Equipment Information

Swift 25004 is an all-steel refrigerated boxcar, or “reefer,” built to transport meat and animal carcasses that required refrigeration. It was railroad cars like this that enabled Chicago, with its huge stockyards complex on the south side, to become the fabled “hog butcher to the world.” This car was originally built as a 40′ long brine reefer, equipped with tanks at the end that would hold crushed ice and salt to keep the car cool. But around 1959 it was heavily rebuilt: a 20′ long section with plug doors was spliced into the middle of the car and it was given built-in mechanical refrigeration equipment that kept the car’s contents cool.

COMPARE ME WITH: Swift 15030, which is from the same series that 25004 was a part of when new in 1954. Car 15030 was never lengthened nor converted to mechanical refrigeration.

Builder: General American Transportation
Year Built: 1954
Length: 51ft 9in
Width: 10ft 3in
Height: 13ft 10in
Weight: 80100 lbs
Brakes: AB
Trucks: Barber
Description: Mechanical Reefer
Arrived: 1971
Condition: Incomplete / unrestored / not operational

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