Paint Schemes

1940-42 scheme

Intermountain has produced a large number of paint schemes and varied details for the ATSF rebuilt reefers RR-19, 23, 25, 27, 28, 32. These cars made up nearly 40% of the Santa Fe fleet in the late 40s and early 50s.

Between 1936 and 1940 Santa Fe rebuilt over 4100 of its wood reefers as steel sheathed reefers, all to virtually the same design. The Intermountain instructions give the details for the correct small pieces necessary for each series. Of course the cars are also available RTR.

1940-47 scheme

The curved-line and straight-line maps began to be used in 1940, depending on which shop did the repaint. Sometime around 1943 the straight-line maps became the norm and were predominate through 1947. The billboard slogans at that time included: Grand Canyon Line, Scout, El Capitan, Super Chief, and Chief.

Another detail is that cars repainted before 1944 hads periods in the S.F.R.D. reporting marks; after that the periods were dropped and the reporting marks were S F R D.

1947-58 scheme

In 1947, the maps were no long painted and Ship and Travel Santa Fe All the Way took its place. The Scout name was dropped in 1947. By 1952, the surviving map/slogan cars would have been pretty dirty and well weathered; cleaner SFRD reefers had the later slogan scheme.

In 1958, the slogans went away and the large billboard Herald became the standard. Cars ran with this scheme until the mid 70s when ice reefers became obsolete.

Richard Hendrikson wrote concerning the paint schemes:

"The IM model is correct for classes Rr-19 through Rr-27 and can also be used for the Rr-28 and Rr-32 classes by removing the parts of the hatch platforms that surround the hatch covers, leaving just the rectangular sections of the platforms inboard of the hatch covers."

"The map/slogan stenciling was first applied in 1/40, so cars built prior to that didn't get it when newly rebuilt (i.e., classes Rr-19, Rr-21, Rr-23, Rr-25, and some Rr-27s). Later Rr-27s got slogans and curved line maps, Rr-28s got slogans and early straight line maps, and Rr-32s were the first of the rebuilt reefers to have the final version of the straight line map when delivered. For these classes, slogan assignments are known. But most of the earlier cars and many Rr-27s through Rr-32s were repainted with maps and slogans before mid-1947, and in those cases the only way to know which slogans went on which cars is to have photographic evidence. Fortunately, a fair amount of it exists. (Another detail is that cars repainted before 1944 hads periods in the S.F.R.D. reporting marks; after that the periods were dropped and the reporting marks were S F R D)."

Bear in mind also that cars repainted after mid-1947 did not get maps and slogans, they were stenciled with the later style slogans and "Ship and Travel..." replacing the maps. So by 1952, the surviving map/slogan cars would have been pretty dirty and well weathered; cleaner SFRD reefers had the later slogan scheme. You might consider doing one of each. Champ's decal sets for both versions of SFRD lettering are excellent and contain everything you need, even the reporting marks and numbers for the top of the ice hatch covers."

Santa Fe did have at least two reefers which were painted with an experimental white instead of the normal reefer orange. The balance of the reefer paint scheems appears to have been normal. RR-48 11334 was one and photos are on the web. Keith Jordan remember a second car, thought to be a RR-53, but no photos are known to exist of it. Roger Ziegenhorn wrote an article "Santa Fe's White Reefers" for Santa Fe Modeler November/December 1982 page 16.