Fruit Growers Express facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Fruit Grower's Express

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Transportation
Founded	1920; 105 years ago (1920)
Headquarters	Jacksonville, Florida , U.S.
Area served	Eastern United States
Services	Freight Car Repair
Parent	CSX Corporation

A wooden FGE refrigerated car at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Fruit Growers Express (FGE) was a company that rented out special refrigerator cars for trains. These cars were used to carry fresh fruits and vegetables. FGE started as a part of a bigger company called Armour and Company. Armour used to own both the food packing business and the train cars that moved the food.

But customers complained that Armour was charging too much for transport. So, in 1919, the Federal Trade Commission (a government group that makes sure businesses play fair) told Armour to separate FGE. This was done to prevent one company from having too much control, which is called "antitrust" reasons. FGE became its own company in 1920.

What FGE Did

When FGE became its own company, it received 4,280 train cars. It also got repair shops in Alexandria, Virginia, and Jacksonville, Florida. Plus, it owned many ice houses and places to service train cars along the East Coast of the United States.

Who Owned FGE?

FGE was owned by a group of big railroad companies. The Chicago and Eastern Illinois, Norfolk & Western, and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad were some of the main owners. Other railroads like the Atlantic Coast Line and Pennsylvania Railroad also owned parts of FGE.

Having FGE as a separate company helped these railroads. Moving fresh produce needed special train cars and services. It also had busy times, like harvest season, when many cars were needed. FGE handled these big costs and busy periods, so the individual railroads didn't have to.

Expanding Across the Country

To compete with other big refrigerated car companies, FGE grew its services.

Western Fruit Express

On July 18, 1923, FGE teamed up with the Great Northern Railway. They created a new company called Western Fruit Express (WFE). This added 3,000 more refrigerated cars to their fleet. This helped FGE bring produce from the southeastern U.S. to western markets.

Burlington Refrigerator Express

By 1926, FGE expanded even more into the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest. They did this through WFE and another company called Burlington Refrigerator Express (BREX). BREX was formed with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. In the same year, FGE bought 2,676 refrigerated cars from the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Building Train Cars

Besides renting and servicing train cars, FGE also built its own.

National Car Company

In February 1928, FGE started a new company called the National Car Company. This company focused on making train cars. They built cars for other food companies like Kahns and Oscar Mayer. FGE became a major builder of freight cars, especially those that were insulated or refrigerated.

Types of Cars Built

FGE first built ice-cooled cars and insulated boxcars. These insulated cars were made with wood because it was better at keeping things cool or warm. They were used for items that needed protection from heat or cold, but not full refrigeration. Later, as technology improved, FGE built mechanical refrigerated cars, often called "reefers."

In the 1970s, FGE started building other types of train cars. They made "bay window" cabooses and equipment for moving containers (intermodal equipment). However, cabooses became less common in the mid-1980s due to new safety rules and technology. This meant FGE stopped making them.

Changes in the Railroad World

In the 1970s and 1980s, things changed for FGE. More produce started moving by trucks on highways. Also, the railroad industry itself changed a lot.

Railroad Mergers

The Staggers Rail Act in 1980 made it easier for railroads to merge. This led to big companies like Norfolk Southern (in 1982) and CSX (in 1986) forming. These new, larger railroads had huge networks. This meant they didn't need FGE as much as before.

Today, Fruit Growers Express is mainly a "paper entity." This means it exists on paper but is controlled by the CSX Corporation. CSX is the company that took over most of the railroads that used to own FGE.

FGE Locations

Fruit Growers Express had its main office in Washington, D.C. Its biggest train car shops were in Alexandria, Virginia, Jacksonville, Florida, and Indiana Harbor, Indiana.

Alexandria Facility

The Alexandria facility was very important. It was first near the busy Potomac Yards. In 1925, it moved to Cameron Yards, which was a switching yard for the Southern Railway. At its busiest, this facility could build 1,000 train cars every year!

However, the Alexandria facility stopped building freight cars and cabooses by 1981. The maintenance part of the facility closed in 1994. Now, the building there is used as the headquarters for Alexandria's DASH bus service.

Images for kids

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  An FGE car showing CSXT marking.

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  Workers loading ice into FGE cars for shipping.