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A couple interesting notes about this car:
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First, before Santa used "Department" it used "Despatch" with an "E".
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Second, for this car the words "Refrigerator" and "Department" are correct for its build date. This is a Class Rr-40 refrigerator car, rebuilt in 1946 from one of the railroad's earlier reefers.
On July 1 (or July 21 according to some sources), 1902, the Santa Fe incorporated the Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (not “Dispatch”) organization as an independent company using the assets of the Santa Fe Fruit & Refrigerator Lines. The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch Company was to handle all perishable freight in system.
On August 18, 1918, the United States Railway Administration announced that the SFRD (Despatch) would be under Federal control of the USRA effective January 1, 1919. Subsequently, the USRA eliminated Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch on that date. USRA took control of SFRD (Despatch) cars with the operation of the cars remaining under the Santa Fe Railway.
The Santa Fe immediately reorganized Despatch, which then was a separate company, as the Santa Fe Refrigerator Department, an Operating Department of the railroad. This allowed Santa Fe a bit more control of the refrigerator cars and operations as allowed under the USRA regulations. SFRD then stood for Santa Fe Refrigerator Department.
As late as 1924 (six years after the “D” stood for Department) the Official Railway Equipment Register books still listed SFRD reporting marks as Santa Fe Refrigerator DESPATCH. The Registers had not caught up with the official company change.
Information from Bob Chaparro Hemet, CA
Santa Fe Reefer Despatch 8199 is a 40 foot steel ice refrigerator car. It was originally built as a wood body reefer in the 1920’s and then rebuild as a class Rr-40 steel ice reefer in 1946. While in service the car wore the Santa Fe map paint scheme.
The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (reporting mark SFRD) was a railroad refrigerator car line established as a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1884 to carry perishable commodities. Though the line started out with a mere 25 ventilated fruit cars and 8 ice-cooled refrigerator cars, by 1910 its roster had swollen to 6,055 total units (compared to the 8,100 units its largest competitor, the Pacific Fruit Express).
As of 1929 the line was carrying some 43 percent of California's citrus crop, most of which travelled aboard its "Green Fruit Express" refrigerator car special. Some 100,000 produce loads were shipped from the fields of Arizona and California to East Coast markets each growing season. [1]
[1] wikipedia.org (2017). WIKIPEDIA. In Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_Refrigerator_Despatch
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