weather, empties being delivered sometimes had hatches open
to vent any heated air from the car.
So, in general, cars with hatches positioned this way were
probably loads, and the cars were in ventilation service. Vent
service is an interesting variation on the appearance of refriger-
ator cars, and properly understood brings variation in operating
patterns. To know which crops might ship properly at higher
temperatures, Table 1 is a U.S. Department of Agriculture list-
ing of desirable shipping temperatures for a variety of produce.
Table 1: The U.S. Department of Agriculture
table of desirable transit temperatures for
produce. This was part of an extensive 1961
handbook on produce handling, shipping and
marketing, USDA Handbook 195.
contents
