John Deere BO Orchard Tractor
John Deere BO Orchard Tractor
A post by Elisabeth Shelton on the Facebook John Deere Number One group.
She comments:
Deere's BR and BO tractors were introduced in 1935 as adaptations of the successful B model. The BR was a standard tractor, while the BO was specifically designed for orchards with features like differential brakes. About 10,000 of these tractors were built, combined, not including those tractors that were converted into Lindeman crawlers.
These versatile tractors could handle various tasks, from plowing and disking to powering other implements. Despite initial power limitations, a 1939 upgrade enhanced performance. The BR and BO remained popular until production ceased in 1947.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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PE 498 At Leffingwell Packing House
PE 498 At Leffingwell Packing House
Description:
PE 498 Whittier Line End of Leffingwell Branch.
The day is January 7, 1948 and the Railroad Boosters are conducting their 64th fan trip, a tour of the electrified freight only PE La Habra Line to Fullerton and Yorba Linda. Star of the day is the recently modernized Blimp Combo car 498. Here car 498 is seen at the end of the Leffingwell Spur next the ranch's packing house.
Photo by Al Haij from the Jeffrey Moreau Collection at the OERM Archives.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Sunkist Advertisement - "Orange Farmers' Sale"
Sunkist Advertisement - "Orange Farmers' Sale"
A post by David Eck.
He comments:
This ad appeared in the Grand Island Independent in Grand Island, Nebraska on Friday, April 19, 1912. The pitch: "One trainload" of oranges is headed to Grand Island with choice oranges from "5,000 prize orange groves" and will be sold at "special prices."
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Re: Model: PFE 46348 (R-40-20)
Model: PFE 46348 (R-40-20)
Dick Harley commented:
The most glaring (to me) inaccurate part of that R-40-20 model is the height of the door.? Among 40-ft PFE ice reefers, only the R-40-23, -24, and -25 classes had 4-ft doors that extended that close to the roof.? That's why I recommend building an R-40-20 model from an R-40-10 model, though the R-40-20 is an inch or two taller.
Less obvious is the welded underframe of an R-40-23 is not the same as the riveted underframe of an R-40-20, -14 or -10.
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PFE Icing Platform - Council Bluffs
PFE Icing Platform - Council Bluffs
A post from the Facebook Union Pacific Museum group.
Description:
This photo shows an aerial view of the Council Bluffs Pacific Fruit Express (PFE) ice dock and ice plant on May 28, 1969.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Re: Postcard: Glendora Packing House
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Re: Postcard: Glendora Packing House
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Postcard: Glendora Packing House
Postcard: Glendora Packing House
Postcard was mailed in 1914.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Re: SP Cab Forward 4275 With Reefer Block
Second 934 was an eastward Third Class freight train out of San Jose and looks like it has reefers for Watsonville Jct. and Salinas.
?
Cliff Prather
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Discover The Stories Behind The Groves!
Discover The Stories Behind The Groves!
A post by Eric Oliphant on Facebook.
He comments:
Join us at Marcy Library on May 14th at 3:00 PM for a fascinating talk on Riverside's citrus history, presented by Citrus State Historic Park. Fun for all ages!
It's a free event. 6927 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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SP Cab Forward 4275 With Reefer Block
SP Cab Forward 4275 With Reefer Block
A post by Tomas Torres on the Facebook Southern Pacific Prototype Modelers group.
Description:
Between Morgan Hill and San Jose. Early 1950s.
Gene Deimling Collection.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Re: A Visit To The Corona Model Railroad Society
The Corona Model Railroad Society always looks forward to welcoming guests during our public hours, every Saturday 10 to 2. Let a CMRS member know you saw the club via Bob’s post.?
Bruce Hendrick President, CMRS
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A Visit To The Corona Model Railroad Society
A Visit To The Corona Model Railroad Society
Saturday, I traveled to Corona, CA, to visit the Corona Model Railroad Society.
This is a large, HO scale club with a fairly complete model railroad representing Corona, Fullerton and Riverside in 1949.
The emphasis is on Corona and its highly developed citrus industry.
The structures, scenery and trackwork all are first class and many of the structures are replicas of actual buildings from that era.
The club is located in Corona Heritage Park along with an excellent municipal museum. The museum has many citrus industry exhibits, an art gallery, three antique stores and a botanical garden. Admission is free.
Club Website:
On Facebook:
Corona Heritage Park & Museum Website:
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
     
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Citrus Memories
A post by Mike Kunert on the Facebook I Remember The Inland Empire group.
He comments:
The latest memory in my developing electric train town I call Sixties is bittersweet, but it deserves to be included.
I still remember the scent—orange blossoms in the spring, sweet and sharp, carried on the wind like a promise. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, the groves were everywhere in the Inland Empire. Grand Terrace, Redlands, Mentone, Riverside… You didn’t need a map—just follow your nose.
My grandfather owned a grove in Grand Terrace during the 1950s, though we didn’t live there. Then in 1960, he moved us out to a grove in Mentone—right on Crafton Avenue. Our house sat next to a giant oil tank that stored fuel for the smudge pots. Every winter, when frost threatened the crop, that oil would be pumped out and burned in rows of metal pots under the trees to keep them warm. The smell of that smoke—heavy, oily, and mixed with citrus—is still with me.
Every two weeks, we irrigated the grove. I can still picture those early mornings—opening the standpipes and watching the water flood down the furrows. That’s when the real work began: chasing the water between the rocks, scrambling to plug the gopher holes that swallowed it up. We didn’t use rags or tricks—we filled those holes with rocks, one by one, trying to force the water to stay where it belonged.
It wasn’t glamorous work, but it was honest. That grove was more than just land—it was our home, our rhythm, our way of life. You could walk out the back door and lose yourself in the rows of trees, each one with its own shadow and sound.
But even then, the groves were disappearing. From the late ’40s to the early ’70s, nearly two-thirds of the Inland Empire’s citrus groves were gone. The bulldozers came. The water still flowed, but the trees were not—replaced by houses, fences, and streets with names that tried to remember what had just been buried.
My grandfather never complained. He just kept tending the trees that were left. “They won’t be here forever,” he’d say. “But we were.”
I don’t drive down Crafton much anymore. But I think of it often—the smell of blossoms, the hiss of irrigation water, the stubborn rocks and gopher holes. And I remember. Because that grove, and that time, still lives in me.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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The "Chinese Pack"
An illustration posted by Michael Bussee.
Description:
A sketch by Tom Young, based on an earlier drawing by Rose Maxwell in the California Citrograph, shows a Chinese worker seated between navel orange trees, carefully wrapping fruit and placing it in a crate. The sketch is from the booklet, A History of Citrus in the Riverside Area, published by the Riverside Municipal Museum, revised edition 1989.
My Notes:
This was a type of packing technique credited to Chinese pickers which resulted in a crate of oranges of different sizes that was tight and stable and could make it to eastern markets in relatively good condition.
But this was a long time ago, before the Chinese were driven from the industry and when a lot of packing was done either in the field or on a depot platform.
Another term for this was the "heavy pack".
As the industry evolved it became standard practice to pack only one size of fruit in a packing crate.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Re: Video: Model PFE Reefer Block
Always a pleasure to see Bryan's layout.? ?Thank you.
Having owned? a HO SP Trainmaster previously, I always wondered why the long end was forward.
Lou Adler
On Wed, May 7, 2025 at 12:17?PM Bob Chaparro via <chiefbobbb= [email protected]> wrote:
Video: Model PFE Reefer Block
From Brian Moore in Plymouth, England:
Notice the weathering variations on the reefers.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Video: Model PFE Reefer Block
Video: Model PFE Reefer Block
From Brian Moore in Plymouth, England:
Notice the weathering variations on the reefers.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Re: John Deere 60 Orchard Tractor
Since you brought up the topic of orchard tractors, here's a couple of photos of my McCormick-Deering O-4 Orchard Tractor and John Bean Orchard Sprayer at a show this past summer.? My dad and I just finished restoring the sprayer in the spring of 2024.
?
?
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Unidentified PFE/WP Reefer
Unidentified PFE/WP Reefer
A post on the Facebook Dorothea Lange group.
Taken in 1937.
These cars were built to PFE blueprints and were operated and maintained by PFE.
PFE paid a fixed monthly charge to WP, and in turn collected all mileage payments resulting from operation of the cars.
There were WP 2,775 cars, numbered PFE 50001 to 52775. These had wood-framed superstructures and exteriors.
WP cars were never different in color from the rest of the PFE fleet. They were a color close to Armour Yellow when new and in 1929 were repainted light orange.
By 1950, less than 1,000 of the WP cars remained in revenue service
During 1952–1953 the remaining cars were rebuilt with steel-framed superstructures and air circulation fans. The sides remained wood. They were renumbered as 55001 - 55899.
There were still 31 of the WP cars in the July 1963 ORER. But the series was gone by 1965.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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John Deere 60 Orchard Tractor
John Deere 60 Orchard Tractor
A post by Mike Broten on the Facebook John Deere Number One group.
He comments:
This was a unique machine designed for specific tasks within orchards and vineyards.
Introduced in 1953, the 60 Orchard was a successor to the styled Model AO tractor.? Production only lasted until 1956, making it a relatively rare tractor.
The most striking feature was the low profile. This allowed the tractor to work efficiently under overhanging branches in orchards without causing damage.
William Wood commented:
The base styled AO, 60-O and 620-O tractors had no shields. To become a grove tractor, shields (spears), wheel covers, engine screens and operator shields had to be ordered. Each of those options were added "Al-La-Carte" from the sheet on the order book, for an individual tractor. There are, also. notes indicating things like specific wheel size, that must be ordered. I have advertising literature that show specific illustrations of both "orchard" and "grove" variations.
Bob Chaparro
Moderator
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Bob Chaparro
Nate Pierce
