Getting Real Column - 6
9-10: These two photos at Ogden in 1962 illustrate part
of the icing process. At left, a workman is opening ice
hatches, and at right the estimator chalks an amount of
ice needed to top off the bunker (in hundredweights) on
the hatch plug. The same amount would be noted on the
clipboard in his left hand for that car number. This chalking
operation is for the operator of the icing machine moving
along the deck. Chalking was not needed in the days of
icing with hand tools. –both photos, PFE, courtesy CSRM.
9
arrangement for yard space wherever needed to make sure
the car supply would be there.
At peak harvest times in August, September and into October,
even PFE’s enormous fleet of some 40,000 cars was not
enough. Under agreements with other refrigerator car own-
ers, PFE would borrow extensively from the fleets of American
Refrigerator Transit (ART), Merchants Despatch (MDT), Fruit
Growers Express (FGE), and others, to achieve a sufficient car
10
supply. Conductor’s time books have shown that up to 24% of
all empty reefers moving for loading could be foreign, that is,
non-PFE cars, during peak season.
It was up to shippers to request the exact car needs for the
next day or two, but a reservoir of cars had to be available
so that these cars could be supplied. That was PFE’s job, to
get enough cars to the needed area in time to fulfill those
requests.
For most crops, it was vital to remove “field heat” from the
harvest. This means both the physical heat from sun and warm
air, and also the biological heat from continuing life processes
in the fruit or vegetable. Removing the heat slows down rip-
ening and suppresses decay mechanisms during shipment.
Shippers might have pre-cooling facilities for their produce, so
it would be cool when loaded, or they might rely on getting the
cargo cooled en-route by ice in the car bunkers.
MRH-Sep 2013
