Property Record
500 Railroad Ave
Architecture and History Inventory
Historic Name: | Milwaukee Road #URTX 37432 Refrigerator Car |
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Other Name: | Colfax Railroad Museum |
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Reference Number: | 246033 |
Location (Address): | 500 Railroad Ave |
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County: | Dunn |
City: | Colfax |
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Year Built: | 1948 |
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Historic Use: | rolling stock |
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Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
Demolished?: | No |
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National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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Additional Information: | This steel panel car was constructed by the General American Transportation Corporation for the Union Refrigerator Transit Line. The ice-bunker (meaning the coolant used was ice) car was one of the last manufactured to hold ice as the refrigerant. In the 1950s, railroads transitioned to mechanically refrigerated cars. The General American Transportation Corporation originally was founded to lease rail cars and by the 1920s was a leader in producing and leasing tank cars for liquids. They branched out into manufacturing ice-bunker refrigerator cars, which they were still producing in 1948. The Union Refrigerator Transit Line was started in Milwaukee for the Schlitz Brewing Company and then was acquired by General American Transportation Corporation in 1929. The car was eventually leased to the Milwaukee Road, then sold in 1971 and displayed in a railroad museum in Minnesota. The Colfax museum purchased it in 2014 for its collection. |
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Bibliographic References: | NRQ, August, 2023. |
Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |