Refrigerator Car Model

This refrigerator car model was made by employees of the car-building and car-repair shops of the Merchant Despatch Transportation Corporation (MDT) around 1905. The Merchant Despatch Corporation operated express freight cars carrying meat and perishable foods for approximately 128 years between the Northeast, Chicago, and other western states including California. The use of refrigerator cars with blocks of ice to preserve food began in the 1860s. From the late 1880s fast rail distribution of perishable food radically changed the American diet by allowing fresh produce to be delivered nationwide at any time of the year.