I once went on a tour of the U.P.'s Nampa, ID. freight yards in the 80's and seen the old Ice House. The platform was torn down, and the structure was in a terrible state of disrepair. As our tour guide talked of it's earlier days I had visions of what it must have looked like in operation. Well now that I have a large collection of Ice Reefers for my railroad, I have started my quest for information, stories, photo's, and whatever else I could find on the subject. I want to build an icing platform, and have seen many models, but no prototype photos. I hope some of you railroad veterans could share some stories, and possibly recommend some books, or even post photos and web links on the subject. The icing platform must have been a good place to take photos of all those billboard reefers, but I have not seen any yet.
After spending 2 days surfing the web looking for info on icing reefers, the ice houses, ice companies, cold storage, produce transportation, and anything else I could think of, I have determined that this is one of the least documented subjects of railroadings bygone era. I found 37 photos online, 34 were layout models, and "3" of reefers being iced up. I only found 1 book which I ordered, "PFE". I also found of a book, out of print, "REA" which may contain some info and photo's. Does anyone else know of any photo's of Ice Platforms, or Ice Houses online or elsewhere?
Robert, there are some excellent photos on the Library of Congress website: Library of Congress Do a search on 'icing' or 'reefers' or 'ice dock'. I've been able to find some very good photos of the San Bernardino, CA ici dock which also shows how they filled up the reefers. Good luck. Wilbert
Thanks Wilbert, There are quite a few good photo's there. Most notably, that their is some kind of conveyor chain to push the ice down the middle of the ice platform.
There was a documentary a few years ago about the "Salad Bowl Express" that ran fresh produce from California to New York markets, non-stop hauling reefers with articulateds at high speeds. It showed them icing whole strings of reefers along the way. The big blocks of ice were taken from an ice house up long chain conveyors to long roof top high platforms where crews of men would shove blocks off next to each car. Other men would guide these blocks down chutes to drop them into the open hatches of each end of a reefer until full. Smaller pieces that sometimes would break off were shoveled in on top then the hatches were closed. The car brakes would be released. One looked like the crews were signaled when the line was full (when the first block reached the end of the line of cars), then all the crews would start loading, as the conveyor slowed to allow time to get the needed blocks. When the cars were filled, the line would stop. The string of cars would be pulled ahead, bringing the next string into place. The empty string would have brakes set, and men would be opening hatches, while the filled string would be uncoupled and taken to a marshalling yard to be made up into trains for the main line. It was a round the clock ordeal with crew changes every few hours. The work was heavy, fast and tiring. It was interesting to see the drivers spin as the engineers tried to get a mile long string of those heavy reefers up to road speed. It was not unusual for those trains to cruise around seventy miles an hour along the flat level stretches of prairie on their way to bring fresh lettuce, radishes, and all kinds of berries and fruit to be ready for breakfast in New York! That was one of the most exciting films I have seen in a long time!
Thanks for the tip Watash, I did some searches, and found that video, it's called "Love Those Trains" by National Geographic. It follows the Salad Bowl Express east over Donner Pass according to the caption. Now I just have to find it in stock somewhere. Making progress!
Watash, that is my favorite all time video. Not only have I seen it on PBS a number of times, I own it, and also went to an off the beaten movie theatre once and saw it on the big screen (along with, "Wild Boys on the Road", a 30's anti-hoboing movie). And that Salad Bowl Express ends up in the good old Bronx at the Hunts Point Market. I spent many hours there on the loading docks and in the meat freezers as my dad loaded up the tractor trailers he used to drive, and we'd go out on the road for hundreds of miles a day and I'd be watching the girls in the cars below and watching for trains along the way. Thanks Watash for reminding me it's time to watch that again.
Yeah Johnny, I remember when I worked as a "Swamper" , then later driver for Waples Platter out of Ft. Worth delivering groceries to small town grocery stores. The Lady watch was one of the perks, especially in the spring and summer time! We made the city rounds with a K-12 International, and the country rounds with a big Mack or three-banger Dart. I learned to "Jack-knife" a 40 ft. trailer right at the dock doors. It was the 28 footers that were a Bit**! My favorite was that big 30 foot Dart conventional! It had a twin gearshift tranny with a 3-speed Brown-Lipe tandem that gave us a total of 32 speeds foreward, 19 in reverse, and no power stearing! It had a 22" stearing wheel, with a fold-over handle (Like a file handle) to spin that wheel with, and air brakes! What a beast! We had to watch the tachometer and keep her between 800 and 1,200 rpms at all times, so it took a lot of rackin' and sawin' on those twin gear shifts, double-clutchin' all the way up and down. Fully loaded with canned goods in a 40 footer, from a standing start, I got to where I could shift 14 times in a city block, but Jack Roper, (the regular driver that taught me), could sometimes get 19 or 20! I guess you remember those good old days don't you Johnny? The front end stuck way out in front of the front axel like the Auto-Car did On several of our family vacations, we got to see the Salad Bowl Express, either running along side, or waiting at crossings. Dad thought those trains must have scrounged up every reefer there was in California! They were long long trains, even when running at 70 per! We saw a couple that were double headed with Challengers, but the BigBoys could handle all that alone! Man, those were the days, I can tell you! Very bright memories of all the sound and fury! Some of the hobos would wave, but the engineers ALWAYS did and I loved them all! [ 27 February 2002, 06:04: Message edited by: watash ]
Oh man! Georgia Overdrive! YIIIII! HAW! My dad delivered meat in 40 footers, first on rails then later on boxed smoked meat, but it still was a lot of lifting and jack work. I never saw a man work so hard. I busted my butt with him a couple of times when I got older. It was going in and out of those freezers all the time that was bad. And bouncing in 15 year old Macks with 5,000,000 miles on them! After a 350 mile round trip with 9 stops, dinner wasn't very apettizing with a stomach filled with diesel smoke and acid. I enjoy watching the big rigs out on the road. And I remember when trucks like WHITE, DIAMOND REO, B MODEL MACKS, BROCKWAY and those INTERNATIONALS with their "needle nose hoods" were plying the city streets. They must have been hard to drive, but I sure loved seeing them when I was a kid! I have a photo of a coal truck delivering coal to a tenement somewhere in Manhattan and I can't remember where I took it, oh about 15 years ago. That would be in the mid to late 80's. I swear it's a '39 Mack. Incredible! Well, keep the shiney side up and the greasy side down. Catch ya on the flip-flop. BYE! BYE!
Johnny Trains, you could make a little cash on the side by copying that movie, and letting us get in on it. I, for one, would fully enjoy seeing that movie, and I'd pay to see it. How does ten bucks sound?
I don't want to get into bootlegging! You should be able to find it easily. It's National Geographic and I see it in catalogs still. I imagine it doesn't cost more than $15. It's already an old tape, but it's great! I'll bet Schrader's sells it. ('cuse that spelling. not sure if that's right. been on the road all day fighting cabbies and going through checkpoints).
Amazon.com has it for $19.98. (for those who enjoy shopping online). I would check any large chain bookstore in a mall too.
I just watched Love those trains and altough it has the modern Salad Bowl Express, it doesn't showing icing. It's a good tape anyway!
