Jim@concordfarms	Posted 01-26-2005 at 08:47:57       [Reply]  [No Email] I read the post about the old way of cooling railroad cars. How do they do it now? Or do they ship any produce by rail? I don't live anywhere near a major rail road. Do they use diesel powered cooling units like trucks? Just curious. Thanks. Jim, who could be a real railroad buff with a little effort.
RayP(MI)	Posted 01-26-2005 at 18:40:57       [Reply]  [No Email] When I was a college kid, I worked at the local pickle cannery during the summers. Before the green run started, we used to get a few shipments of cucumbers in refrigerated boxcars. These were shipped up from way down south. Refrigeration consisted of blocks of ice dumped in chambers at the ends of the cars, and fans driven by the movement of the wheels. Would have worked OK if the cars had been kept moving, but almost every time, the cars got sidetracked in some hot rail yard under the sun for several days, without moving. Those cukes were a nightmare.
mark	Posted 01-26-2005 at 18:55:24       [Reply]  [No Email] Should see what happens to a box of greenbeans that gets sent to northern MN. in January by mistake.
mark	Posted 01-26-2005 at 16:39:40       [Reply]  [No Email] They use both reefers and a gas charge. You'll see reefers in the form of boxcars once in a while but most are the containers on a flatcars, COFC usually have the power units tucked in so all you'll see from the side is a little light when the unit is operational. The gas charged units we haul are an orange and off white colored boxcar, unless you have the bills for it you wouldn't know if it was loaded with paper or potatoes by looking at it.
bill b va	Posted 01-26-2005 at 11:05:13       [Reply]  [No Email] don't know about rail cars but some trucks use liquid nitrogen for cooling instead of refregiation units
JoeK	Posted 01-26-2005 at 08:59:19       [Reply]  [No Email] I'm sure that in major produce shipping areas the still use rail,but with up to 30+ freights thru here a day,one seldom sees anything but dry freight,forest products,petro products,container freight,grain,ore etc.Haven't seen reefer cars for quite some time,however with no major metro areas,food demand is much lower here.