I know ‘most’ of the different truck styles and the basic evolution of the truck. I know passenger trucks were made for added comfort in the cars and caboose trucks used leaf springs for much the same reason. But why do reefers have a different style truck than a standard box car? Looking through truck kits you always see ‘reefer trucks’ anyone know why they’d be different?
Terry
It’s so the ice get shaken and not stirred. 
Those so called reefer trucks, were usually trucks which gave a better performance at higher speeds, and were applied to REEFERS that were used in passenger service…sometimes called “Express reefers”. In the days of steam heat, they had steam and communication lines installed also, for passenger service.
Fr.Fred
I think I like Joe’s answer.
I like Joe’s answer too!
Thanks Fred, makes complete sense. I was looking at pictures with strings of reefer cars and they had the same trucks as box cars. But once I looked up ‘express reefer’ BAM!! there they were.
Terry
Look up “milk car”, too. They sometimes had a short wheelbase version of passenger trucks. I built a dairy car from a boxcar a while back. And I think Bob made a nicer one from scratch.
Terry,
Referring back to the AMS reefer you have, notice the brakes on that car are mounted BETWEEN the wheels, NOT on the outside. I always wondered why. Anyone know? Also the wheelbase on those trucks is longer than the other freight trucks.
I’ll have to open it up and look at it. I did notice that though on the truck kits I was looking at.
“Milk Cars”, in a lot of cases, were another breed of car. Some appeared to look like reefers (Refrigerator cars) but only appeared that way from the outside, although some were equipped to carry milk in “Milk Cans”, a lot of true dedicated “Milk Cars” on the inside, contained tanks to contain the milk in bulk. but were cooled with ice, much like a reefer.
As far as trucks were concerned; there were different high speed trucks available, and the design of the truck mounted brakes, changed over the years. Early brake shoes were more likely to be mounted on the ends of the trucks, while more modern designs had them together between the wheels.
Examples of the different locations, can be found on inexpensive model trucks, such as the Bachmann passenger trucks which are outside mounted, and the Aristo freight trucks that are inside mounted.
On early freight trucks, the actual brake shoes were hung from the frame of the car, not the trucks, and were hung so they pressed against the wheels on the outside of the truck.
To see pictures of these arrangements; there are lots of books available on the subject of
early freight and passenger trucks, and braking systems…or for those that don’t care to read good old reference books…Google the subject of railroad car braking systems…old and new…
I was told that reefers leaked (when iced) at the ends and the brake shoes were moved between the wheels to get them (or one set of them) out from under the constant dripping.
I was also told about the tooth fairy so your mileage may vary (or UMMV as hipsters post)
CCSII said:
I was told that reefers leaked (when iced) at the ends and the brake shoes were moved between the wheels to get them (or one set of them) out from under the constant dripping.
I was also told about the tooth fairy so your mileage may vary (or UMMV as hipsters post)
Makes sense to me despite the tooth fairy.
I was Once told that very early trucks had short wheel bases, some as short as 3’4". At that size there wasn’t enough space on the inside between the tires for the shoes and hangers and stuff, so they got hung on the outside. $.02
OK guys, it wasn’t really that reeferes had different trucks…its that railroad technology was advancing apace…ice cooled reefers were replaceing ventilated boxcars around the same time AIR BRAKES were coming into use…the bottom line is it is much easier to set up rigging to push OUTWARDS with compressed air to apply brakes than to make the same technology pull INWARDS to apply brakes.
Also as was stated earlier the outside hung brakes were usually hung from the car frame, and on sharp curves it was not possible for the brake shoes to make contact . Passenger trucks seemed to hang onto their outside brake shoes a bit longer because of their construction the brakes were actually hung from the truck itself…