A milk car was designed to carry milk. These cars were generally attached to passenger trains. Railroads began moving milk from the countryside to cities in the 1840s. With the advent of refrigerated cars this range expanded. Milk stations appeared in the early 1870s where milk was brought, weighed, cooled, and loaded onto milk cars. In 1921, companies began building tanks into the cars, leading to milk cars falling out of use. With the advent of trucking and the decrease of passenger trains in the 1960s, the milk car virtually disappeared.
Gelatin dry plate negative. L 20.5, W 26 cm
Steamtown National Historic Site, STEA 7469.
C3472