Western Fruit Express

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Western Fruit Express all-steel ventilator · refrigerator car #67899, bearing the logo of the Great Northern Railway, awaits its next assignment in July, 1951.
Western Fruit Express all-steel ventilator · refrigerator car #67899, bearing the logo of the Great Northern Railway, awaits its next assignment in July, 1951.

Western Fruit Express (WFE) was a railroad refrigerator car leasing company formed by the Fruit Growers Express and the Great Northern Railway on July 18, 1923 in order to compete with the Pacific Fruit Express and Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch in the Western United States. The arrangement added 3,000 cars to the FGE's existing equipment pool.

The success of the WFE led to the creation of the Burlington Refrigerator Express (BREX) in May, 1926.


Western Fruit Express Roster, 1930–1970:

  1930   1940   1950   1960   1970  
  7,177   7,036   5,265   5,702   5,893  

Source: The Great Yellow Fleet, p. 17.

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links


Major Private Refrigerator Car Lines of the United States
American Refrigerator Transit Co. · Armour Refrigerator Line · Burlington Refrigerator Express ·
Fruit Growers Express · General American Transportation Corporation · Hormel and Co. · Merchants Despatch · North Western Refrigerator Line · Pacific Fruit Express · Railway Express Agency ·
Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch · St. Louis Refrigerator Car Co. · Swift Refrigerator Line · Tropicana Products ·
Union Refrigerator Transit Line · Western Fruit Express · Western Refrigerator Line