We try to be Friendly to our international customers especially with our:  UPS Standard to Canada,
Very nice HO scale rolling stock for your model railroad  

Ice-cooled reefer cars were some of the longest lasting freight cars in service on the railroads.   Not because of their expense or any technological advantage but simply because the infrastructure around them had been built expressly for their efficient usage. 

Construction of new 36' cars lasted from about 1890 to the 1910's.  By the early 1920's most new boxcars were 40' long, although like the earlier 36' cars they were normally 8-1/2' high. The 40' long - 10' high "standard" boxcar didn't come along until 1936 or so.

Freight cars with arch-bar trucks and without steel underframes (that is, having wood substructures and truss-rods) were banned from interchange service in the 1930's. Many 36' boxcars at that time were old enough that it wasn't worthwhile to add steel underframes and new trucks, so many were scrapped at that time. 

As for reefers, however meat packing plants had been built 100+ years ago with door openings in the walls spaced to serve several reefers at the same time.   Because of that, shorter than 40' reefers continued to be used in meat service into the1960's.

Usually, 36' reefers are called that because of their internal dimensions, actually they have the same external length as a 40' boxcar.

The practice of painting advertisements on the freight cars of shippers and car owners dates well back into the 19th century. But in the 1920s, leasing companies realized they could contract with shippers to pass back usage payments beyond some agreed minimum.

This led to an explosion of car leasing and, a corresponding explosion of billboard decoration of refrigerator cars. Railroad objections, especially to the usage payment rebates, led to hearings before the Interstate Commerce Commission, which, taking effect in 1937, banned most of the leasing practices which had generated the car leasing bonanza. After World War II, a restrained billboard style made a modest comeback.

Car-side advertising was only a detail of that ICC decision. But because it was the basis for a remarkable diversity of refrigerator car paint schemes in the era, the photographs of these cars have long held the interest of historians, railfans, and Model Railroader's.
The use of "billboard" advertising on freight cars was banned by the Federal Governments Interstate Commerce Commission in 1937, and thereafter cars so decorated could no longer be accepted for interchange between roads. 

          

To see all of our listings, visit:   Ika's Train Store

Note #1: I will combine shipping for multiple items. Please purchase the items but do *NOT* pay. I will review and calculate shipping as close as to what I have to pay. I will then forward an invoice with the adjusted shipping. If you do pay ahead of this recalculation, I will refund the shipping difference as part of preparing the items for shipment.

Note #2: I want you to be happy with your purchase and would appreciate you leaving positive feedback. In the event you are not, please contact me immediately before leaving feedback so we may resolve it. Thank you.  

Note #3: If not previously stated item(s) come from a smoke-free environment with cats.

Note #4: This is a Grandma & Grandpa shop. We have a 4-business day shipping window (this means that if you pay for your order on a Friday, it may not get shipping until the following Thursday). We do combine shipping especially when we are asked about it.

If you want combined shipping, please purchase all your items in one order. If you purchase items in more than one order, send us a message so that we know about the additional items and box the orders together. (When items are bought in multiple orders, we do not always notice they were bought by the same person unless we are notified by the buyer.) We refund extra shipping charges when combined shipping is requested. If we ship items separately, we do not issue a shipping refund.

For our international customers: YES!! we do combine shipping. The most economical way for you to buy multiple items from us is for you to send us a list of the items you want to buy. Do not purchase them as they are listed!! (This leads to higher than necessary fees & shipping.) Send us a complete list of all the items you want. Then we will cancel the listings for the items and turn them into a special listing just for you (We'll send you the listing named before making it active). It will have your full purchase with the correct shipping box size and weight. This saves you on the international fees & shipping.