This is a thorough and complete history of the world's largest refrigerator car operator, the Pacific Fruit Express Company. The 432-page book has 663 photos (some in color), scale car drawings, shop track layouts, system map, paint scheme drawings, and accurate color drift panels. It includes an appendix, a complete index, and a comprehensive bibliography. 
 Six years in preparation, the book is a must for the historian and serious modeler. Covered in detail are company history, management organization, turn of the century predecessor refrigerator cars, all wood and steel ice refrigerator car classes, mechanical refrigerators, trailers, flat cars and containers, car repair shops, natural ice and manufactured ice plants, western agaricultural developemnt and produce shipping, and an album of PFE in action across America.

Pacific Fruit Express: The World's Largest Refrigerated Car Company

Anthony W. Thompson

Central Valley Railroad Public

Southern Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, Volume 1. List price $59.95. 128 pages, 8.5x11" cloth with dust jacket, all color. "A stroll through the color photography archive of the Southern Pacific reveals some extremely interesting equipment. Taken by the road's marketing, purchasing, and public relations departments mainly during the 1950s and 60s, this first volume is a 100% company photography and thus not a comprehensive look at the road's roster. Plenty of piggyback and truck photography for the rubber-tire enthusiasts!"

Southern Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, Vol. 1

Morning Sun Books

Pacific Fruit Express

Robert J. Church

Bruce H. Jones

Signature Press

"This is the first volume in a series on Southern Pacific freight cars. It covers gondolas and stock cars, and the era is approximately 1900-1960, though with some coverage before and after those years. The book contains an extensive array of rosters, photos and drawings of the major car classes, along with other material as available such as construction photos, publicity photos, lettering drawings, and so forth. Survival of the cars over the years is presented, as are numerous photos of the cars in service. "Included are not only work (ballast) gondolas, but such signature cars of the SP as the 1920s GS gondolas from Enterprise (often called "Ulrich" cars); the 1940s GS gondolas, including a chapter on side extensions for wood chip, sugar beet, and other services; 1950s solid-bottom cars; and ore cars. Stock cars, from the CS-11 cars of the 1890s, through the standard Harriman cars, to the various late conversions of other cars to stock cars, are also given a full treatment. "Freight car history has a number of dimensions. Built dates, car numbers, car charactistics are only the bare bones. A complete history would also include reasons for construction of a particular car class and exploration of its design heritage; indications of the service to shippers to which a car class was assigned; and indications of the longevity of the class, culminating in rebuilding or scrapping. Though it is not possible to provide all this detail on every car class, this book does offer much of this type of history. "The large number of photos, particularly in-service images showing the cars at various times in their lives, make this a comprehensive volume. Complete roster information, including car specialties such as trucks and hand brakes, are presented in a nod to the modeling community. A few color photos are included among the 537 total photos."

Southern Pacific Freight Cars Volume 1: Gondolas and Stock Cars

Engineering & Transportation

Automotive

Signature Press, 2002

Southern Pacific Freight Cars Volume 2: Cabooses

"This is the third volume in a series on Southern Pacific freight cars. It covers two car types, automobile cars and flat cars. The era is from about 1870 until the late 1960s. The book contains an extensive array of rosters, photos and, where possible, drawings of the major car classes, along with other material as available, such as construction photos, publicity photos, lettering drawings, and so forth. Survival of the cars over the years is presented, as are numerous photos of the cars in service. The first section of the book contains an introductory section of background information, then covers the early furniture and auto cars, the cars of the 1920s, and the steel auto cars built both before and after World War II, until the end of SP auto car construction in 1955. Also included are the "hog fuel" (wood chip) cars converted from auto cars by removing the roofs. The coverage then turns to flat cars, first the 19th century cars, then the Harriman and post-Harriman designs, and then the general-service cars after 1940. Separate chapters describe the logging and pulpwood cars, piggyback flat cars, heavy-duty cars, and a variety of modified and specially equipped flat cars. These two car types make up an essential part of the history of any railroad. The book's 701 photos (27 in color), most from company and museum archives and never before published, together with 59 drawings, extensive rosters, and bibliography, make it unusually complete and authoritative. This book provides a coverage that every railroad enthusiast, and of course SP fans in particular, will enjoy. "Noted rail artist John Signor has created for the book cover painting, depicting a Southern Pacific yard scene containing the subjects of this series of books. "SP freight car historian Anthony W. Thompson has authored magazine articles on many SP cars, as well as researching and writing the car section of the book, 'Pacific Fruit Express' &amp; Volume 1 and Volume 2 in this series."

Southern Pacific Freight Cars - Volume 3 - Automobile Cars and Flat Cars

Southern Pacific, one of the West's largest and most historic railroads, operated a major fleet of freight cars. The history of those cars is extensive, and this book series is aimed at describing all types of SP freight cars and their histories. This fifth volume treats hoppers, covered hoppers, and tank cars, and its primary time period is 1865-1965, with some coverage after those years. The book opens with an introductory section of background information, then the hopper section begins with the early coal cars, followed by open-top steel hopper cars through 1965. The hopper section then turns to covered hoppers (SP regarded them as "H" classes too), from the first cars of 1946, through new designs, and into cars for special lading, such as "Airslide" and related cars. The section on tank cars begins with the early cars, including the Huntington era of the 1890s, then addresses the time of design advances in the early 1900s, followed by Harriman and post-Harriman cars. Then come the several car classes of the period 1920 to 1942. A concluding chapter presents tank cars of the 1960s. Throughout the book, roster information and builder photos, as well as in-service photos at various points in the life of car classes, document the history. Drawings and lettering diagrams of selected cars are also included. Four appendices (one on standard colors), a detailed bibliography and an index round out the book. The book's 578 photos (77 in color) of SP hoppers, covered hoppers, and tank cars, most from company and museum archives and never before published, together with 109 drawings, extensive rosters, and bibliography, make it unusually complete and authoritative.

Southern Pacific Freight Cars (Vol. 5)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Anthony W. Thompson. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Anthony W. Thompson