Model – National Orange Packing House An HO scale model built from a kit by Barry Kristensel of Kentucky. Photos by Rich Mahaney. Jim Lancaster’s website has many prototype photos of this structure, p

Photo: Imperial Ice & Development Co. Plant No. 1 (1918) Photo from the Huntington Library: https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll2/id/5676/rec/70 Use arrows at top right to enlarge.

Photo: Cab Forward 4107 With Reefer Block This photo looks familiar. Does anyone know the author, date and/or location? The photo came from Redland’s A.K. Smiley Public Library so I’m guessing the loc

Video: The Guadalupe Local A very short video posted by Jim Pattison on the Facebook Southern Pacific Prototype Modelers group: https://www.facebook.com/100000155640815/videos/470043408295956/ The vid

Drawings Catalog Information from Terry Salmans. Contact Terry for all questions, including pricing. I’ve attached a copy of the SCRM drawing catalog in Excel file form. The file is searchable. There

Rapido/Santa Fe Mechanical Reefers In Production Courtesy of Craig Walker, a photo from the paint production line. These HO scale Rr-56 mechanical reefers should be shipping soon. More Info: https://r

Great Freeze Of 1913 A short article from Ed Murphy’s blog: https://blogs.harvard.edu/cqtwo/2010/01/05/the-great-freeze-of-1913/ This article identifies many of the area’s grower’s associations. Bob C

See Bill Messecar’s Santa Fe Railroad During The 2022 National Narrow Gauge Convention If any of you are attending this convention be sure to see Bill’s railroad. The Convention is in Tacoma, WA, on S

Video: How The Railroads Shaped Redlands, CA A fifty-four minute video courtesy of Redland’s A.K. Smiley Public Library: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wwnTnZvPV0 Originally published in 2020. South

Good Monday morning..🙄, A friend of mine and myself were discussing how refrigerator cars (past-ish and present) were run on railroads. . I told him that I had never really seen two refers running ref

Refrigerator Cars - Leaf Door Or Swing Door? I’ve often wondered what to call the doors used on refrigerator cars before the advent of plug doors. I’ve seen the terms “leaf door” and “swing door” used

Aerial Photo: Bryn Mawr Packing Houses (Circa 1950s) Photo from the Loma Linda Area Parks & Historical Society Digital Archive: https://californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp%3A224180 Descripti

Aerial Photo: PFE Tucson Icing Platform (Circa 1963) Photo from the Tucson.com website: https://tinyurl.com/4mf4h8hb Caption: “The "shorter and wider" Broadway Road railroad under construction in Tucs

Photo: Brawley Icing Platforms A photo from the Huntington Library: https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll2/id/2754/rec/62 Ice provided by the Imperial Ice & Development Company via

The Changing Face of Fruit Growing in California: 5 Ways The Industry Has Evolved Information from the Fruit Growers Supply Company: https://fruitgrowers.com/the-changing-face-of-fruit-growing-in-cali

Model: PFE R-40-4 Reefer This Tichy HO scale model was built by Charlie Duckworth. He commented: “Tom Palmer, Dick Harley and Tony Thompson all guided me through this R40-4 rebuilt. Wood platforms wer

Model: CDLX Refrigerator Car 297 I recently attended the Pacific Coast Region/National Model Railroad Association "Return To The Redwoods" Convention in Rohnert Park, CA. Some of you may have read my

Ice Manufacturing Plant Photos Photo links courtesy of Hudson Leighton. These are not PFE or Santa Fe operations, but the equipment and procedures are similar. Basically, water is frozen in cans to ma

Photo: PFE 250225 Taken by Rich Mahaney at the depot in Sebastopol, CA, this week. It’s a Class R-70-9. This class of 200 cars was built in 1954-55. In later years 140 cars received meat rails and eve

The Amazing Odyssey of CDLX (Former PFE) Refrigerator Car 297 I just returned from the Pacific Coast Region/National Model Railroad Association "Return To The Redwoods" Convention in Rohnert Park, CA.