as a subsidiary to service the meat transportation market. Customers included Kahns, Oscar Mayer, and Rath.

**Fruit Growers Express Roster, 1920–1980:**^[1]
1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980
4,280	8,025	14,114	12,063	12,446	8,384	3,182

[edit] References

White, John H. (1986). The Great Yellow Fleet. San Marino, CA: Golden West Books. ISBN 0-87095-091-6.
White, Jr., John H. (1993). The American Railroad Freight Car. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-5236-6.

^ The Great Yellow Fleet, p. 16.

[edit] External links

The Florida Railroad Company Inc. / The Fruit Growers Express Company official website
Fruit Growers Express Company #35832 — photos and short history of an example of the wooden ice-type "reefers" commonly placed in service between 1920 and 1940.
Fruit Growers Express Company #56415 — photos and short history of an example of the wooden ice-type "reefers" used in the first half of the 20th century for shipping produce.

Major Private Refrigerator Car Lines of the United States