National Orange Packing House - Riverside, CA

Photos courtesy of J. S. Matlack:

This structure burned down in 1990.

Other Structure

This is just to the north (railroad east) of National Orange:

Apparently the structure has several uses.

Jim Lancaster noted, "The 1951/52 Sanborn map has a very small notation of "Furne W Ho." The SP 1974 SPINS book shows it as Crest Door Co."

Bill Messecar noted, "In the later Sanborn maps it is identified at the Lerner Riverside Grain and Milling Co. In the 1908 Sanborn map it is just identified as an Orange packing house."

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

Model: SFRD Reefer 37346

Courtesy of J. S. Smatlak:

An HO scale Rr-30 reefer sits in front of Rastello Wholesale Fruits and Vegetables.

Photo by North American Prototype Modelers.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

Did clean outs occur before or after the cars returned "home"?? As an example, would a PFE car be cleaned in NYC after being unloaded, or would it run empty and dirty back to California?? Or, is this one of those "it depends" questions?

Here is some information I have gathered.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

++++

Refrigerator Car Clean-out Track Elements

Infrastructure & Design

·???????? Water supply

·???????? Drainage system

·???????? Tilted track

Equipment & Supplies

·???????? Water supply piping

·???????? Hot water tank

·???????? Disinfectant? and deodorizing equipment and chemicals

Tools

·???????? Pry bars and hammers

·???????? Hoses and nozzles

·???????? Brooms

·???????? Ladders

Scenic Elements

·???????? Trash barrels or bins

·???????? Trash and dunnage piles

·???????? Ice piles

·???????? Fire pile

++++

There were conditioning tracks for empties at terminals and some yards. These were cleaned and conditioned by car department employees. After being released, a report was sent to the Division Car Distributor located in the Superintendent’s office so he/she could assign certain type cars as requested by shippers for loading for the locals to spot. This is Santa Fe handling, such as at Fullerton, clean empties could come from the conditioning tracks at Los Angeles or San Bernardino.

Bob Drenk

+++

About all that is needed for a Reefer Clean Out Track is a paved walkway alongside, to bring carts of repair and cleaning supplies alongside. Reefer operators like PFE, SFRD, FGE (and WFEX, BREX) and ART did this cleanout themselves, rather than rely on the railroads to do it, so in most cases cleanout would take place at facilities of those owners, not in local yards.

The cleanout tracks typically had a "burn" pile where scrap wood and paper was burned, or in later days, a row of dumpsters. Other features included a shed for brooms and tools, water hoses, steam cleaning and compressed air equipment, welding equipment, and ladders or a fixture for accessing the tops of cars. The area between the rails and around the track sometimes would have large drainage grates.

Once clean, cars were conditioned in another area of the yard. Conditioning was the process of repairing and preparing cars for outbound loading.? Hardware was repaired or replaced and seals, hatch covers and plugs checked.

There is a photo of the Roseville PFE cleanout track in the PFE book, 2nd edition, Page 428.

Tony Thompson

?

Very good Christine sometimes watches that problem.

I took these screen shots from an episode of American Pickers originally shown 11/25/19. Best I could tell they were in Colorado. The only car number I saw was SFRD 4371 Rr-33 in a group of three or four steel reefers. Unfortunately there weren't any good views of the straight-line map.
Dave Churry
Portage, IN

Wabash Icing Platform In 1929

From the Decatur, IL, Herald & Review archives

This appears to be a staged photo as the ice shown in the bunker is crushed beyond what breaking-up the ice block could accomplish and there are no other crew members in sight.

His tool is known as a pickerel, or pickeroon. There were other names for this tool as well. The ice block is on a bridge, which is locked into the edge of the icing platform.

Notice the ventilator hood pulled back from the hatch opening.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

MTC Plug Door Close-Up

A photo from the Steve Priest Collection with good detail. Notice what appears to be temperature gauges to the lower left.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

If you are interested in Anaheim, I would definitely recommend visiting the Anaheim Heritage Center if you can.

They have many of the area Sanborn maps, and other historical maps and photos are also available. The staff have been very helpful to me over the years.

It’s located right next to the Muzeo (old Carnegie library).

Paul Wilfong

I can't speak to the exact class, but the car has US Standard safety appliances so picture is indeed post 1911.
Larry King

Truss Rod SFRD Reefer

This is a link to a photo on the City of Temecula's Flicker collection:

Anyone care to guess the possible classes for this reefer?

The caption notes that the photo probably is from the 1890s. I believe it's later.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

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As the moderator pointed out, you can access Sanborn maps through the Los Angeles Public Library website:??You'll need an?LAPL library card number and password for access. The library card is available to any California resident but has to be applied for and picked up in person at a branch of the LAPL. The website provides on-line access to maps for California and other states. Most maps date to the 1910s or 1920s but many maps have been updated to the early 1950s.

Jesse,

Contact me offline. I am modeling the Anaheim Depot are and I have a lot of pictures and material that we can share.

Per Harwe
perha45 AT yahoo DOT com

Jesse, since you indicate the desire to model Anaheim I assume you are located in the Orange County area. If so, the archives located in the basement of the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana is another source of Sanborn maps, along with many photos. I found the archivists there very helpful and knowledgeable and they are willing to make photocopies.

But before attempting use of Sanborn maps you probably need to pin down not only your modeling era (Sanborn maps are dated) but also a more specific location than just “Anaheim” which is a big area. A good free online source for anyone modeling a specific era and locale is historicaerials.com. A particular area such as Anaheim can be viewed via old aerial photos switching from year to year. The road overlay option is very helpful in pinpointing locations. It is possible to “follow the tracks” into areas that might be candidates for modeling. Higher res images can be purchased if desired once a specific time & place are determined. That information can also used to find the proper Sanborn with more detailed information.

Anyone modeling a specific area should always seek out the local history association and the city’s library for a local history room. Anaheim has both and they both have an online presence, but initially consider an in-person visit as the curators can serve as your guide.

You already mentioned citrus packing houses. Anyone modeling Southern California should bookmark on their computers Historic Packing Houses of Southern California, Dr Jim Lancaster’s definitive website on the subject. Merely select the county and then city and you will have a wealth of valuable information.

In the case of Anaheim plan to pop over to the Anaheim Packing District, now a food court, to get a sense of the architecture.

Bruce Hendrick
Brea

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