Builder: robwd12
Region: Americas
Category entered:
Year entered: 2023
Brand of building bricks used:
LEGO
Since 2026, the Brick Train Awards have accepted models created with other LEGO®-compatible construction brick systems.
About Fruit Growers Express R-7 Reefer by robwd12
The R-7 class of Refrigerator cars were originally built for the Pennsylvania Railroad starting in 1914, eventually numbering a fleet of 3,500 cars. Developed from the X23 Boxcar, the 40-foot refrigerator cars had a distinctive outside bracing to support their wooden sheathing. In 1920, with the formation of Fruit Growers Express, most of the PRR's refrigerator fleet, including the R-7s, was transferred to FGE. FGE kept the cars in service until the late 1950s. With their older, thinner insulation, they spent the last years of their lives in ventilator service or for less perishable commodities.