• Cosmetic Condition: C-10 Mint-Brand New
• UPC: Does Not Apply
• MPN: FTB9202-1
• Build Date: 1920s
• Paint:
• Couplers: Knuckle Style
• Trucks & Wheels: Plastic Trucks / Metal Wheels
• Packaging: Original Box

Originating in the Southeast Asian Islands and spreading westward via maritime trading routes, through India and the Mideastern Arabian areas into Africa, bananas were encountered by European explorers in the 1500's. Thereafter, Portuguese colonists started plantations in the Atlantic islands and Brazil. The earliest modern cultivations occurred in Jamaica and Central America and full scale exports to the Gulf States, and the eastern seaports of the USA began when steamships and railroads developed refrigerator systems which allowed more time between harvesting and ripening. Bananas and plantains produce fruit year-around and are thus important to food-security. Here's a nifty reefer car present on our railroads during the steam to early diesel era enabling bananas to become a commonplace food on our tables!

At the turn of the 19th Century, during America's Industrial Revolution, Railroads refurbished many of their well-built older wood-side cars for more modern use employing steel underframes, Bettendorf trucks, and new brake systems.