Uncataloged Premier O Scale 36’ Woodsided Reefer Cars NOW IN STOCK

September 21, 2026 - M.T.H. Electric Trains has released an exclusive Premier O Scale 36’ Woodsided Reefer in unique Five Families Consulting Co. livery for M.T.H. Authorized Retailer Roundhouse South. The cars are now available in two car numbers in extremely limited quantities.

Item No. 20-94800 Five Families Consulting Co. 36’ Woodsided Reefer Car
Car No. 60762
Sale Price: $89.95 (plus freight)
Click HERE to download the order form from Roundhouse South.

Item No. 20-94801 Five Families Consulting Co. 36’ Woodsided Reefer Car
Car No. 63071
Sale Price: $89.95 (plus freight)
Click HERE to download the order form from Roundhouse South.

ABOUT THE PREMIER 36’ WOODSIDED REEFER CAR

The coming of the railroad changed the way America ate and drank. Before the iron horse connected every town of any importance to the outside world, most food was grown or produced locally. The arrival of cheap, fast, refrigerated transport — in the form of the woodsided reefer with ice bunkers at each end — enabled local brewers, diaries, meat processors, and other food businesses to become players on a national scale.

Until 1934, shippers could advertise their wares on leased billboard reefers, each a hand-painted traveling work of art. That year, the Interstate Commerce Commission outlawed the flamboyant paint schemes because the cars often hauled shipments from other companies — whose freight bills thus unfairly paid to advertise the lessee’s products.

What doomed the billboard cars was truth in labeling. Depending on shipping needs, billboard cars often carried loads for customers other than the company named on the car sides. A beer company requesting an empty reefer for loading, for example, might find a cheese maker’s delivered to its door. Shippers were not happy when their product was carried in a car bearing a large ad for someone else’s product — they complained that their freight bill had in part paid for another company’s advertising.

Responding to these complaints, the Interstate Commerce Commission in July 1934 mandated the phasing out of billboard reefers and ruled that thereafter, the lessee’s name on a car could be no more than 12" high. By law, all billboard reefers were removed from service by January 1937, although many soldiered on in drabber paint schemes as late as the 1960s.

Order directly from:

Roundhouse South
4611 S. Ridgewood Avenue
Port Orange, FL 32127
386-304-7002
www.roundhousesouth.com
info@roundhousesouth.com

M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing the 2026 Premier O Scale RS-3 Diesel Locomotive in 11 different schemes this Winter. This all-new diesel makes its debut in the Premier line and will be available in multiple cab numbers and different model variations, including the unique Conrail Hammerhead, Phase 1, and Phase 3 models in both hi-rail and scale wheel configurations. The locomotives are expected to begin shipping to M.T.H. Authorized Retailers in December 2026.

Check out each of these offerings HERE.

These items are available to order from your local M.T.H. Authorized Retailer.

M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing the 2026 Premier O Scale 40’ AAR Box Car in SIX different livery configurations next Spring. Each of these offerings are limited in production and expected to begin shipping to M.T.H. Authorized Retailers in May 2027.

Check out each of these offerings HERE.

These items are available to order from your local M.T.H. Authorized Retailer.

Check out each of these offerings HERE.

These items are available to order from your local M.T.H. Authorized Retailer.