Athearn HO 50′ Ex-Post Mechanical Reefer, WFCX #8473

MODEL FEATURES: 

• Body-mounted McHenry^® operating scale knuckle couplers
• Fully assembled and ready-to-run
• Precision machined metal wheels
• Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track
• Painted and printed for realistic decoration
• Weighted for optimum performance
• Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track
• Minimum radius: 15″

 

PROTOTYPE AND BACKGROUND INFO:

The railroads responded to the migration from ice stored in bunkers as a primary cooling system to the diesel mechanical systems. The mechanical reefers could keep a more regular temperature, often times colder then what the ice bunker cars could at the time. Initially mechanical reefers were used primarily in frozen food service. This would soon change as mechanical refrigeration began to replace ice-based systems. Soon after, mechanical refrigeration units replaced the “armies” of personnel required to re-ice the cars.