Athearn Roundhouse #87985 50′ Ex-Post Mechanical Reefer, BRCX #5111

MODEL FEATURES:
Body-mounted McHenry® operating scale knuckle couplers
Fully assembled and ready-to-run
Precision machined metal wheels
Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track
Painted and printed for realistic decoration
Weighted for optimum performance
Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track
Minimum radius: 15”
PROTOTYPE AND BACKGROUND INFO:
The railroads responded to the migration from ice stored in bunkers as a primary cooling system to the diesel mechanical systems. The mechanical reefers could keep a more regular temperature, often times colder then what the ice bunker cars could at the time. Initially mechanical reefers were used primarily in frozen food service. This would soon change as mechanical refrigeration began to replace ice-based systems. Soon after, mechanical refrigeration units replaced the “armies” of personnel required to re-ice the cars.