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A refrigerator car (or '''"reefer"''') is a Refrigerated Boxcar , a piece of Railroad Rolling Stock designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple Insulated boxcars and Ventilated boxcars (commonly used for transporting fruit), neither of which are fitted with cooling apparati. Reefers can be ice-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 Wheelsets and other modifications that allow them to travel with Passenger Trains . Reefer applications can be divided into four 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 in transit created by the ripening process); 3) manufactured foods (such as canned goods and candy) as well as beer and wine do not require refrigeration, but do need the protection of an insulated car; and 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). HISTORY Background Following the end of the American Civil War , Chicago, Illinois emerged as a major Railway center for the Distribution of livestock raised on the Great Plains to Eastern markets. Getting the animals to market required herds to be driven distances of up to 1200 miles (2000 km) to Railhead s in Kansas City, Missouri , whereupon they were loaded into specialized Stock Car s and Transport ed live ("on-the-hoof") to regional Processing centers. Driving cattle across the plains also led to tremendous weight loss, and a number of animals were typically lost along the way. 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. Certain costly inefficiencies were inherent in the process of 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 Swift began looking for a way to ship dressed meats from his packing plant in Chicago to the East. Early attempts at refrigerated transport A number of attempts were made during the mid-1800s to ship Agricultural products via rail car. 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. 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 in that it was only able to function in cold weather. That same year, the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad (O&LC) began shipping butter to Boston in purpose-built freight cars, utilizing ice to cool the contents. ) of the ''Car-Builders Dictionary'' for the Tiffany Refrigerator Car Company, a pioneer in the design of refrigerated railroad cars.]] The first consignment of dressed beef to ever leave the Chicago stockyards did so in 1857 , and was carried in ordinary Boxcar s retrofitted with bins filled with ice. Placing the meat directly against ice resulted in discoloration and affected the taste, however, and therefore proved to be impractical. During the same period Swift experimented by moving cut meat using a string of ten boxcars which ran 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 to too limited to be practical. 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. The loads had the unfortunate tendency of swinging to one side when the car entered a curve at high speed, and the use of the units was discontinued after several derailments. Finally, 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. 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 all over the United States and internationally. 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 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 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, 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 . plant of the American Car And Foundry Company (ACF), built in 1899 for the Swift Refrigerator Line .]] Live cattle and dressed beef deliveries to New York ( Short Tons ): The subject cars travelled on the Erie , Lackawanna , New York Central , and Pennsylvania railroads. Source: ''Railway Review'', January 29 , 1887 , p. 62. refrigerator car design. Hatches in the roof provided access to the ice tanks at each end.]] 19th Century American Refrigerator Cars: Source: ''Poor's Manual of Railroads'' and ICC and U.S. Census reports. The "Ice Age" For most of the 1800s , natural ice (harvested from ponds and lakes) was used to supply the various refrigerator car lines. 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 months and stored in insulated warehouses for use during the rest of the year, where sawdust and hay was packed around the ice blocks to provide additional thermal protection. By the turn of the century, artificially-produced ice became more common. For example, the PFE 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 each day; Roseville’s docks could accommodate up to 254 cars at a time. At the industry’s peak, 13 million short tons of ice was produced for refrigerator car use every year. Note: Class B refrigerator cars are those designed for passenger service; insulated boxcars are designated '''Class L'''. Source: ''The Great Yellow Fleet'', p. 126. REFERENCES
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