Western Dairy , why not in N ?

[up1950s]

I stumbled across these today . I often thought why are there so many milk cars in the NE and so few in the west , still don't understand that . Is this or was these Western Dairy real schemes ? I like the express reefer in green . Would be nice if Athearn did these in N .

[wcfn100]

The GARE reporting marks were new to me.  Looks like they were changed to GARX in the mid-30's.

Jason

[sd45elect2000]

Prior to 1915 GARE (later GATX) stood for German- American Transportation or railway equipment. In the 30s you are correct , all non railroads were classed under the then new AAR as "X" cars. This is the same company (General American) that built and operated Rapido's new meat reefer.

Randy

[nkalanaga]

Part of the reason milk cars were rare in the West was that settlement patterns were different.  The NE was settled by small farmers, and coastal or river cities.  Any one farmer would be hard pressed to provide enough milk for a large village, much less a city, so the milk had to be collected, then processed at a central dairy.

In the West, much of the region had no cities until the railroads came, farms were generally larger, and primitive mechanization had arrived.  A dairy farm could have enough cows, and process enough milk, for a town.  Thus, the only transportation was from the farm to the store/milkman, and that was usually in bottles.  So, no milk cars, and the milk was transported in ordinary reefers, if it went by rail at all.  Whenever possible there would be a dairy farm close enough for the milk to be delivered by wagon, and later by truck.

Today, the industry has consolidated further, and giant farms, often owned by corporations, can serve everybody within a hundred miles or more.

[cfritschle]

Part of the reason milk cars were rare in the West was that settlement patterns were different.  The NE was settled by small farmers, and coastal or river cities.  Any one farmer would be hard pressed to provide enough milk for a large village, much less a city, so the milk had to be collected, then processed at a central dairy.

In the West, much of the region had no cities until the railroads came, farms were generally larger, and primitive mechanization had arrived.  A dairy farm could have enough cows, and process enough milk, for a town.  Thus, the only transportation was from the farm to the store/milkman, and that was usually in bottles.  So, no milk cars, and the milk was transported in ordinary reefers, if it went by rail at all.  Whenever possible there would be a dairy farm close enough for the milk to be delivered by wagon, and later by truck.

Today, the industry has consolidated further, and giant farms, often owned by corporations, can serve everybody within a hundred miles or more.

True, but some milk did move by rail in the 1890s to sometime in the 1920s in the Boise Valley, but not in dedicated milk cars. 

The interurban lines would pick up milk cans and other farm commodities for delivery to the population centers.  Here is an article that confirms what an old timer told me years ago.  He said that he used to haul his milk cans to an interurban stop/station between Star and Eagle, Idaho.  http://www.lovecaldwell.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/CABLE-CAR-REPORT.pdf

Carter

[ncbqguy]

Chicago had a relatively large railroad milk business, at least up until the 1920s. 
The Chicago. & North Western northwest line had so much business from Harvard, IL that it was known as "The Milky Way" before customer Mars Candy Company named the candy bar after the route their milk cars used to bring in diary products to their Chicago factory.  The celestial tie -in to the family name was a happy coincidence. 
Note that milk cars generally did not have ice bunkers and roof hatches and relied on the chilled milk to stay cool in the insulated glass tanks.   Milk cans similarly might have had ice scattered on them but did not ride in bunker cars. 
AFAIK the CB&Q, SOO, and MILW use RR owned cars; the C&NW ran Mars and Borden owned or leased equipment in addition to C&NW cars. 
Charlie Vlk

[nkalanaga]

Carter:  I'm not surprised.  There were probably other areas out west where small farms shipped milk by rail to a central processor as well.  It wasn't nearly as common as in the Northeast, but it did happen.

Silverton, CO had its own dairy for years.  Instead of shipping the milk from the farm to the dairy by rail, the farm received its feed by rail.  In the summer there was enough grass to feed the cows, but every fall the D&RGW had to haul in enough hay to keep them fed until the railroad reopened in the spring.  It wasn't practical to keep the Silverton line open due to avalanches, and the few times they tried snowsheds they didn't survive.