BNSF Western Fruit Express refrigerator car No. 799097.
(Photographer unknown, W. Lenheim Collection)
WESTERN FRUIT EXPRESS
Western Fruit Express (WFE) was a railroad refrigerator car leasing company formed by the Fruit Growers Express and the Great Northern Railway on July 18, 1923 in order to compete with the Pacific Fruit Express and Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch in the Western United States. The arrangement added 3,000 cars to the FGE's existing equipment pool. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF), the Great Northern's successor. The success of the WFE led to the creation of the Burlington Refrigerator Express (BREX) in May 1926.
Western Fruit Express Roster, 1930–1970:
| 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,117 | 7,036 | 5,265 | 5,702 | 58,893 |
Source: The Great Yellow Fleet, p. 17.
Western Fruit Express Refrigerator Car No. 66354 at the Galveston Railroad Museum in Galveston, Texas, 29 March 2022.
(Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
