Santa Fe #2142, 2150, 2162, 2164 (orange, black, blue; "Route of the Chief")
The Rapido Trains HO Scale Santa Fe Mechanical Reefer is based on cars used to move produce from packing houses to market. In 1955 the Santa Fe Railroad introduced the RR-56 class of mechanical reefers. Based on the previous RR-54 class of Refrigerated Boxcars, the RR-56 Class incorporated lessons learned from the RR-54 cars to build and operate its first large fleet of mechanical reefers. The RR-56 were classed as All Purpose MTC (Mechanical Temperature Control) cars by the Santa Fe Railroad. The fleet numbered 200 cars in total: numbers 2000 - 2188; and 2500 - 2510. Delivered with SFRD reporting marks, these were changed in 1963 to SFRP but retained their same car numbers. In 1958, Santa Fe built the RR-60 and RR-61 Class of Reefers. These were additional cars built to the same basic standards and dimensions as the RR-56 class but carried different insulation and were identified as Super Insulated All Purpose Mechanical Temperature Controlled cars. The Rapido Trains model features separate door posts, door latches and coupler cut levers, fully-detailed underframe, including piping and mechanical equipment; positionable roof hatches, see-through side grills and a Trane diesel generator. Santa Fe Mechanical Reefers are part of the entire line of Rapido Trains HO Scale freight cars and containers.