Wooden Express Reefer REA Cars and REA Master List for Arkansas

[kevin_herrington22]

Hello All,

Two questions. Does anyone have a list of all the REA stations that were in Arkansas or specifically ones that MP served.

Also, would Wooden Express Reefers serve all REA stations or would they stop at only certain ones.

Thanks,

Ryan Smith

[Bud Moss]

I do not know about REA stations in Arkansas, but regarding the second question, REA was not an LCL service so I assume an express reefer was used to move a shipment from the origin to a specific customer. To stop at every REA station would sort of go against the meaning of express. Mike Adams commented years ago that the MP would use every express reefer they could find, except those used to transport fish, during the strawberry rush each spring. I again assume that cars of strawberries went from loading houses to the consignee rather than a feww bushels of strawberries being picked up a stations along the way. Jerry Michels

[kevin_herrington22]

@2100Northern wrote:

I do not know about REA stations in Arkansas, but regarding the second question, REA was not an LCL service so I assume an express reefer was used to move a shipment from the origin to a specific customer. To stop at every REA station would sort of go against the meaning of express. Mike Adams commented years ago that the MP would use every express reefer they could find, except those used to transport fish, during the strawberry rush each spring. I again assume that cars of strawberries went from loading houses to the consignee rather than a feww bushels of strawberries being picked up a stations along the way. Jerry Michels

Jerry,

Essentially, the wooden reefers would have been used when there was a special need for them like during strawberry picking, correct? They were not something that was regularly run on trains but used only when needed. I thought the REA would ship LCL items to all of their stations and a wooden reefer would be used if someone (including LCL) was having something shipped that needed to be kept cool.

Thanks,

Ryan

[Bud Moss]

That is my understanding. I am not saying REA did not do LCL, but that would be regular express, not perishable loads. I am very open to rebuttals and an improvement to my information. Jerry

[John Hardcastle]

This topic has been a great read. I did not know about the spring strawberry rush. What a great addition to an operations session. Can anybody direct me to where I can learn more about this strawberry shipping so I can add it to my small layouts operation?

[Bud Moss]

On the MoPac they were centered around Arkansas. Probably others too like the Rio Grande Valley. I have not studied the subject, I learned a lot about them ‘at he knee of’ Mike Adams. It was interesting to know that they culled cars that carried fish. Who wants fishy strawberries! Here i at least one site. Poorly written and edited.http://original.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/214/15768/april-1991-page-26. Jerry

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