Editing Refrigerator car (section)

====Fruit and fresh produce====
{{anchor|fruit}}
In the 1870s, the lack of a practical means to refrigerate [[peach]]es limited the markets open to Samuel Rumph, a [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] peach grower.  In 1875, he invented a refrigerated railcar and crates that allowed him to grow peaches on a very large scale and ship them to distant markets. He was the first to achieve this. His innovations created Georgia's fame for peaches, a crop now eclipsed economically by blueberries.<ref name="georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu">{{Cite web|url=http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/gahistmarkers/samuelrumphhistmarker.htm|title = Georgia Historical Markers Collection Items - Digital Library of Georgia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/ga-blueberry-knocks-peach-off-top-fruit-pile-153423288.html|title=Ga. blueberry knocks peach off top of fruit pile, Associated Press, July 21, 2013, published by Yahoo News on-line, retrieved July 21, 2013|accessdate=31 July 2023}}</ref>

[[Edwin T. Earl|Edwin Tobias Earl]] was born on a fruit ranch near Red Bluff, California on May 30, 1858. His father was Joseph Earl, his mother Adelia Chaffee, and his brother was Guy Chaffee Earl. He started his career in the shipping of fruits. By 1886, he was President of the Earl Fruit Company. In 1890, he invented the refrigerator car to transport fruits to the East Coast of the United States. He established the Continental Fruit Express and invested US$2,000,000 in refrigerator cars. In 1901, he sold his refrigerator cars to Armour and Company of Chicago and became a millionaire.

By the turn of the 20th century, manufactured ice became more common. The [[Pacific Fruit Express]] (PFE) - a joint venture between the [[Union Pacific Railroad|Union Pacific]] and [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]] railroads, with a fleet of 6,600 refrigerator cars built by the [[American Car and Foundry Company]] (ACF)<ref>{{cite web|title=Inventory of the Pacific Fruit Express Company Collection, 1906-1989|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf7199n8cr/|publisher=Online Archive of California|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> - maintained seven natural harvesting facilities, and operated 18 artificial ice plants. Their largest plant (located in [[Roseville, California]]) produced {{convert|1200|ST|t|lk=on}} of ice daily, and Roseville's docks could accommodate up to 254 cars. At the industry's peak, {{convert|1300000|ST|t}} of ice was produced for refrigerator car use annually.

On the east coast of the United States, in 1920 the company [[Fruit Growers Express]] (FGE) was established and owned by a consortium of eastern railroads to serve the wholesale market for refrigerated produce delivered by railcar. In addition to operating and servicing refrigerated railcars, FGE became a major manufacturer of insulated boxcars and mechanical refrigerated cars.