Equipment Information

GPEX 1021 is a milk car, designed for hauling 8,000 gallons of fresh milk inside of large glass-lined tanks. It is fitted with special trucks for express service and is one of the largest bulk milk cars ever built. For a time, it was assigned to the Mars candy-making company, transporting milk to be used in chocolate production. Later, probably in the 1960s, this car was reassigned to transport 140-proof bourbon between Owensboro, Kentucky, and Peekskill, New York, for Fleischmann Distilling. This ended in 1970, when liquor was designated a hazardous substance, meaning that cars with internal tanks – like this one – couldn’t transport it because leaks couldn’t be easily detected from outside the car. GPEX 1021 was then briefly assigned to transport vinegar instead before it was retired and donated to IRM.

FUN FACT: Only the finest-quality alcohol travels by railroad tank car! GPEX 1021 is the only freight car at IRM that saw use transporting bourbon, but it’s one of two freight cars at the museum that were used to transport alcoholic beverages. Can you guess what the other one carried?

Builder: General American Transportation
Year Built: 1947
Length: 51ft 5in
Width: 9ft 11in
Height: 13ft 2in
Weight: 74900 lbs
Brakes: U-12
Trucks: Barber
Description: Steel Milk Car
Arrived: 1971
Condition: Complete / unrestored / operational

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