Reading MRBX plug door 40 foot cars

[RDG 1519]

Reading Fans,
A few years back I posted this same request. I am hoping some new information can come forward on these little known cars. I am particularly interested in knowing which customers used these to ship what?

There are two classes one with 6 foot plug doors and roof hatches. The other was with 8 foot plug doors no roof hatches.

They are listed as MRBX reporting marks and were returned to Merchants Dispatch in the late sixties or early seventies.
Thanks for any help.
Chris

[RDG467]

I think some of them were used for bananas. Boatloads used to come into Port Richmond and get sent inland by the Reading. I have pic from Bob's Photos that shows a string of them on a siding leading to the yard (the stretch along Lehigh Ave.) of the Richmond Branch.

I think some of them were also used to send produce from ships to the B&O-Reading Produce facility in S. Phila, where they were sold to local merchants via auction.

I think one of the old replies also mentioned cocoa beans to Hershey as another possible cargo.

Check the 1954 version of the Frieght Shippers Guide (online at the Reading Modeler site) for other possible on-line consignees.