lettering for West India Fruit original 1949 slogan

In 1946, the West India Fruit Company purchased the Florida East Coast Ferry Company from the railroad and began shipping directly from the Port of Palm Beach, Florida. By 1957 the WIF&S was shipping 500,000 tons of freight to Cuba annually, and 5 vessels carried 80 cars a day to Havana.

 

In 1949 the WIF purchased 10 cars from the High Point, Thomasville & Denton Railroad in North Carolina. The WIF&S assigned road numbers 101-110.

 

These cars were built in August 1929 by Baltimore Car & Foundry (a subsidiary of Standard Steel Car Co). BC&F was building 1,000 cars for the B&O of the M-26/1923 ARA design at the same time, and built 25 extra for the HPT&D, with the variation of HPT&D’s requirment for 10’-0” IH dimensions)

 

Paint & Lettering: Cars were painted with Sherman-Williams Terra Cotta Freight Car Red: close to TCP-206. Underframe coated with black car

cement. Lettering white stencil paste with a deep yellow CUBA logo.

 

Decal set designed and created at Protocraft Decals

Printed by Microscale Industries