Contents Introduction ......................................... 4 Chapter 1 History of railroads and the produce industry ............... 5 Chapter 2 Refrigerator cars ..................................... 12 Chapter 3 Car fleets and owners ................................ 28 Chapter 4 Packing houses, harvesting, and loading .................. 52 Chapter 5 Perishable operations ................................. 66 Chapter 6 Making ice and icing reefers ........................... 85 Chapter 7 Produce terminals and final customers ................... 98 Bibliography ....................................... 109 About the author ................................... 111 Acknowledgments .................................. 111 1 2 California Fruit Express was an 1890s private car operator. This all-wood Wickes Patent car, built in 1892, was 36 feet long with a 30-ton capacity and held 7,500 pounds of ice. Trains magazine collection CHAPTER TWO Although the idea for an ice-cooled 20,000 cars, the majority of which of a car, with vents above the tanks car was no longer novel by the late were actually leased to carry perishable providing air circulation to the interior. 1800s, railroads of the period were traffic (mainly from the West). The The basic design—with modifications reluctant to invest money in them. company also owned icing stations and upgrades—would last through the Refrigerator cars Railroads had substantial fleets of throughout the country. end of the ice-bunker era. boxcars and did not want to invest in Railroads soon found the way to A number of companies and rolling stock designed for specialty acquire refrigerator cars was to form individuals began building cars, and commodities. separate subsidiary companies to among the most common early cars Not only were refrigerator cars more own and manage them (more on this were the Tiffany Patent and Wickes expensive to build than boxcars, they in chapter 3). In 1906, Pacific Fruit Patent cars, 2. The Tiffany car had required extensive icing stations and ice Express was formed, co-owned by the an overhead ice bunker running the A Pacific Fruit Express mechanical car The ice-bunker refrigerator car was the primary method of supplies to keep them cold. They would Union Pacific and Southern Pacific. length of the car. The Wickes car was stands out among Santa Fe and PFE spend half of their service lives running Other major refrigerator car owners more conventional, with ice bunkers at 40-foot ice-bunker cars in this early hauling perishables from the 1800s through the heyday of empty, returning to their owners, and included American Refrigerator each end and overhead hatches at each 1960s train. Mechanical cars were since perishable traffic was seasonal, Transit, Burlington Refrigerator corner (two per bunker) for adding developed for frozen goods but began fruit and vegetable transport by rail. Ice reefers evolved cars would sit idle for extended periods Express, Fruit Growers Express, ice. Variations of this design became hauling more fresh produce by the each year. In addition, perishable Merchants Despatch Transportation, popular. As cars proved themselves 1960s, eventually pushing ice cars out significantly through the 1950s, with mechanical cars taking traffic spoiled easily, required constant Northern Refrigerator Line, Santa capable of carrying perishables long of service in the 1970s. J. David Ingles care, and resulted in higher and more Fe Refrigerator Department, Union distances, reefer ownership grew collection over from the 1960s through today, 1. frequent damage claims than other Refrigerator Transit, and Western Fruit dramatically: from 6,000 cars in freight. Express. 1885 to 23,000 by 1890 and 68,000 The result was that private owners in 1900. and leasing companies soon became Early construction At the turn of the 20th century a the largest owners of refrigerator Although ice-cooled cars—converted typical refrigerator car was 32–36 feet cars. By 1900, almost 80 percent of boxcars with insulated walls and ice long, with all-wood construction, a reefers in service (54,000 of 68,500) chests—were first used in the 1850s truss-rod underframe, and archbar were privately owned. The largest and 1860s, the first patent for a trucks, 3. Car capacity ranged from early private owner was Armour, the refrigerator car was awarded to 20–30 tons, with a light weight around meatpacking giant. At the turn of the J. B. Sutherland in 1867. His design 37,000 pounds and an ice bunker 20th century, Armour owned about called for ice tanks inside each end capacity of about 7,000 pounds. 12 13 U.S. refrigerator car loads by type, 1943 Perishables Carloads Potatoes 260,657 Vegetables, N.O.S.* 170,591 Oranges/grapefruit 150,863 Apples 42,867 Bananas 38,524 Onions 30,309 Fruits, N.O.S.** 27,076 Tomatoes 25,302 Cabbage 24,801 Watermelons 17,763 Grapes 18,687 Limes/lemons 15,960 Cantaloupes/other melons 15,119 Peaches 12,129 Tropical fruits 3,103 Berries 1,663 Nonperishables 1 Canned food products 336,335 Beverages 201,005 *Not Otherwise Specified: includes lettuce, CHAPTER FIVE spinach, carrots, celery, and others 2 **Pears, plums, apricots, and others The National Perishable Freight Committee issued rules and instructions for handling List does not include meat or dairy products perishables. This 1958 Santa Fe guide is a supplement to the main publication. Source: Railway Age, February 10, 1945 Perishable operations We’ll look at railroad operations Washington apples, South Carolina For ice-bunker cars, this meant from the early 1900s onward, peaches, and Louisiana strawberries. a combination of precooling, icing concentrating on the classic era At any given time from January to (including initial icing and re-icing), through the 1950s and closing with a December, something is being harvested ventilation, and heating. Instructions look at how perishable traffic declined somewhere. and rules for protective services were and what traffic still moves by rail Under the Interstate Commerce covered by the Perishable Protective today. Act, when a shipper contacted a Tariff, summarized in the National A Santa Fe Alco switcher is busy Fruits and vegetables have limited shelf lives, so speed is railroad with perishable goods to Perishable Freight Committee’s Code delivering refrigerator cars to Kern Extensive markets transport, the railroad was required to of Rules for Handling Perishable County, Calif., packing sheds as the the key to getting them to market with as much freshness About 85 percent of fruits and provide refrigerator cars and provide Freight, which was updated potato rush gears up in a late spring in vegetables are produced (or imported) the charges for shipping and for periodically to reflect new technology the early 1950s. Santa Fe remaining as possible. Into the 1960s, railroads did this by south and west of Chicago, while a protective services. and services, 2. majority is consumed north and east As chapter 3 explains, railroads It’s important to understand the operating solid trains of reefers on expedited schedules or of Chicago. The distance between sometimes did this with their own various terms for protective services producers and consumers means cars but most often with cars of and the options that were available to by operating large blocks of reefers in other priority freight perishable traffic has always involved a contracted subsidiary or leasing shippers with ice-bunker cars. long hauls—the average perishable company. Icing is the process of filling a car’s trains, 1. shipment was about 1,400 miles in bunkers with ice (details can be found 1941. Protective services in chapter 6). California is the country’s major A key in refrigerator car traffic is Pre-icing means icing the car prior producer of fruits and vegetables, providing protective services, making to delivering the car to the shipper for with a wide variety also coming out sure goods are transported at the loading. of Florida, Texas, and Arizona. Many proper temperatures to keep them from Initial icing is the first icing done other states and regions produce spoiling. Shippers could choose from a after the car is loaded. specialty products at various times of number of options depending upon the Re-icing means adding ice to the year, including Maine potatoes, product and season. replenish earlier ice that has melted. 66 67 1 CHAPTER SEVEN 2 Two Pacific Fruit Express reefers and one from American Refrigerator Transit await unloading at a Roanoke, Va., produce wholesaler around 1950. Trains magazine collection Produce terminals and Private buyers received inbound shipments of produce Independent buyers might receive As with other freight, a shipper might by rail—photo 6 shows a steam switcher refrigerator cars at their own docks sell a carload of fruits or vegetables moving a cut of three ice-bunker cars or use team tracks at local railroad directly to a buyer. This could mean into position. yards, stations, or sidings and off-load final customers a wholesaler in a large or small city, Another example was food giant products directly into trucks, 7. a canning or processing company, a Campbell’s, maker of soup and many supermarket chain (or food-buying other canned food products. Huge Produce terminals The Chicago & North Western’s Chicago Where do all those fruits and vegetables go? Many are co-op of independent store owners), or companies like Campbell’s would Large produce terminals were located “potato yard” covered 60 acres and a hotel or restaurant chain, 2–5. often sign contracts in advance for in almost