Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/Model Railroad/Answer Key"

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[[Image:OP-13219.jpg|thumb|350px|right|[[Missouri Pacific Railroad|Missouri Pacific Lines]] all-wood stock car #52967, photographed at [[Pueblo, Colorado]] in March, [[1937]].{{deletable image-caption}}]]
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[[Image:Art2471940.jpg|thumb|350px|right|A [[World War II]]-era wood-sided, ice bunker "reefer" of the American Refrigerator Transit Company (ART), one specially-designated for the transport of dairy products, ''circa'' 1940.]]
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In [[railroad terminology]], a '''stock car''' is a type of [[rolling stock]] used for carrying [[livestock]] (not [[carcass]]es) to market. A traditional stock car resembles a [[boxcar]] with slats missing in the car's side (and sometimes end) for the purpose of providing ventilation; stock cars can be single-level for large animals such as [[cattle]] or [[horse]]s, or they can have two or three levels for smaller animals such as [[sheep]], [[pig]]s, and [[poultry]]. Specialized types of stock cars have been built to haul live [[fish]] and [[shellfish]] and circus animals such as [[camel]]s and [[elephant]]s. Until the 1880s, when the [[Mather Stock Car Company]] and others introduced "more humane" stock cars, loss rates could be quite high as the animals were hauled over long distances. Improved technology and faster shipping times have greatly reduced losses.
  
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A '''refrigerator car''' (or '''"reefer"''') is a [[Refrigeration|refrigerated]] [[boxcar]], a piece of [[railroad]] [[rolling stock]] designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple [[Thermal insulation|insulated]] boxcars and [[Ventilation (architecture)|ventilated]] boxcars (commonly used for transporting [[fruit]]), neither of which are fitted with cooling apparatus. Reefers can be [[ice]]-[[Refrigeration|cooled]], come equipped with any one of a variety of mechanical refrigeration systems, or utilize [[carbon dioxide]] (either as [[dry ice]], or in liquid form) as a cooling agent. [[Milk]] cars (and other types of "express" reefers) may or may not include a cooling system, but are equipped with high-speed [[bogie|trucks]] and other modifications that allow them to travel with [[train|passenger trains]].
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<br clear=all>
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==Initial use and development==
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Rail cars have been used to transport livestock since the 1830s. The first shipments in the United States were made via the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad|B&O Railroad]] in general purpose, open-topped cars with semi-open sides.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 172.</ref> Thereafter, and until [[1860]], the majority of shipments were made in conventional [[boxcar]]s that had been fitted with open-structured iron-barred doors for ventilation. Some railroads constructed "combination" cars that could be utilized for carrying both live animals as well as conventional freight loads.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 173</ref>
  
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Reefer applications can be divided into five broad groups: 1) [[dairy]] and [[poultry]] producers require refrigeration and special interior racks; 2) [[fruit]] and [[vegetable]] reefers tend to see seasonal use, and are generally used for long-distance shipping (for some shipments, only ventilation is necessary to remove the heat created by the ripening process); 3) [[Manufacturing|manufactured]] [[food]]s (such as [[Canning|canned goods]] and [[candy]]) as well as [[beer]] and [[wine]] do not require refrigeration, but do need the protection of an insulated car; 4) meat reefers come equipped with specialized beef rails for handling sides of meat, and [[brine]]-tank refrigeration to provide lower temperatures (most of these units are either owned or leased by meat packing firms); and 5) [[fish]] and [[seafood]]s are transported, packed in wooden or [[Polystyrene#Solid foam|foam polystyrene]] box with crushed ice, and ice bunkers are not used generally.
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[[Image:Santa Fe stock car train rev.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Stock cars make up part of an eastbound [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe]] freight train in March, [[1943]].]]
  
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==History==
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Getting food animals to market required herds to be driven distances of hundreds of miles to [[railhead]]s in the [[Midwest]], whereupon they were loaded into [[stock car]]s and [[transport]]ed eastward to regional [[processing]] centers. Driving cattle across the plains led to tremendous weight loss, and a number of animals were typically lost along the way. Upon arrival at the local processing plant, livestock were either [[slaughter]]ed by wholesalers and delivered fresh to nearby butcher shops for retail sale, smoked, or packed for shipment in barrels of salt.
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===Background===
 
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[[Image:IC 14713.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Illinois Central Railroad]] #14713, a ventilated fruit car dating from 1893.]]
 
  
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After the end of the [[American Civil War]], [[Chicago, Illinois]] emerged as a major [[railway]] center for the [[Distribution (business)|distribution]] of livestock raised on the [[Great Plains]] to Eastern markets.<ref>Boyle and Estrada</ref> Getting the animals to market required herds to be driven up to 1,200 miles (2,000 km) to [[railhead]]s in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], where they were loaded into specialized [[Stock car (rail)|stock car]]s and [[transport]]ed live ("on-the-hoof") to regional processing centers. Driving cattle across the plains also caused tremendous weight loss, with some animals dying in transit.
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The suffering of animals in transit as a result of hunger, thirst, and injury were considered by many to be inherent to the shipping process, as were the inevitable loss of weight during shipment. A certain percentage of animal deaths on the way to market was even considered normal (6% for cattle and 9% for sheep on average, according to a congressional inquiry<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 257; Lews H. Haney (1908), ''A Congressional History of Railways in the United States'', New York: vol 2, p 260</ref>), and carcasses of dead animals were often disposed of along the tracks to be devoured by scavengers, though some were sold to glue factories or unscrupulous butchers. Increased train speeds reduced overall transit times, though not enough to offset the deleterious conditions the animals were forced to endure.  
  
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Upon arrival at the local processing facility, livestock were either [[slaughter]]ed by wholesalers and delivered fresh to nearby butcher shops for retail sale, smoked, or packed for shipment in barrels of salt. Costly inefficiencies were inherent in transporting live animals by rail, particularly the fact that about sixty percent of the animal's mass is inedible. The death of animals weakened by the long drive further increased the per-unit shipping cost. Meat packer [[Gustavus Franklin Swift|Gustavus Swift]] sought a way to ship dressed meats from his Chicago packing plant to eastern markets.
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Some of the early railroad companies attempted to alleviate the problems by adding [[passenger car]]s to the trains that hauled early stock cars.  The [[New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company]] followed this practice as early as 1839, and the [[Erie Railroad]] advertised that livestock handlers could ride with their herds in special [[caboose]]s. These early passenger accommodations were the predecessors of the later "drovers caboose" designs that were used until the mid 20th century.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 175</ref> Railroad operating rules for livestock and handlers that rode the trains were very limited since the handlers were private contractors or employees of the shippers and they were not employed by the railroads.  A 1948 rulebook for the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe Railroad]], for example, lists only one rule regarding livestock:
  
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===Early attempts at refrigerated transport===
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:"... Wishes of attendants regarding care of livestock should be ascertained and assistance rendered in caring for such shipments. ... In absence of special instructions, hog shipments should be watered as necessary.  Particular attention must be given to stock unaccompanied by attendants."<ref>{{cite book| author=Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway| title=Rules: Operating Department| year=1948| pages=p 153| }}</ref>
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[[Image:Tiffany ad 1879 CBD.jpg|thumb|325px|left|An advertisement taken from the 1st edition (1879) of the ''Car-Builders Dictionary'' for the '''Tiffany Refrigerator Car Company''', a pioneer in the design of refrigerated railroad cars.]]
 
  
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Attempts were made during the mid-1800s to ship [[agriculture|agricultural]] products by rail.  As early as 1842, the [[Western Railroad of Massachusetts]] was reported in the June 15 edition of the ''Boston Traveler'' to be experimenting with innovative [[freight car]] designs capable of carrying all types of perishable goods without spoilage.<ref>White, p. 31</ref> The first refrigerated boxcar entered service in June 1851, on the [[Northern Railroad of New York]] (or NRNY, which later became part of the [[Rutland Railroad]]). This "icebox on wheels" was a limited success since it was only functional in cold weather. That same year, the [[Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad]] (O&LC) began shipping butter to Boston in purpose-built freight cars, utilizing ice for cooling.
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However, even with livestock handlers and faster schedules, many stock cars were still listed on company rosters with open roofs and very little in the way of improved conditions for the livestock themselves.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', pp 173-175</ref> Most railroads resisted the call for as long as possible from shippers for improvements to cars specifically designed to carry livestock. The railroads generally preferred to use standard [[boxcar]]s because that type of car proved much more versatile in the number of different types of loads it could carry.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 123</ref>
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The first consignment of dressed beef left the [[Union Stock Yards|Chicago stock yards]] in 1857 in ordinary [[boxcar]]s retrofitted with bins filled with ice. Placing meat directly against ice resulted in discoloration and affected the taste, and proved impractical. During the same period Swift experimented by moving cut meat using a string of ten boxcars with their doors removed, and made a few test shipments to New York during the winter months over the [[Grand Trunk Railway]] (GTR). The method proved too limited to be practical. 
 
  
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[[Image:Interior of ice bunker reefer.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The interior of a typical ice-bunker reefer from the 1920s. The wood sheathing was replaced by [[plywood]] within twenty years. Vents in the bunker at the end of the car, along with slots in the wood floor racks, allowed cool air to circulate around the contents.]]
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When the railroads and cattle industry failed to act quickly enough to correct these perceived deficiencies, the government and even the general public went into action. Claims were made that the meat of neglected animals was unfit for human consumption.<ref name="White Freight 257">White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 257</ref> In 1869, [[Illinois]] passed the first laws requiring that limited the animals' time on board, and required them to be given 5 hours' rest for every 28 in transit. Some railroads stepped in with their own new designs at this time, such as the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]'s class KA stock car, a design first published in 1869 which featured a removable second deck for transporting pigs or sheep.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 176</ref> However, double-deck stock cars had been experimented with as early as the 1830s on the [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]] in England.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 248</ref> Other states such as [[Ohio]] and [[Massachusetts]] soon followed with similar legislation, though effective federal laws would not be enacted until the passing of the Federal [[Meat Inspection Act]] of [[1906]].<ref name="White Freight 257" />
  
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[[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit's]] [[William Davis]] patented a refrigerator car that employed metal racks to suspend the carcasses above a frozen mixture of ice and salt. He sold the design in 1868 to [[George Hammond (industrialist)|George H. Hammond]], a Detroit meat packer, who built a set of cars to transport his products to Boston using ice from the [[Great Lakes]] for cooling.<ref>White, p. 33</ref> The load had the tendency of swinging to one side when the car entered a curve at high speed, and use of the units was discontinued after several derailments. In 1878 Swift hired engineer Andrew Chase to design a ventilated car that was well insulated, and positioned the ice in a compartment at the top of the car, allowing the chilled air to flow naturally downward.<ref>White, p. 45</ref> The meat was packed tightly at the bottom of the car to keep the [[center of gravity]] low and to prevent the cargo from shifting. Chase's design proved to be a practical solution to providing temperature-controlled carriage of dressed meats, and allowed [[Swift and Company]] to ship their products across the United States and internationally.
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[[Image:Pat106887 diagram.png|thumb|left|300px|The diagram from {{US patent|106887}} showing a cutaway view of Zadok Street's stock car design.]]
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The first patented stock car designs that actually saw use on American railroads were created by Zadok Street.  Street's designs ({{US patent|106887}} and {{US patent|106888}}, both issued on [[August 30]], [[1870]]) were first used in 1870 on shipments between [[Chicago]] and [[New York City]].  They were designed for trips to take 90 hours between the two cities and included water troughs feed from tanks under the floor, and food troughs fed from hoppers in the roof. Street's design proved impractical as each car could carry only 6 steers.<ref name="White Freight 258">White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 258</ref> [[Alonzo C. Mather|Alonzo Mather]], a Chicago clothing merchant who founded the [[Mather Stock Car Company]], designed a new stock car in 1880 that was among the first practical designs to include amenities for feeding and watering the animals while en route.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1880s/TimeLine1880.htm| title=Railroad History Time Line - 1880| accessdate=2007-01-08 }}</ref> Mather was awarded a gold medal in [[1883]] by the [[American Humane Association]] for the humane treatment afforded to animals in his stock cars.<ref name="White Freight 258" /><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyherkim/fairfield/matherfamily.html| title=The Mather Family of Fairfield, NY| accessdate=2007-01-08| last=Dieffenbacher| first=Jane| date=[[2002-06-07]]| work=This Green and Pleasant Land, Fairfield, NY }}</ref> [[Minneapolis]]' Henry C. Hicks patented a convertible boxcar/stock car in [[1881]], which was improved in [[1890]] with features that included a removable double deck. George D. Burton of [[Boston]] introduced his version of the humane stock car in [[1882]], which was placed into service the following year. The Burton Stock Car Company's design provided sufficient space so as to allow the animals to lie down in transit on a bed of straw.
  
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Swift's attempts to sell Chase's design to major railroads were rebuffed, as the companies feared that they would jeopardize their considerable investments in [[Stock car (rail)|stock cars]], animal pens, and feedlots if refrigerated meat transport gained wide acceptance. In response, Swift financed the initial production run on his own, then &mdash; when the American roads refused his business &mdash; he contracted with the GTR (a railroad that derived little income from transporting live cattle) to haul the cars into [[Michigan]] and then eastward through Canada. In 1880 the [[Peninsular Car Company]] (subsequently purchased by ACF) delivered the first of these units to Swift, and the Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL) was created.  Within a year the Line’s roster had risen to nearly 200 units, and Swift was transporting an average of 3,000 carcasses a week to [[Boston, Massachusetts]]. Competing firms such as [[Armour and Company]] quickly followed suit.  By 1920 the SRL owned and operated 7,000 of the ice-cooled rail cars. The [[General American Transportation Corporation]] would assume ownership of the line in 1930.
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In 1880, American railroads rostered around 28,600 stock cars.  With the innovations developed by Mather, Hicks and others, this number nearly doubled in 1890 to 57,300, and was nearly tripled in 1910 to 78,800.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 121. White notes the original source for these numbers as statistics from the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]].</ref>  During this period, the cars' capacities also increased.  In the 1870s few stock cars were built longer than 28&nbsp;ft (8.5&nbsp;m), and could carry about 10&nbsp;tons of stock.  Car lengths increased to an average of 34&nbsp;ft (10.4&nbsp;m) in the 1880s and stock cars of this period regularly carried 20&nbsp;tons of stock.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 247</ref>
  
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[[Image:One of the first cars out of the Detroit plant of American Car & Foundry - Built 1899 for Swift Refrigerator Line - Chicago Historical Society.jpg|thumb|325px|right|A builder's photo of one of the first refrigerator cars to come out of the [[Detroit]] plant of the [[American Car and Foundry Company]] (ACF), built in 1899 for the [[Swift Refrigerator Line]].]]
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[[Image:OP-19552.jpg|thumb|300px|A [[Union Pacific]] wood stock car fitted with metal ends.{{deletable image-caption}}]]
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Certain costly inefficiencies were inherent in the process of transporting live animals by rail, particularly due to the fact that some sixty percent of the animal's mass is composed of inedible matter. And even after the humane advances cited above were put into common practice, many animals weakened by the long drive died in transit, further increasing the per-unit shipping cost. The ultimate solution to these problems was to devise a method to ship dressed meats from regional packing plants to the East Coast markets in the form of a [[refrigerated boxcar]].
  
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'''Live cattle and dressed beef deliveries to New York ([[short tons]]):'''
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==Refrigerated cars==
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{{main|Refrigerator car}}
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[[Image:Pullman Livestock Car late 1800s.jpg|thumb|300px|left|An early [[Pullman Company|Pullman Palace Car Company]] livestock car design from the late 1800s.]]
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A number of attempts were made during the mid-1800s to ship [[agriculture|agricultural]] products via rail car. In [[1857]], the first consignment of ''dressed'' beef was carried in ordinary [[boxcar]]s retrofitted with bins filled with ice. [[Detroit]]'s William Davis patented a refrigerator car that employed metal racks to suspend the carcasses above a frozen mixture of ice and salt. He sold the design in [[1868]] to George Hammond, a Chicago meat-packer, who built a set of cars to transport his products to Boston.
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In [[1878]], [[meat packing|meat packer]] [[Gustavus Franklin Swift|Gustavus Swift]] hired engineer Andrew Chase to design a ventilated car, one that proved to be a practical solution to providing temperature-controlled carriage of dressed meats, and allowed Swift & Company to ship their products all over the [[United States]], and even internationally. The refrigerator car radically altered the meat business. Swift's attempts to sell Chase's design to the major railroads were unanimously rebuffed, as the companies feared that they would jeopardize their considerable investments in stock cars, animal pens, and feedlots if refrigerated meat transport gained wide acceptance.
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In response, Swift financed the initial production run on his own, then &mdash; when the [[United States|American]] roads refused his business &mdash; he contracted with the [[Grand Trunk Railway]] (who derived little income from transporting live cattle) to haul the cars into [[Michigan]] and then eastward through [[Canada]]. In [[1880]] the Peninsular Car Company (subsequently purchased by [[American Car and Foundry Company|ACF]]) delivered to Swift the first of these units, and the [[Swift Refrigerator Line]] (SRL) was created. Within a year the Line's roster had risen to nearly 200 units, and Swift was transporting an average of 3,000 carcasses a week to Boston. Competing firms such as [[Armour and Company]] quickly followed suit.
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[[Image:Unloading a stock car rev.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Sheep are unloaded from the upper level of a [[Wisconsin Central]] stock car in [[Chicago, Illinois]] in [[1904]].]]
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'''Live cattle and dressed beef deliveries to New York ([[tons]]):'''<ref>''Railway Review'', [[January 29]], [[1887]], p. 62.</ref>
 
{| class="toccolours"
 
{| class="toccolours"
 
|-
 
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Line 61: Line 73:
 
|}
 
|}
  
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<small>The subject cars travelled on the [[Erie Railroad|Erie]], [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad|Lackawanna]], [[New York Central Railroad|New York Central]], and [[Pennsylvania Railroad|Pennsylvania]] railroads.</small>
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</small>The subject cars travelled on the [[Erie Railroad|Erie]], [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad|Lackawanna]], [[New York Central Railroad|New York Central]], and [[Pennsylvania Railroad|Pennsylvania]] railroads.
  
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<small>Source: ''Railway Review'', January 29, 1887, p. 62.</small>
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==Specialized applications==
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===Horse cars===
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[[Image:Early refrigerator car design circa 1870.jpg|thumb|325px|right|A ''circa'' 1870 refrigerator car design.  Hatches in the roof provided access to the ice tanks at each end.]]
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For many decades, [[Horse racing|racehorse]] owners regarded the railway as the quickest, cheapest, safest, and most efficient medium of equine transport. The horse express car allowed the animals (in some instances) to leave home the morning of a race, theoretically reducing stress and fatigue.  
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'''19th Century American Refrigerator Cars:'''
 
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{| class="toccolours"
 
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|-
 
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|align=center | &nbsp; '''Year &nbsp;
 
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|align=center | '''Private Lines &nbsp;
 
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|align=center | '''Railroads &nbsp;
 
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|align=center | '''Total
 
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|-
 
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|&nbsp; 1880
 
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|align=center | 1,000 ''est.
 
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|align=center | 310
 
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|align=center | 1,310 ''est.
 
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|-
 
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|&nbsp; 1885
 
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|align=center | 5,010 ''est.
 
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|align=center | 990
 
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|align=center | 6,000 ''est.
 
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|-
 
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|&nbsp; 1890
 
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|align=center | 15,000 ''est.
 
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|align=center | 8,570
 
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|align=center | 23,570 ''est.
 
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|-
 
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|&nbsp; 1895
 
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|align=center | 21,000 ''est
 
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|align=center | 7,040
 
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|align=center | 28,040 ''est.
 
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|-
 
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|&nbsp; 1900
 
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|align=center | 54,000 ''est.
 
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|align=center | 14,500
 
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|align=center | 68,500 ''est.
 
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|}
 
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<small>Source: ''Poor's Manual of Railroads'' and [[Interstate Commerce Commission|ICC]] and [[U.S. Census]] reports.</small>
 
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===The "Ice Age"===
 
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The use of ice to refrigerate and thus preserve food dates back to prehistoric times. Through the ages, the seasonal harvesting of snow and ice was a regular practice of many cultures. China, [[Ancient Greece|Greece]], and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] stored ice and snow in caves or dugouts lined with straw or other insulating materials. Rationing of the ice allowed the preservation of foods during hot periods, a practice that was successfully employed for centuries. For most of the 1800s, natural ice (harvested from ponds and lakes) was used to supply refrigerator cars. At high altitudes or northern latitudes, one foot tanks were often filled with water and allowed to freeze. Ice was typically cut into blocks during the winter and stored in insulated warehouses for later use, with sawdust and hay packed around the ice blocks to provide additional insulation. A late-19th century wood-bodied reefer required reicing every 250 to {{convert|400|mi|km}}.
 
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[[Image:Top icing reefer.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Top icing of bagged vegetables in a refrigerator car.]]
 
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By the turn of the 20th century manufactured ice became more common. The [[Pacific Fruit Express]] (PFE), for example, maintained 7 natural harvesting facilities, and operated 18 artificial ice plants. Their largest plant (located in [[Roseville, California]]) produced 1,200 short tons of ice daily, and Roseville’s docks could accommodate up to 254 cars. At the industry’s peak, 13 million short tons of ice was produced for refrigerator car use annually.
 
  
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===="Top Icing"====
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[[Image:OP-2278.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|AT&SF]] #1996, a "palace-style" horse express car, lays over in [[San Diego, California]] on July 28, 1935. The unit most likely arrived as a part of one of Santa Fe's passenger train consists.]]
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Top icing is the practice of placing a 2 to {{convert|4|in|mm|sing=on}} layer of crushed ice on top of agricultural products that have high respiration rates, need high relative humidity, and benefit from having the cooling agent sit directly atop the load (or within individual boxes). Cars with pre-cooled fresh produce were top iced just before shipment. Top icing added considerable dead weight to the load. Top-icing a {{convert|40|ft|m|sing=on}} reefer required in over 10,000 pounds of ice. It had been postulated that as the ice melts, the resulting chilled water would trickle down through the load to continue the cooling process. It was found, however, that top-icing only benefited the uppermost layers of the cargo, and that the water from the melting ice often passed through spaces between the cartons and pallets with little or no cooling effect. It was ultimately determined that top-icing is useful only in preventing an increase in temperature, and was eventually discontinued.
 
  
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<gallery>
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As early as 1833 in [[England]], specially-padded boxcars equipped with feeding and water apparatus were constructed specifically for transporting draft and sport horses. In the [[United States]], however, horses generally traveled in conventional stock cars or ventilated boxcars. Early on, the need for improved methods for tethering horses in boxcars, while at the same time allowing a horse enough room to maintain its balance while in transit, was recognized.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 265</ref>  
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Image:Ice Harvesting on Lake St Clair Michigan circa 1905--photograph courtesy Detroit Publishing Company.jpg|Men harvest ice on [[Michigan|Michigan's]] [[Lake Saint Clair]], ''circa'' 1905. The ice was cut into blocks and hauled by wagon to a cold storage warehouse, and held until needed.
 
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Image:Men loading ice blocks into reefers.jpg|Ice blocks (also called "cakes") are manually placed into reefers from a covered icing dock. Each block weighed between 200 and 400 pounds. Crushed ice was typically used for meat cars.
 
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<!-- Deleted image removed: Image:GM&O Refrigerator.jpg|An early version of a field icing car loads a Merchants Despatch Transportation Co. reefer (bearing the herald of the [[Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad|GM&O]]) in [[Norfolk, Virginia]] on April 19, 1955. -->
 
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Image:Mechanical Ice Loader.jpg|The "business end" of a mechanical ice loading system services a line of Pacific Fruit Express refrigerator cars. Each car will require approximately 5½ short tons (5 [[metric ton]]s) of ice.
 
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</gallery>
 
  
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[[Image:Topping off FGE reefer with ice.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Workmen top off a reefer's top-mounted bunkers with crushed ice.]]
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Racehorses, and those kept as breeding stock, were highly-valued animals that required special handling. In 1885 a [[livery]] and [[stable]] operator from [[Toledo, Ohio]] by the name of [[Harrison Arms]] formed the Arms Palace Horse Car Company to service this market niche. Arms' cars resembled the [[passenger car]]s of the day; they featured [[clerestory]] roofs and end platforms and came equipped with passenger car trucks (as they were intended for passenger train service). The units were segregated into two separate compartments, each containing eight individual stalls. By the late 1880s Arms had acquired two competing firms, Burton and Keystone. While the cars operated by George D. Burton closely resembled the Arms design, the Keystone Company's cars were much more utilitaran in design as they were intended for transporting animals of lesser value and inclusion in standard freight train consists. The Keystone fleet eventually grew to more than 1,000 cars.<ref>White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', pp 266-267</ref>
  
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The typical service cycle for an ice-cooled produce reefer (generally handled as a part of a block of cars):
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Many of the cars finished out their days in [[maintenance of way]] (MOW) service.
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# The cars were cleaned with hot water or steam.
 
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# Depending on the cargo, the cars might have undergone 4 hours of "pre-cooling" prior to loading, which entailed blowing in cold air through one ice hatch and allowing the warmer air to be expelled through the other hatches. The practice, dating back almost to the inception of the refrigerator car, saved ice and resulted in fresher cargo.
 
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# The cars' ice bunkers were filled, either manually from an [http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/photos/pfe/graphics/24.jpg icing dock], via mechanical loading equipment, or (in locations where demand for ice was sporadic) using specially-designed [http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/photos/pfe/graphics/spe11-71.jpg field icing cars].
 
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# The cars were delivered to the shipper for loading, and the ice was topped-off.
 
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# Depending on the cargo and destination, the cars may have been fumigated.
 
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# The train would depart for the eastern markets.
 
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# The cars were reiced in transit approximately once a day.
 
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# Upon reaching their destination, the cars were unloaded.
 
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# If in demand, the cars would be returned to their point of origin empty. If not in demand, the cars would be cleaned and possibly used for a dry shipment.  
 
  
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<gallery>
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===Circus use===
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Image:Tiffany RRG 1877.jpg|This engraving of Tiffany’s original "Summer and Winter Car" appeared in the ''Railroad Gazette'' just before Joel Tiffany received his refrigerator car patent in July, 1877. Tiffany's design mounted the ice tank in a [[clerestory]] atop the car's roof, and relied on a train's motion to circulate cool air throughout the cargo space.
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Many circuses, especially those in the [[United States]] in the latter [[19th century|19th]] and early [[20th century|20th]] centuries, featured animals in their performances. Since the primary method of transportation for circuses was by rail, stock cars were employed to carry the animals to the show locations.
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Image:Reefers-shorty-Armour-Kansas-City-3891-Pullman.jpg|A [[Pullman Company|Pullman]]-built "shorty" [[reefer]] bears the ''Armour Packing Co. &nbsp; · &nbsp; Kansas City'' logo, ''circa'' 1885. The name of the "patentee" was displayed on the car's exterior, a practice intended to "''...impress the shipper and intimidate the competition...''," even though most patents covered trivial or already-established design concepts.
 
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Image:Reefers-shorty-ATSF-CM-type-1898-cyc ACF builders photo.jpg|A rare double-door refrigerator car utilized the "Hanrahan System of Automatic Refrigeration" as built by [[American Car and Foundry Company|ACF]], ''circa'' 1898.  The car had a single, centrally located ice bunker which was said to offer better cold air distribution. The two segregated cold rooms were well suited for less-than-carload (LCL) shipments.
 
−
Image:Reefers-shorty-Anheuser-Busch-Malt-Nutrine ACF builders photo pre-1911.jpg|A pre-1911 "shorty" reefer bears an advertisement for [[Anheuser-Busch|Anheuser-Busch's]] ''Malt Nutrine'' tonic. The use of similar "billboard" [[advertising]] on [[freight car]]s was banned by the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] in 1937, and thereafter cars so decorated could no longer be accepted for interchange between roads.
 
−
</gallery>
 
  
−
Refrigerator cars required effective insulation to protect their contents from temperature extremes. "[[felt|Hairfelt]]" derived from compressed cattle hair, sandwiched into the floor and walls of the car, was inexpensive but flawed &mdash; over its three- to four-year service life it would decay, rotting out the car's wooden partitions and tainting the cargo with a foul odor. The higher cost of other materials such as "Linofelt" (woven from [[flax]] fibers) or [[cork (material)|cork]] prevented their widespread adoption. Synthetic materials such as [[fiberglass]] and [[polystyrene]], both introduced after [[World War II]], offered the most cost-effective and practical solution.
+
[[Image:RBBX2.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Animal car#RBBX 63009 from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train "Blue Unit" in July, 2002. The animal loading ramps stow directly under the doors on the underside of the car.]]
 +
The [[Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus]], which still travels America by rail, uses special stock cars to haul their animals. When a Ringling Brothers train is made up, these cars are placed directly behind the train's [[locomotive]]s to give the animals a smoother ride.<ref name="Circus Train Facts">{{cite web| url=http://www.trainweb.org/carl/CircusTrains/CircusTrainFacts.htm| title=Circus Train Facts| accessdate=2007-01-08| last=Morrison| first=Carl }}</ref> The cars that Ringling Brothers uses to haul elephants are custom-built with extra amenities for the animals, including fresh water and food supply storage, heaters, roof-mounted fans and water misting systems for climate control, treated, non-slip flooring for safety and easy cleaning, floor drains that operate whether the train is moving or not, backup generators for when the cars are uncoupled from the locomotives, and specially-designed ramps for easy and safe loading and unloading. Some of the cars even have built-in accommodations for animal handlers so they can ride and tend to the animals at all hours.<ref name="Circus Train Facts" />
  
−
===Mechanical refrigeration===
+
===Fish cars===
−
In the latter half of the 20th century mechanical refrigeration began to replace ice-based systems.  In time, mechanical refrigeration units replaced the "armies" of personnel required to re-ice the cars. The "plug" door was introduced experimentally by P.F.E. (Pacific Fruit Express) in April 1947, when one of their R-40-10 series cars, #42626, was equipped with one. P.F.E.'s R-40-26 series reefers, designed in 1949 and built in 1951, were the first production series cars to be so equipped. In addition, the Santa Fe Railroad first used plug doors on their SFRD RR-47 series cars, which were also built in 1951. This type of door, provided a larger six foot opening, to facilitate car loading and unloading. These tight-fitting doors were better insulated and could maintain a more even temperature inside the car. By the mid-1970s the few remaining ice bunker cars were relegated to "top-ice" service, where crushed ice was applied atop the commodity.
+
In the 1870s the railroads of [[United States|America]] were called upon to transport a new commodity: live fish. The fish were transported from hatcheries in the [[Midwest]] to locations along the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] coast to stock the rivers and lakes for sportfishing. The first such trip was made in 1874 when Dr. Livingston Stone of the U.S. Fisheries Commission (which later became the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]]) "chaperoned" a shipment of 35,000 [[shad]] fry to stock the [[Sacramento River]] in [[California]].<ref>{{cite web
 +
| url = http://dcbooth.fws.gov/fishcars.htm
 +
| title = Booth National Historic Fish Hatchery
 +
| accessdate = 2007-01-08
 +
| date = [[2002-08-21]]
 +
| language = English
 +
}}</ref> The fish were carried in open milk cans stowed within a conventional [[passenger car]]. Dr. Stone was required to change the water in the cans every two hours when fresh water was available.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/fishcar.Html| title=The Fish Car Era of the National Fish Hatchery System| accessdate=2007-01-08| last=Leonard| first=John| year=1979 }}</ref> The majority of the fish made the trip successfully and the result was a new species of shad for western fishermen.
  
−
<gallery>
+
[[Image:The Stillwell Oyster Car 1897.jpg|thumb|310px|left|The 30-ton capacity "Stillwell Oyster Car," built by Pullman in 1897, was a wooden [[tank car]] designed by Arthur E. Stilwell for (as the name implies) transporting live [[oyster]]s from [[Port Arthur, Texas]] to [[Kansas City, Missouri]] by rail.]]
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Image:Cutaway PFE mechanical.jpg|A cutaway illustration of a conventional mechanical refrigerator car, which typically contains in excess of 800 moving parts.
 
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Image:ARMN 761511 20050529 IL Rochelle.jpg|A modern refrigerator car: note the grill at the lower right (the car's "A" end) where the mechanical refrigeration unit is housed.
 
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Image:ARMN 110386 detail photo by JS Rybak @ Clarke Ontario Canada April 2005.jpg|State-of-the-art mechanical refrigerator car designs place the removable, end-mounted refrigeration unit outside of the freight compartment in order to facilitate access for servicing or replacement.
 
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Image:Amtk74049.jpg|A modern mechanical refrigerator car, outfitted for high-speed service, bears the colors and markings of [[Amtrak Express]], [[Amtrak|Amtrak's]] freight and shipping service.
 
−
</gallery>
 
  
−
===Cryogenic refrigeration===
+
In 1881, the Commission contracted and built specialized "fish cars" to transport live fish coast-to-coast for stocking.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/1998/jun98/hatch.htm| title=The Badger Fish Cars & Dr. Fish Commish| accessdate=2007-01-08| last=Gilbert| first=Stephen| year=1998| month=June| work=Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine }}</ref> The technologies involved in hauling live fish improved through the 1880s as new fish cars were built with icing capabilities to keep the water cool, and aerators to reduce the need to change the water so frequently. Some of the aerators were designed to take air from the train's steam or air lines, but these systems were soon deprecated as they held the potential of reducing the train's safe transit; the air lines on a train were used in later years to power the [[air brake (rail)|air brakes]] on individual railroad cars.
−
[[Image:Cryx2038-1.jpg|thumb|325px|right|Cryogenic refrigerator cars, such as those owned and operated by Cryo-Trans, Inc., are used today to transport frozen food products, including [[french fries]]. Today, Cryo-Trans operates a fleet in excess of 515 cryogenic railcars.]]
 
  
−
The [[Topeka, Kansas]] shops of the Santa Fe Railway built five experimental refrigerator cars employing [[liquid nitrogen]] as the cooling agent in 1965. A mist of liquified nitrogen was released throughout the car if the temperature rose above a pre-determined level. Each car carried 3,000 [[pound (mass)|pound]]s (1,360 kg) of refrigerant and could maintain a temperature of minus 20 degrees [[Fahrenheit]] (&minus;30 °C). During the 1990s, a few railcar manufacturers experimented with the use of [[liquid carbon dioxide]] (CO<small><sub >2</sub ></small>) as a cooling agent. The move was in response to rising fuel costs, and was an attempt to eliminate the standard mechanical refrigeration systems that required periodic maintenance. The CO<small><sub >2</sub ></small> system can keep the cargo frozen solid as long as 14 to 16 days.  
+
Fish cars were built to [[passenger train]] standards so they could travel at higher speeds than the typical [[freight train]]s of the day. Also, by putting fish cars into passenger trains, the cars were held at terminals far less than if they were hauled in freight trains. Fish car service, throughout their use, required that the fish keepers ride along with the cargo; a typical fish car crew consisted of five men, including a "captain" who would coordinate the transportation and delivery, several "messengers" who would serve as freight handlers and deliverymen, and a cook to feed the crew. The cargo's need for speedy transportation and passenger amenities for the crew necessitated the cars' inclusion in passenger trains.
  
−
Several hundred "[[cryogenic]]" refrigerator cars were placed in service transporting frozen foodstuffs, though they failed to gain wide acceptance (due, in part, to the rising cost of liquid carbon dioxide). Since cryogenic refrigeration is a proven technology and environmentally friendly, the rising price of fuel and the increased availability of carbon dioxide from [[Kyoto Protocol]]-induced capturing techniques may lead to a resurgence in cryogenic railcar usage. [[Cryo-Trans, Inc.]] (founded in 1985) has since dedicated 200 of its refrigerated cars to wine transportation service.
+
Fish car operations typically lasted only from April through November of each year, with the cars held for service over the winter months. The cars became a bit of a novelty among the public and they were exhibited at the 1885 [[North, Central and South American Exposition (1885)|New Orleans Exhibition]], the 1893 [[World's Columbian Exposition|Chicago World's Fair]], and the 1901 [[Pan-American Exposition]] in Buffalo, New York. As fish cars became more widely used by hatcheries, they were also used to transport regional species to non-native locations. For example, a fish car would be used to transport [[lobster]] from [[Massachusetts]] to [[San Francisco, California]], or to transport [[dungeness crab]] back from [[San Francisco]] to the [[Chesapeake Bay]].
  
−
===Experimentation===
+
[[Image:Montana State fish car rev.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The ''Thymallus'', a "fish car" of the [[Montana]] State Fish Service, circa 1910. The attendants are loading stainless steel milk cans filled with fish onto the car.]]
−
====Aluminum and stainless steel====
 
−
In 1946, the Pacific Fruit Express procured from the [[Consolidated Steel Corporation]] of [[Wilmington, California]] two {{convert|40|ft|m|sing=on}} [[aluminum]]-bodied ventilator refrigerator cars, to compare the durability of the lightweight alloy versus that of steel. It was hoped that weight savings (the units weighed almost 10,000 pounds less than a like-sized all-steel car) and better corrosion resistance would offset the higher initial cost. One of the aluminum car bodies was manufactured by [[Alcoa]] (PFE #44739), while the other was built by the [[Reynolds Metals|Reynolds Aluminum Company]] (PFE #45698).
 
  
−
The cars (outfitted with state-of-the-art fiberglass insulation and axle-driven fans for internal air circulation) traveled throughout the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific systems, where they were displayed to promote PFE's post-[[World War II]] modernization. Though both units remained in service over 15 years (#45698 was destroyed in a wreck in May 1962, while #44739 was scrapped in 1966), no additional aluminum reefers were constructed, cost being the likely reason. Also in 1946 the Consolidated Steel delivered the world's only reefer to have a [[stainless steel]] body to the Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch. The {{convert|40|ft|m|sing=on}} car was equipped with convertible ice bunkers, side ventilation ducts, and axle-driven circulation fans. It was thought that stainless steel would better resist the corrosive deterioration resulting from salting the ice.
+
The first all-[[steel]] fish car was built in 1916. Fish car technology improved again in the early 1920s as the milk cans that had been used were replaced by newer tanks, known as "Fearnow" pails. The new tanks were about 5 [[pound (mass)|pounds]] (2.3 [[kilogram|kg]]) lighter than the milk cans and included integrated containers for ice and aeration fittings. One 81-[[foot (unit of length)|foot]] (26.7 [[metre]]) long car, built in [[1929]], included its own electrical generator and had enough capacity to carry 500,000 young fish up to 1 [[inch]] (2.5 [[centimetre|cm]]) long. Fish car use declined in the 1930s as fish transportation shifted to a speedier means of transport by air, and to trucks as vehicle technology advanced and road conditions improved. The US government operated only three fish cars in [[1940]], with the last of this fleet taken out of service in 1947.
−
The one-of-a-kind unit entered service as #13000, but was subsequently redesignated as #1300, and later given #4150 in 1955.<ref>Hendrickson and Scholz, p. 8</ref>
 
  
−
<nowiki>#4150</nowiki> spent most of its life in express service. Cost was cited as the reason no additional units were ordered. The car was dismantled at [[Clovis, New Mexico]] in February, 1964.
+
In 1960, [http://www.midcontinent.org/collectn/woodpas/wfc2.html Wisconsin Fish Commission "Badger Car#2"] was sold to the [[Mid-Continent Railway Museum|Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society]], where it is in the process of being restored as a part of the Society's collection of historic rolling stock.
  
−
===="Depression Baby"====
+
===Poultry cars===
−
During the 1930s, the [[North American Car Company]] produced a one-of-a-kind, four-wheeled ice bunker reefer intended to serve the needs of specialized shippers who did not generate sufficient product to fill a full-sized refrigerator car. NADX #10000 was a 22-foot-long, all-steel car that resembled the [[forty-and-eights]] used in Europe during [[World War I]]. The prototype weighed in at 13½ [[ton]]s and was outfitted with a 1,500-[[pound (mass)|pound]] ice bunker at each end. The car was leased to [[Hormel]] and saw service between [[Chicago, Illinois]] and the southern United States. The concept failed to gain acceptance with the big eastern railroads and no additional units were built.
+
[[Image:Live Poultry Car.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Live poultry cars such as this were set low on the wheels, which allowed for a taller body and therefore provided more cargo space. This car could hold over 5,000 chickens, 2,000 geese, or 1,400 turkeys.]]
 +
From about 1890 to 1960, shipping live chickens and other birds by rail in special "henhouses on wheels" was commonplace. The cars featured wire mesh sides (which were covered with cloth in the winter to protect the occupants) and a multi-level series of individual coops, each one fitted with feed and water troughs. A human attendant traveled on board in a central compartment to feed and water the animals along the way. The cars were also equipped with a coal stove that provided heat for the center of the car.
  
−
====Dry ice====
+
The concept is thought to been the brainchild of William P. Jenkins, a freight agent for the [[Erie Railroad]]. Jenkins collaborated with a [[Muncie, Indiana]] [[poultry]] dealer by the name of James L. Streeter on the design of a specialized car designed solely for transporting live fowl. The Live Poultry Transportation Company was formed about the same time that the first poultry car patent was issued ({{US patent|304005}}, issued [[August 26]], [[1884]]). By 1897, the company had 200 units in operation.<ref name="White Freight 270">White, ''American Railroad Freight Car'', p 270</ref>
−
The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (SFRD) briefly experimented with [[dry ice]] as a cooling agent in 1931. The compound was readily-available and seemed like an ideal replacement for frozen water. Dry ice melts at -109 °F / -78.33 °C (versus 32 °F / 0 °C for conventional ice) and was twice as effective thermodynamically. Overall weight was reduced as the need for brine and water was eliminated. While the higher cost of dry ice was certainly a drawback, logistical issues in loading long lines of cars efficiently prevented it from gaining acceptance over conventional ice. Worst of all, it was found that dry ice can adversely affect the color and flavor of certain foods if placed too close to them.
 
  
−
====Hopper cars====
+
The Continental Live Poultry Car Company, a rival concern, was founded in 1890. Continental thought to dominate the market by offering larger cars, capable of transporting as many as 7,000 chickens in 120 coops, but the oversized cars failed to gain wide acceptance, and the firm closed its doors after just a few years in business.<ref name="White Freight 270" />
−
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Santa Fe Conditionaire Covered Hopper.jpg|thumb|300px|right|ACFX #47633, one of 100 specially-built "Conditionaire" centerflow hoppers operated by the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]].]] -->
 
−
In 1969, the [[Burlington Northern Railroad]] ordered a number of modified [[covered hopper]] cars from [[American Car and Foundry]] for transporting perishable food in bulk. The 55-foot (16.76 m)-long  cars were blanketed with a layer of insulation, equipped with roof hatches for loading, and had centerflow openings along the bottom for fast discharge. A mechanical refrigeration unit was installed at each end of the car, where sheet metal ducting forced cool air into the cargo compartments.  
 
  
−
The units, rated at 100 [[short ton]]s (90.718 [[Tonne|t]]) capacity (more than twice that of the largest conventional refrigerator car of the day) were economical to load and unload, as no secondary packaging was required. Apples, carrots, onions, and potatoes were transported in this manner with some success. Oranges, on the other hand, tended to burst under their own weight, even after wooden baffles were installed to better distribute the load. The Santa Fe Railway leased 100 of the hoppers from ACF, and in April, 1972 purchased 100 new units. The cars' irregular, orange-colored outer surface (though darker than the standard AT&SF yellow-orange used on reefers) tended to collect dirt easily, and proved difficult to clean. Santa Fe eventually relegated the cars to more typical, non-refrigerated applications.
+
==Modern conversions==
 +
[[Image:HOGX July 1994.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Pigs receive fresh water during a stop at Dry Lake in the [[Nevada]] desert in July, [[1994]].]]
 +
In the 1960s, the Ortner Freight Car Company of [[Cincinnati, Ohio]] developed a triple-deck hog carrier for the [[Northern Pacific Railway]] based on the design of 86-foot long "hi-cube" [[boxcar]] called the "Big Pig Palace." They later brought out a double-deck version called the "Steer Palace" that hauled livestock between [[Chicago]] and later [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] to slaughterhouses in [[Philadelphia]] and northern [[New Jersey]] until the early to mid 1980s on [[Penn Central]] and [[Conrail]] [[intermodal freight transport|intermodal]] trains.
  
−
=== Refrigerator cars in Japan ===
+
The [[Union Pacific Railroad]], in an effort to earn more business hauling [[Hog (swine)|hog]]s from [[Nebraska]] to [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] for Farmer John Meats, converted a large number of 50-foot auto parts [[boxcar]]s into stock cars. Originally built by Gunderson Rail Cars in [[Portland, Oregon]] for the [[Missouri Pacific Railroad]], the conversions were done by removing the boxcars' side panels and replacing them with panels that included vents that could be opened or closed. The tri-level cars featured built-in watering troughs.
−
The first refrigerated cars in Japan entered service in 1908 for fish transport. Many of these cars were equipped with ice bunkers, however the bunkers were not used generally. Fish were packed in wooden or foam polystyrene boxes with crushed ice.
 
  
−
Fruit and meat transportation in refrigerated rail cars was not common in Japan. For fruits and vegetables, ventilator cars were sufficient due to the short distances involved in transportation. Meat required low temperature storage, therefore transportation was by ship, since most major Japanese cities are located along the coast.
+
Strings of 5-10 of these "HOGX" cars were, until recently, hauled twice weekly at the front of double-stack [[intermodal freight transport|intermodal]] freight trains. In spite of the technological improvements in these new car designs, they were unable to overcome the advantages of highway transport of livestock. The units have since been scrapped.
−
 
 
−
Refrigerator cars suffered heavy damage in [[World War II]], afterwards the occupation forces confiscated many cars for their own use, utilizing the ice bunkers as originally intended. Supplies were landed primarily at [[Yokohama]], and reefer trains ran from the port to US bases around Japan.
 
−
 
 
−
In 1966, [[Japanese National Railways|JNR]] developed "resa 10000" and "remufu 10000" type refrigerated cars that could travel at 100km/h (this was very fast in the sense of Japanese freight trains). They were used in fish freight express trains. "Tobiuo"([[Flying fish]]) train from Shimonoseki to Tokyo, and "Ginrin"(Silver [[Scale (zoology)|scale]]) train from Hakata to Tokyo, were operated.
 
−
 
 
−
By the 1960s, refrigerator trucks had begun to displace railcars. Strikes in the 1970s resulted in the loss of reliability and punctuality, important to fish transportation. In 1986, the last refrigerated cars were replaced by reefer containers.
 
−
 
 
−
Most Japanese reefers were four-wheeled due to the small traffic demands. There were very few bogie wagons in late years. The total number of Japanese reefers numbered approximately 8,100. At their peak, about 5,000 refrigerated cars were operated in the late 1960s. Mechanical refrigerators were tested, but did not see widespread use.
 
−
 
 
−
There were no privately-owned reefers in Japan, as compared to the US. This is because fish transportation were protected by national policies and rates were kept low, and there was little profit in refrigerated car ownership.
 
−
 
 
−
==Timeline==
 
−
{{see|Timeline of low-temperature technology}}
 
−
* 1842: The [[Western Railroad of Massachusetts]] experimented with innovative freight car designs capable of carrying all types of perishable goods without spoilage.
 
−
* 1851: The first refrigerated boxcar entered service on the [[Northern Railroad of New York]].
 
−
* 1857: The first consignment of refrigerated, dressed beef traveled from Chicago to the East Coast in ordinary box cars packed with ice.
 
−
* 1866: Horticulturist [[Parker Earle]] shipped strawberries in iced boxes by rail from southern Illinois to Chicago on the [[Illinois Central Railroad]].
 
−
* 1868: William Davis of [[Detroit, Michigan]] developed a refrigerator car cooled by a frozen ice-salt mixture, and patented it in the US. The patent was subsequently sold to George Hammond, a local meat packer who amassed a fortune in refrigerated shipping.
 
−
* 1876: German engineer [[Carl von Linde]] developed one of the first mechanical refrigeration systems.
 
−
* 1878: Gustavus Swift (along with engineer Andrew Chase) developed the first practical ice-cooled railcar. Soon Swift formed the Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL), the world's first.
 
−
* 1880: The first patent for a mechanically-refrigerated railcar issued in the United States was granted to Charles William Cooper.
 
−
* 1884: The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (SFRD) was established as a subsidiary of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] to carry perishable commodities.
 
−
* 1885: Berries from  [[Norfolk, Virginia]] were shipped by refrigerator car to New York.
 
−
* 1887 Parker Earle joined F.A. Thomas of Chicago in the fruit shipping business. The company owned 60 ice-cooled railcars by 1888, and 600 by 1891.
 
−
* 1888: Armour & Co. shipped beef from Chicago to Florida in a car cooled by [[ethyl chloride]]-compression machinery. [[Florida]] oranges were shipped to New York under refrigeration for the first time.
 
−
* 1889: The first cooled shipment of fruit from California was sold on the New York market.
 
−
* 1898: [[Russia|Russia's]] first refrigerator cars entered service. The country's inventory w reached 1,900 by 1908, and 3,000 two years later, and peaked at approximately 5,900 by 1916. The cars were utilized mainly for transporting butter from [[Siberia]] to the [[Baltic Sea]], a 12 day journey.
 
−
* 1899: Refrigerated fruit traffic within the US reached 90,000 [[short ton]]s per year;  Transport from California to NY averaged 12 days in 1900.
 
−
* 1901: Carl von Linde equipped a Russian train with a mobile, central mechanical refrigeration plant to distribute cooling to cars carrying perishable goods. Similar systems were used in Russia as late as 1975.
 
−
* 1905: U.S. traffic in refrigerated fruit reacheed 430,000 short tons. As refrigerator car designs become standardized, the practice of indicating the "patentee" on the sides was discontinued.
 
−
* 1907: The Pacific Fruit Express began operations with more than 6,000 refrigerated cars, transporting fruit and vegetables from Western producers to Eastern consumers. US traffic in refrigerated fruit hit 600,000 short tons.
 
−
* 1908: Japan's first refrigerator cars entered service. The cars were for seafood transportation, in the same manner as most other Japanese reefers.
 
−
* 1913: The number of thermally-insulated railcars (most of which were cooled by ice) in the U.S. topped 100,000.
 
−
* 1920: The Fruit Growers Express (or FGE, a former subsidiary of the Armour Refrigerator Line) was formed using 4,280 reefers acquired from Armour & Co.
 
−
* 1923: FGE and the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] for the Western Fruit Express (WFE) in order to compete with the Pacific Fruit Express and Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch in the West.
 
−
* 1925&ndash;1930: Mechanically-refrigerated trucks enter service and gain public acceptance, particularly for the delivery of milk and ice cream.
 
−
* 1926: The FGE expanded its service into the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest through the WFE and the Burlington Refrigerator Express Company (BREX), its other partly-owned subsidiary. FGE purchased 2,676 reefers from the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]].
 
−
* 1928: The FGE formed the [[National Car Company]] as a subsidiary to service the meat transportation market. Customers include [[Kahns]], [[Oscar Mayer]], and [[Rath (company)|Rath]].
 
−
* 1930: The number of refrigerator cars in the United States reached its maximum of approximately 183,000.
 
−
* 1931: The SFRD reconfigured 7 reefers to utilize dry ice as a cooling agent.
 
−
* 1932: [[Japanese Government Railways]] built vehicles specially made for dry ice coolant.
 
−
* 1936: The first all-steel reefers entered service.
 
−
* 1937: The Interstate Commerce Commission banned "billboard" type advertisements on railroad cars.
 
−
* 1946: Two experimental aluminum-body refrigerator cars entered service on the PFE; an experimental reefer with a stainless-steel body was built for the SFRD.
 
−
* 1950: The U.S. refrigerator car roster dropped to 127,200.
 
−
* 1957: The last ice bunker refrigerator cars were built.
 
−
* 1958: The first mechanical reefers (utilizing diesel-powered refrigeration units) entered revenue service.
 
−
* 1960s: The flush, "plug" style sliding door was introduced as an option, providing a larger door to ease loading and unloading. The tight-fitting doors were better insulated and allowed the car to be maintained at a more even temperature.
 
−
* 1966: [[Japanese National Railways]] started operation of fish freight express trains by newly built "resa 10000" type refers.
 
−
* 1969: ACF constructed several experimental center flow hopper cars incorporating mechanical cooling systems and insulated cargo cells. The units were intended for shipment of bulk perishables.
 
−
* 1971: The last ice-cooled reefers were retired.
 
−
* 1980: The US refrigerator car roster dropped to 80,000.
 
−
* 1986: The last reefers in Japan were replaced by [[Reefer (container)|refer containers]].
 
−
* 1990s: The first cryogenically-cooled reefers entered service.
 
−
* 2001: The number of refrigerator cars in the United States bottomed out at approximately 8,000.
 
−
* 2005: The number of reefers in the United States climbs to approximately 25,000, due to significant new refrigerator car orders.
 
−
 
 
−
==Specialized applications==
 
−
===Express service===
 
−
[[Image:FM-REA-65.jpg|thumb|225px|right|An REA express reefer is positioned at the head end of Santa Fe train No.8, the ''Fast Mail Express'', in 1965.]]
 
−
Standard refrigerated transport is often utilized for good with less than 14 days of refrigerated "shelf life": avocados, cut flowers, green leafy vegetables, lettuce, mangos, meat products, mushrooms, peaches and nectarines, pineapples and papayas, sweet cherries, and tomatoes. "Express" reefers are typically employed in the transport of special perishables: commodities with a refrigerated shelf life of less than 7 days such as human blood, fish, [[scallions|green onions]], milk, strawberries, and certain pharmaceuticals.
 
−
 
 
−
The earliest express-service refrigerator cars entered service around 1890, shortly after the first express train routes were established in North America. The cars did not come into general use until the early 20th century. Most units designed for express service are larger than their standard counterparts, and are typically constructed more along the lines of [[baggage car]]s than freight equipment. Cars must be equipped with speed-rated trucks and brakes, and &mdash; if they are to be run ahead of the passenger car consist &mdash; must also incorporate an air line for pneumatic braking, a communication signal air line, and a steam line for train heating. Express units were typically painted in passenger car colors, such as [[Pullman Company|Pullman]] green.
 
−
 
 
−
The first purpose-built express reefer emerged from the [[Erie Railroad|Erie Railroad's]] Susquehanna Shops on August 1, 1886. By 1927 some 2,218 express cars traveled America's rails, and three years later that number was 3,264. In 1940 private rail lines began to build and operate their own reefers, the [[Railway Express Agency]] (REA) being by far the largest. In 1948 the REA roster (which would continue to expand into the 1950s) numbered approximately 1,800 cars, many of which were [[World War II]] "[[troop sleeper]]s" modified for express refrigerated transport. By 1965, due to a decline in refrigerated traffic, many express reefers were leased to railroads for use as bulk mail carriers.
 
−
 
 
−
[[Image:Pfe722.jpg|thumb|350px|left|Pacific Fruit Express #722, an ice-cooled, express-style refrigerator car designed to carry milk in [[stainless steel]] cans and other highly-perishable cargo at the head end of passenger train consists.]]
 
−
[[Image:REX6687 Troop Reefer.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Railway Express Agency refrigerator car #6687, a converted World War II "troop sleeper." Note the square panels along the sides that cover the window openings.]]
 
−
<br style="clear:both;">
 
−
 
 
−
===Intermodal===
 
−
[[Image:Vonsvans01022.jpg|thumb|300px|right|An intermodal train containing mechanically-cooled [[Semi-trailer|highway trailers]] in "[[piggy-back|piggyback]]" service passes through the [[Cajon Pass]] in February, 1995.]]
 
−
 
 
−
For many years, virtually all of the perishable traffic in the United States was carried by the railroads. While railroads were subject to government regulation regarding shipping rates, trucking companies could set their own rate for hauling agricultural products, giving them a competitive edge. In March 1979 the [[Interstate Commerce Commission|ICC]] exempted rail transportation of fresh fruits and vegetables from all economic regulation. Once the "Agricultural Exemption Clause" was removed from the ''Interstate Commerce Act'', railroads began aggressively pursuing trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) business (a form of [[intermodal freight transport]]) for refrigerated trailers. Taking this one step further, a number of carriers (including the PFE and SFRD) purchased their own refrigerated trailers to compete with interstate trucks.  
 
−
 
 
−
The final chapter has not, as many have predicted, been written for the refrigerator car in America. The dawn of the 21st century has seen the first significant reefer orders since the early 1970s.
 
−
 
 
−
===Tropicana "Juice Train"===
 
−
{{main|Juice Train}}
 
−
[[Image:TPIX 250.JPG|thumb|250px|Former Tropicana refrigerator car, shortly after being donated to the [[Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum]] -- [[Palmetto, Florida]].]]
 
−
 
 
−
In 1970 Tropicana orange juice was shipped in bulk via [[Thermal insulation|insulated]] [[boxcars]] in one weekly round-trip from [[Bradenton, Florida]] to [[Kearny, New Jersey]]. By the following year, the company was operating two 60-car unit trains a week, each carrying around 1 million U.S. [[gallon]]s (4 million [[litre|liters]]) of juice. On June 7, 1971 the "Great White Juice Train" (the first unit train in the food industry, consisting of 150  one hundred [[short ton]] insulated boxcars fabricated in the [[Alexandria, Virginia]] shops of [[Fruit Growers Express]]) commenced service over the 1,250-mile (2,000-kilometer) route. An additional 100 cars were soon added, and small mechanical refrigeration units were installed to keep temperatures constant. Tropicana saved $40 million in fuel costs during the first ten years in operation.
 
−
 
 
−
==AAR classifications==
 
−
{| class="toccolours"
 
−
|-
 
−
|+ [[Association of American Railroads|AAR]] classifications of refrigerator car types<ref>''The Great Yellow Fleet'', p 126.</ref>
 
−
|-
 
−
! bgcolor=#cc9966 | Class
 
−
! bgcolor=#cc9966 | Description
 
−
! bgcolor=#cc9966 | Class
 
−
! bgcolor=#cc9966 | Description
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RA
 
−
|align=left | Brine-tank ice bunkers
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RPB
 
−
|align=left | Mechanical refrigerator with electro-mechanical axle drive &nbsp;
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RAM
 
−
|align=left | Brine-tank ice bunkers with beef rails
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RPL
 
−
|align=left | Mechanical refrigerator with loading devices
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RAMH &nbsp;
 
−
|align=left | Brine-tank with beef rails and heaters
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RPM
 
−
|align=left | Mechanical refrigerator with beef rails
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RB
 
−
|align=left | No ice bunkers &mdash; heavy insulation
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RS
 
−
|align=left | Bunker refrigerator &mdash; common ice bunker car
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RBL
 
−
|align=left | No ice bunkers and loading devices
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RSB
 
−
|align=left | Bunker refrigerator &mdash; air fans and loading devices
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RBH
 
−
|align=left | No ice bunkers &mdash; gas heaters
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RSM
 
−
|align=left | Bunker refrigerator with beef rails
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RBLH
 
−
|align=left | No ice bunkers &mdash; loading devices and heaters
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RSMH &nbsp;
 
−
|align=left | Bunker refrigerator with beef rails and heaters
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RCD
 
−
|align=left | Solid carbon-dioxide refrigerator
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RSTC
 
−
|align=left | Bunker refrigerator &mdash; electric air fans
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RLO
 
−
|align=left | Special car type &mdash; permanently-enclosed (covered hopper type) &nbsp; &nbsp;
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RSTM
 
−
|align=left | Bunker refrigerator &mdash; electric air fans and beef rails
 
−
|-
 
−
|align=left | &nbsp; '''RP
 
−
|align=left | Mechanical refrigerator
 
−
|}
 
−
 
 
−
&nbsp; Note: '''Class B''' refrigerator cars are those designed for passenger service; insulated boxcars are designated '''Class L'''.
 
−
 
 
−
==Notes==
 
−
<references/>
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
* Boyle, Elizabeth and Rodolfo Estrada. (1994) [http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/meatscience/column/industry.htm/ "Development of the U.S. Meat Industry"] &mdash; Kansas State University Department of Animal Sciences and Industry.
+
* {{cite journal| author=Kinsey, Darin| year=1997| month=Autumn| title=The Fish Car Era in Nebraska| journal=Railroad History| issue=177| pages=43-67| id={{ISSN|00907847}}| }}
−
* Hendrickson, Richard and Richard E. Scholz. (1986). "Reefer car 13000: a postmortem." ''The Santa Fé Route'' '''IV''' (2) 8.
+
* {{cite book| author=White, John H., Jr.| year=1993| title=The American Railroad Freight Car| publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press| location=Baltimore, Maryland| id=ISBN 0-8018-5236-6| }}
−
* {{cite book|author=Hendrickson, Richard H.|year=1998|title=Santa Fe Railway Painting and Lettering Guide for Model Railroaders, Volume 1: Rolling Stock|publisher=The Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society, Inc., Highlands Ranch, CO|id=}}
+
* {{cite book| author=White, John H., Jr.| year=1978| title=The American Railroad Passenger Car| publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press| id=ISBN 0-8018-2743-4 (pbk.: set: alk. paper); ISBN 0-8018-2722-1 (pbk.: v.1: alk. paper); ISBN 0-8018-2747-7 (pbk.: v.2: alk. paper)| }}
−
* Pearce, Bill. (2005). "Express Reefer from troop sleeper in N." ''Model Railroader'' '''72''' (12) 62&ndash;65.
+
<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"><references/></div>
−
* [http://users2.ev1.net/~jssand/SFHMS/Sand/SFRD/5.htm Reefer Operations on Model Railroads with an emphasis on the ATSF] April 15, 2005 article at [http://www.atsfrr.net/ The Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society] official website &mdash; accessed on November 7, 2005.
 
−
* Thompson, Anthony W. et al. (1992). ''Pacific Fruit Express''. Signature Press, Wilton, CA.  ISBN 1-930013-03-5.
 
−
* White, John H. (1986). ''The Great Yellow Fleet''.  Golden West Books, San Marino, CA.  ISBN 0-87095-091-6.
 
−
* White, Jr., John H. (1993). ''The American Railroad Freight Car''. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. ISBN 0-8018-5236-6.
 
−
 
 
−
==See also==
 
−
* [[Refrigeration]]
 
−
* [[Reefer (ship)]]
 
−
* [[Reefer (container)]]
 
−
* [[Refrigerated transport Dewar]]
 
−
* [[Refrigerator truck]]
 
−
* [[Cold chain]]
 
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
−
* [http://www.sdrm.org/roster/freight/ref21335/index.html Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railway #21335] &mdash; photo and short history of a steel-sheathed "billboard" car.
+
* [http://www.sdrm.org/roster/passenger/mw205993/index.html Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway#1997] &mdash; photo and short history of a horse/express car built by the Pullman Company in 1930; it was subsequently converted into a roadway machine parts car.
−
* [http://www.sdrm.org/stories/reefer/ "Coast to Coast"] article by Richard Hendrickson at the [http://www.sdrm.org/ Pacific Southwest Railway Museum] official website.
+
* [http://users.rcn.com/jimdu4/stockcar.htm Capsule History: Rutland Stock Cars] &mdash; how the stock car was developed, improved and used by one railroad in [[New England]].
−
* [http://www.csrmf.org/doc.asp?id=185 Fruit Growers Express Company #35832] &mdash; photos and short history of an example of the wooden ice-type "reefers" commonly placed in service between 1920 and 1940.
+
* [http://www.trainweb.org/hotrail/rrbx.html Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train &mdash; Blue Unit] &mdash; photos and descriptions from November, 1998.
−
* [http://www.sdrm.org/roster/freight/ref56415/index.html Fruit Growers Express Company #56415] &mdash; photos and short history of an example of the wooden ice-type "reefers" used in the first half of the 20th century for shipping produce.
+
* [http://www.sacramentohistory.org/search.php?topic=801 Sacramento History Online &mdash; Transportation/Agriculture] &mdash; photos of livestock transportation subjects in northern [[California]] in the early part of the [[20th century]].
−
* [http://www.sdrm.org/roster/freight/ref11207/index.html Pacific Fruit Express Company #11207] &mdash; photo and short history of one of the last ice-type refrigerator cars built.
+
* [http://www.sdrm.org/roster/freight/stk43009/ Union Pacific Railroad#43009] &mdash; photo of a 3-level stock car built for [[Union Pacific Railroad]] in [[1964]] and a short history of the hog hauling service to [[Los Angeles]].
−
* [http://www.sdrm.org/roster/freight/re300010/index.html Pacific Fruit Express Company #300010] &mdash; photo and short history of one of the first mechanical-type refrigerator cars built.
 
−
* [http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/photos/pfe/index.shtml Pacific Fruit Express photo gallery] at the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] official website.
 
−
* [http://www.containerserviceco.com Container Service Co.] official website; contains pictures of cryogenic railcars and ocean freight containers.
 
−
 
 
−
{{Refrigerator Car Lines of the United States}}
 
  
 
{{Freight cars}}
 
{{Freight cars}}
−
 
−
[[Category:Cooling technology]]
 
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[[Category:Food preservation]]
 
 
[[Category:Freight equipment]]
 
[[Category:Freight equipment]]
−
 
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[[de:Kühlwagen (Eisenbahn)]]
 
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[[eo:Malvarmiguja vagono]]
 
−
[[ja:冷蔵車]]
 
−
[[ru:Изотермический вагон]]
 

Revision as of 01:46, 1 December 2008

File:OP-13219.jpg
Missouri Pacific Lines all-wood stock car #52967, photographed at Pueblo, Colorado in March, 1937.Template:Deletable image-caption

In railroad terminology, a stock car is a type of rolling stock used for carrying livestock (not carcasses) to market. A traditional stock car resembles a boxcar with slats missing in the car's side (and sometimes end) for the purpose of providing ventilation; stock cars can be single-level for large animals such as cattle or horses, or they can have two or three levels for smaller animals such as sheep, pigs, and poultry. Specialized types of stock cars have been built to haul live fish and shellfish and circus animals such as camels and elephants. Until the 1880s, when the Mather Stock Car Company and others introduced "more humane" stock cars, loss rates could be quite high as the animals were hauled over long distances. Improved technology and faster shipping times have greatly reduced losses.

Template:TOCleft

Initial use and development

Rail cars have been used to transport livestock since the 1830s. The first shipments in the United States were made via the B&O Railroad in general purpose, open-topped cars with semi-open sides.& Thereafter, and until 1860, the majority of shipments were made in conventional boxcars that had been fitted with open-structured iron-barred doors for ventilation. Some railroads constructed "combination" cars that could be utilized for carrying both live animals as well as conventional freight loads.&

Stock cars make up part of an eastbound Santa Fe freight train in March, 1943.

Getting food animals to market required herds to be driven distances of hundreds of miles to railheads in the Midwest, whereupon they were loaded into stock cars and transported eastward to regional processing centers. Driving cattle across the plains led to tremendous weight loss, and a number of animals were typically lost along the way. Upon arrival at the local processing plant, livestock were either slaughtered by wholesalers and delivered fresh to nearby butcher shops for retail sale, smoked, or packed for shipment in barrels of salt.

The suffering of animals in transit as a result of hunger, thirst, and injury were considered by many to be inherent to the shipping process, as were the inevitable loss of weight during shipment. A certain percentage of animal deaths on the way to market was even considered normal (6% for cattle and 9% for sheep on average, according to a congressional inquiry&), and carcasses of dead animals were often disposed of along the tracks to be devoured by scavengers, though some were sold to glue factories or unscrupulous butchers. Increased train speeds reduced overall transit times, though not enough to offset the deleterious conditions the animals were forced to endure.

Some of the early railroad companies attempted to alleviate the problems by adding passenger cars to the trains that hauled early stock cars. The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company followed this practice as early as 1839, and the Erie Railroad advertised that livestock handlers could ride with their herds in special cabooses. These early passenger accommodations were the predecessors of the later "drovers caboose" designs that were used until the mid 20th century.& Railroad operating rules for livestock and handlers that rode the trains were very limited since the handlers were private contractors or employees of the shippers and they were not employed by the railroads. A 1948 rulebook for the Santa Fe Railroad, for example, lists only one rule regarding livestock:

"... Wishes of attendants regarding care of livestock should be ascertained and assistance rendered in caring for such shipments. ... In absence of special instructions, hog shipments should be watered as necessary. Particular attention must be given to stock unaccompanied by attendants."&

However, even with livestock handlers and faster schedules, many stock cars were still listed on company rosters with open roofs and very little in the way of improved conditions for the livestock themselves.& Most railroads resisted the call for as long as possible from shippers for improvements to cars specifically designed to carry livestock. The railroads generally preferred to use standard boxcars because that type of car proved much more versatile in the number of different types of loads it could carry.&

When the railroads and cattle industry failed to act quickly enough to correct these perceived deficiencies, the government and even the general public went into action. Claims were made that the meat of neglected animals was unfit for human consumption.& In 1869, Illinois passed the first laws requiring that limited the animals' time on board, and required them to be given 5 hours' rest for every 28 in transit. Some railroads stepped in with their own new designs at this time, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad's class KA stock car, a design first published in 1869 which featured a removable second deck for transporting pigs or sheep.& However, double-deck stock cars had been experimented with as early as the 1830s on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in England.& Other states such as Ohio and Massachusetts soon followed with similar legislation, though effective federal laws would not be enacted until the passing of the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906.&

The diagram from Template:US patent showing a cutaway view of Zadok Street's stock car design.

The first patented stock car designs that actually saw use on American railroads were created by Zadok Street. Street's designs (Template:US patent and Template:US patent, both issued on August 30, 1870) were first used in 1870 on shipments between Chicago and New York City. They were designed for trips to take 90 hours between the two cities and included water troughs feed from tanks under the floor, and food troughs fed from hoppers in the roof. Street's design proved impractical as each car could carry only 6 steers.& Alonzo Mather, a Chicago clothing merchant who founded the Mather Stock Car Company, designed a new stock car in 1880 that was among the first practical designs to include amenities for feeding and watering the animals while en route.& Mather was awarded a gold medal in 1883 by the American Humane Association for the humane treatment afforded to animals in his stock cars.&& Minneapolis' Henry C. Hicks patented a convertible boxcar/stock car in 1881, which was improved in 1890 with features that included a removable double deck. George D. Burton of Boston introduced his version of the humane stock car in 1882, which was placed into service the following year. The Burton Stock Car Company's design provided sufficient space so as to allow the animals to lie down in transit on a bed of straw.

In 1880, American railroads rostered around 28,600 stock cars. With the innovations developed by Mather, Hicks and others, this number nearly doubled in 1890 to 57,300, and was nearly tripled in 1910 to 78,800.& During this period, the cars' capacities also increased. In the 1870s few stock cars were built longer than 28 ft (8.5 m), and could carry about 10 tons of stock. Car lengths increased to an average of 34 ft (10.4 m) in the 1880s and stock cars of this period regularly carried 20 tons of stock.&

File:OP-19552.jpg
A Union Pacific wood stock car fitted with metal ends.Template:Deletable image-caption

Certain costly inefficiencies were inherent in the process of transporting live animals by rail, particularly due to the fact that some sixty percent of the animal's mass is composed of inedible matter. And even after the humane advances cited above were put into common practice, many animals weakened by the long drive died in transit, further increasing the per-unit shipping cost. The ultimate solution to these problems was to devise a method to ship dressed meats from regional packing plants to the East Coast markets in the form of a refrigerated boxcar.

Refrigerated cars

Template:Main

An early Pullman Palace Car Company livestock car design from the late 1800s.

A number of attempts were made during the mid-1800s to ship agricultural products via rail car. In 1857, the first consignment of dressed beef was carried in ordinary boxcars retrofitted with bins filled with ice. Detroit's William Davis patented a refrigerator car that employed metal racks to suspend the carcasses above a frozen mixture of ice and salt. He sold the design in 1868 to George Hammond, a Chicago meat-packer, who built a set of cars to transport his products to Boston.

In 1878, meat packer Gustavus Swift hired engineer Andrew Chase to design a ventilated car, one that proved to be a practical solution to providing temperature-controlled carriage of dressed meats, and allowed Swift & Company to ship their products all over the United States, and even internationally. The refrigerator car radically altered the meat business. Swift's attempts to sell Chase's design to the major railroads were unanimously rebuffed, as the companies feared that they would jeopardize their considerable investments in stock cars, animal pens, and feedlots if refrigerated meat transport gained wide acceptance.

In response, Swift financed the initial production run on his own, then — when the American roads refused his business — he contracted with the Grand Trunk Railway (who derived little income from transporting live cattle) to haul the cars into Michigan and then eastward through Canada. In 1880 the Peninsular Car Company (subsequently purchased by ACF) delivered to Swift the first of these units, and the Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL) was created. Within a year the Line's roster had risen to nearly 200 units, and Swift was transporting an average of 3,000 carcasses a week to Boston. Competing firms such as Armour and Company quickly followed suit.

Sheep are unloaded from the upper level of a Wisconsin Central stock car in Chicago, Illinois in 1904.

Live cattle and dressed beef deliveries to New York (tons):&

(Stock Cars) (Refrigerator Cars)
  Year   Live Cattle   Dressed Beef
  1882 366,487 2,633
  1883 392,095 16,365
  1884 328,220 34,956
  1885 337,820 53,344
  1886 280,184 69,769

The subject cars travelled on the Erie, Lackawanna, New York Central, and Pennsylvania railroads.

Specialized applications

Horse cars

For many decades, racehorse owners regarded the railway as the quickest, cheapest, safest, and most efficient medium of equine transport. The horse express car allowed the animals (in some instances) to leave home the morning of a race, theoretically reducing stress and fatigue.

File:OP-2278.jpg
AT&SF #1996, a "palace-style" horse express car, lays over in San Diego, California on July 28, 1935. The unit most likely arrived as a part of one of Santa Fe's passenger train consists.

As early as 1833 in England, specially-padded boxcars equipped with feeding and water apparatus were constructed specifically for transporting draft and sport horses. In the United States, however, horses generally traveled in conventional stock cars or ventilated boxcars. Early on, the need for improved methods for tethering horses in boxcars, while at the same time allowing a horse enough room to maintain its balance while in transit, was recognized.&

Racehorses, and those kept as breeding stock, were highly-valued animals that required special handling. In 1885 a livery and stable operator from Toledo, Ohio by the name of Harrison Arms formed the Arms Palace Horse Car Company to service this market niche. Arms' cars resembled the passenger cars of the day; they featured clerestory roofs and end platforms and came equipped with passenger car trucks (as they were intended for passenger train service). The units were segregated into two separate compartments, each containing eight individual stalls. By the late 1880s Arms had acquired two competing firms, Burton and Keystone. While the cars operated by George D. Burton closely resembled the Arms design, the Keystone Company's cars were much more utilitaran in design as they were intended for transporting animals of lesser value and inclusion in standard freight train consists. The Keystone fleet eventually grew to more than 1,000 cars.&

Many of the cars finished out their days in maintenance of way (MOW) service.

Circus use

Many circuses, especially those in the United States in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries, featured animals in their performances. Since the primary method of transportation for circuses was by rail, stock cars were employed to carry the animals to the show locations.

File:RBBX2.jpg
Animal car#RBBX 63009 from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train "Blue Unit" in July, 2002. The animal loading ramps stow directly under the doors on the underside of the car.

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, which still travels America by rail, uses special stock cars to haul their animals. When a Ringling Brothers train is made up, these cars are placed directly behind the train's locomotives to give the animals a smoother ride.& The cars that Ringling Brothers uses to haul elephants are custom-built with extra amenities for the animals, including fresh water and food supply storage, heaters, roof-mounted fans and water misting systems for climate control, treated, non-slip flooring for safety and easy cleaning, floor drains that operate whether the train is moving or not, backup generators for when the cars are uncoupled from the locomotives, and specially-designed ramps for easy and safe loading and unloading. Some of the cars even have built-in accommodations for animal handlers so they can ride and tend to the animals at all hours.&

Fish cars

In the 1870s the railroads of America were called upon to transport a new commodity: live fish. The fish were transported from hatcheries in the Midwest to locations along the Pacific coast to stock the rivers and lakes for sportfishing. The first such trip was made in 1874 when Dr. Livingston Stone of the U.S. Fisheries Commission (which later became the United States Fish and Wildlife Service) "chaperoned" a shipment of 35,000 shad fry to stock the Sacramento River in California.& The fish were carried in open milk cans stowed within a conventional passenger car. Dr. Stone was required to change the water in the cans every two hours when fresh water was available.& The majority of the fish made the trip successfully and the result was a new species of shad for western fishermen.

The 30-ton capacity "Stillwell Oyster Car," built by Pullman in 1897, was a wooden tank car designed by Arthur E. Stilwell for (as the name implies) transporting live oysters from Port Arthur, Texas to Kansas City, Missouri by rail.

In 1881, the Commission contracted and built specialized "fish cars" to transport live fish coast-to-coast for stocking.& The technologies involved in hauling live fish improved through the 1880s as new fish cars were built with icing capabilities to keep the water cool, and aerators to reduce the need to change the water so frequently. Some of the aerators were designed to take air from the train's steam or air lines, but these systems were soon deprecated as they held the potential of reducing the train's safe transit; the air lines on a train were used in later years to power the air brakes on individual railroad cars.

Fish cars were built to passenger train standards so they could travel at higher speeds than the typical freight trains of the day. Also, by putting fish cars into passenger trains, the cars were held at terminals far less than if they were hauled in freight trains. Fish car service, throughout their use, required that the fish keepers ride along with the cargo; a typical fish car crew consisted of five men, including a "captain" who would coordinate the transportation and delivery, several "messengers" who would serve as freight handlers and deliverymen, and a cook to feed the crew. The cargo's need for speedy transportation and passenger amenities for the crew necessitated the cars' inclusion in passenger trains.

Fish car operations typically lasted only from April through November of each year, with the cars held for service over the winter months. The cars became a bit of a novelty among the public and they were exhibited at the 1885 New Orleans Exhibition, the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. As fish cars became more widely used by hatcheries, they were also used to transport regional species to non-native locations. For example, a fish car would be used to transport lobster from Massachusetts to San Francisco, California, or to transport dungeness crab back from San Francisco to the Chesapeake Bay.

The Thymallus, a "fish car" of the Montana State Fish Service, circa 1910. The attendants are loading stainless steel milk cans filled with fish onto the car.

The first all-steel fish car was built in 1916. Fish car technology improved again in the early 1920s as the milk cans that had been used were replaced by newer tanks, known as "Fearnow" pails. The new tanks were about 5 pounds (2.3 kg) lighter than the milk cans and included integrated containers for ice and aeration fittings. One 81-foot (26.7 metre) long car, built in 1929, included its own electrical generator and had enough capacity to carry 500,000 young fish up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. Fish car use declined in the 1930s as fish transportation shifted to a speedier means of transport by air, and to trucks as vehicle technology advanced and road conditions improved. The US government operated only three fish cars in 1940, with the last of this fleet taken out of service in 1947.

In 1960, Wisconsin Fish Commission "Badger Car#2" was sold to the Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society, where it is in the process of being restored as a part of the Society's collection of historic rolling stock.

Poultry cars

File:Live Poultry Car.jpg
Live poultry cars such as this were set low on the wheels, which allowed for a taller body and therefore provided more cargo space. This car could hold over 5,000 chickens, 2,000 geese, or 1,400 turkeys.

From about 1890 to 1960, shipping live chickens and other birds by rail in special "henhouses on wheels" was commonplace. The cars featured wire mesh sides (which were covered with cloth in the winter to protect the occupants) and a multi-level series of individual coops, each one fitted with feed and water troughs. A human attendant traveled on board in a central compartment to feed and water the animals along the way. The cars were also equipped with a coal stove that provided heat for the center of the car.

The concept is thought to been the brainchild of William P. Jenkins, a freight agent for the Erie Railroad. Jenkins collaborated with a Muncie, Indiana poultry dealer by the name of James L. Streeter on the design of a specialized car designed solely for transporting live fowl. The Live Poultry Transportation Company was formed about the same time that the first poultry car patent was issued (Template:US patent, issued August 26, 1884). By 1897, the company had 200 units in operation.&

The Continental Live Poultry Car Company, a rival concern, was founded in 1890. Continental thought to dominate the market by offering larger cars, capable of transporting as many as 7,000 chickens in 120 coops, but the oversized cars failed to gain wide acceptance, and the firm closed its doors after just a few years in business.&

Modern conversions

File:HOGX July 1994.jpg
Pigs receive fresh water during a stop at Dry Lake in the Nevada desert in July, 1994.

In the 1960s, the Ortner Freight Car Company of Cincinnati, Ohio developed a triple-deck hog carrier for the Northern Pacific Railway based on the design of 86-foot long "hi-cube" boxcar called the "Big Pig Palace." They later brought out a double-deck version called the "Steer Palace" that hauled livestock between Chicago and later Kansas City to slaughterhouses in Philadelphia and northern New Jersey until the early to mid 1980s on Penn Central and Conrail intermodal trains.

The Union Pacific Railroad, in an effort to earn more business hauling hogs from Nebraska to Los Angeles for Farmer John Meats, converted a large number of 50-foot auto parts boxcars into stock cars. Originally built by Gunderson Rail Cars in Portland, Oregon for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the conversions were done by removing the boxcars' side panels and replacing them with panels that included vents that could be opened or closed. The tri-level cars featured built-in watering troughs.

Strings of 5-10 of these "HOGX" cars were, until recently, hauled twice weekly at the front of double-stack intermodal freight trains. In spite of the technological improvements in these new car designs, they were unable to overcome the advantages of highway transport of livestock. The units have since been scrapped.

References

  • Template:Cite journal
  • White, John H., Jr. (1993). The American Railroad Freight Car. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-5236-6.
  • White, John H., Jr. (1978). The American Railroad Passenger Car. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-2743-4 (pbk.: set: alk. paper); ISBN 0-8018-2722-1 (pbk.: v.1: alk. paper); ISBN 0-8018-2747-7 (pbk.: v.2: alk. paper).
  1. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 172.
  2. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 173
  3. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 257; Lews H. Haney (1908), A Congressional History of Railways in the United States, New York: vol 2, p 260
  4. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 175
  5. ↑ Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (1948). Rules: Operating Department. pp. p 153.
  6. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, pp 173-175
  7. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 123
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 257
  9. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 176
  10. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 248
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 258
  12. ↑ "Railroad History Time Line - 1880". http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1880s/TimeLine1880.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  13. ↑ Dieffenbacher, Jane (2002-06-07). "The Mather Family of Fairfield, NY". This Green and Pleasant Land, Fairfield, NY. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyherkim/fairfield/matherfamily.html. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  14. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 121. White notes the original source for these numbers as statistics from the Interstate Commerce Commission.
  15. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 247
  16. ↑ Railway Review, January 29, 1887, p. 62.
  17. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 265
  18. ↑ White, American Railroad Freight Car, pp 266-267
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Morrison, Carl. "Circus Train Facts". http://www.trainweb.org/carl/CircusTrains/CircusTrainFacts.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  20. ↑ "Booth National Historic Fish Hatchery" (in English). 2002-08-21. http://dcbooth.fws.gov/fishcars.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  21. ↑ Leonard, John (1979). "The Fish Car Era of the National Fish Hatchery System". http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/fishcar.Html. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  22. ↑ Gilbert, Stephen (June 1998). "The Badger Fish Cars & Dr. Fish Commish". Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine. http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/1998/jun98/hatch.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 White, American Railroad Freight Car, p 270

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