Reefer Madness

WARNING!!! WARNING!!!

A reefer collection is fun but you have to be careful. It's easy to get carried away and what used to be a fun hobby - something you did to relax with your friends or by yourself - can become a dangerous obsession. You could end up spending all your money on rare reefers of dubious value. You could spend hours and hours searching for rare and hard to find reefers. Relationships could be affected, maybe even your job. Collecting reefers is fun, but it requires self control. I'm not saying "don't do it" - just know what you're getting yourself into and be careful. Don't let it become an obsession.

From the 1920's through 1937 billboard reefers were some of the most colorful freight cars to ever grace an American railroad. Billboard reefers came about when freight car leasing companies realized they could make more money by letting the companies leasing their cars paint billboard style ads on the sides of the cars. The railroads didn't like this for whatever reason and complained to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which issued a ruling which effectively eliminated the billboard reefer from America's railways. If you have a model railroad, however, ICC rulings don't effect you. You can run as many billboard reefers on your model railroad as you want, and many beautiful models of billboard reefers are available in HO, S, and O scales (probably N scale too). If you want to add some color and variety to your model railroad they are worth checking out. Want to know all about billboard reefers? This book is the definitive guide.