Reefer ops

 It’s been a while. I’ve had a couple things that have side tracked me. My knee rehab. I am falling behind. Doing my two knees so close together, 14 weeks apart, makes the rehab seem like one long slog. I find, at PT, that I’m falling behind. So I have to be more diligent.

Secondly, Murphy has, in quick succession, shredded the two train books I was reading. I’ve re-ordered them, but I’m waiting. 

The third book, about produce reefer traffic, has to be locked away from Murphy when I’m not there guard it.

I’ve been discussing reefer ops with my friend John Fiscella. John is one of the big movers and shakers at the San Diego Model Railroad Club. They are located in the Balboa Park museum in San Diego, Ca., across the hall from La Mesa.

In my era, ice bunker reefers were how the railroads moved produce. The Reefer operators, PFE or SFRD to name two examples, offered what are known as “Protective Services” along with the transportation of goods.

Protective services are everything that goes on with a reefer to modify the temperature of the car load.

Initial icing, Re-icing, top-icing, salt, ventilation, and heat are protective services which a shipper might want to protect the shipment. These are all spelled out in DETAIL, in the protective service contract and on the waybill, and billed to the shipper. The added costs will be more than compensated for when a car load of fresh produce arrives at the consignee in excellent condition.

A shipper might want the initial icing and regular Re-icing at every stop.

He might want ventilators open or closed at various stations along the route depending on the expected weather.

He might need heaters placed in the bunkers of the cars.

In addition to all this there are special procedures associated with these services that can be specified over and above the standard protective services. 

For example a shipper might specify that his load get initial icing and only one Re-icing along the route.

He may request regular icing but with the addition of 10% salt added. The salt brings down the temperature and is used to achieve lower temperatures or to protect frozen food or fish shipments.

Every protective service is performed at the ice dock, so on the model railroad you simply move the cars in question to the ice dock. 

John wants to spell out the various protective service in detail, this would not change any physical procedure on the model railroad. The cars would still have to make a trip to the ice dock. It would simply provide information to the crew, let them know what they are simulating. Call it added “flavor”.

The value of this is open for debate, but I support John in his effort to do so.

Generally a reefer must be cleaned, so a trip to a clean out track is necessary. On the model railroad a clean out track must be included on the layout.

Then the reefers get assigned to a customer, and at this point the customer will specify if the want the reefer pre-iced. If not the reefer goes to the customer. If the customer wants the car pre-iced, it must first go to the ice dock.

After this the reefer gets spotted for loading. Now produce direct from the field, out in the hot sun, is far warmer than optimum for shipping. Cooling this load in the car might take a couple days, and is inefficient. These Loads must then be pre-cooled. 

Pre-cooling is a term that is generally incorrectly used. Modelers often assume the reefer is pre-cooled. Not so. Loads are pre-cooled, not cars. Produce is first moved to a cold room at packing houses big enough to have a cold room. Once the loads are cooled to their optimum temperature for shipping they are loaded.

But when a car is loaded with field fresh produce it can be cooled by air. Air ducts are connected to the doors, and the ventilator hatches are open. The car is then flushed with cold air until the load is at its optimum temperature.

If the reefer was pre-iced it goes to the classification yard and gets forwarded to its consignee. If the car needs ice it goes to the ice dock. Once it is iced it continues on its way.

On the model railroad we are linked to our layouts geography. If like John’s layout we model San Diego, Ca. We are at the start of a reefers journey. John’s game probably should consist of receiving MTY reefers from the east,  cleaning and pre-icing them, delivering them for loading and gathering them and building trains of reefers for trips back east.

On AIR2, some reefers do terminate on-layout and go to customers like a wholesale Produce mart, or a grocery wholesaler. But the majority of reefers are bridging the layout. They might need Re-icing, or some other protective service. My game is to quickly service and forward reefers heading east.

If your layout is located on the eastern seaboard your job is to get the reefers delivered to customers, and get the MTY’s returning west, asap. You are not performing protective services because the trip is over for all intents and purposes.

I’m not sure of the utility, or added play value in knowing what’s inside the reefers, that is should you take the time and go to the effort to produce a waybill with a commodity listed on it? I guess that is up to each of you. I would say that administratively you’d need to produce a waybill that is first, specific to reefers; second, a waybill that is specific to either produce or meat reefers; third, this bills need to be stored in a manner to easily tell the difference and make them easy to grab during staging. 

Unless you are routing EVERY reefer that crosses your layout to the ice dock, you are going to need a procedure to route only a selected group. I choose an ACTION BILL(*1), you may have some other procedure. Either way this will have to be an overlay or substitute to your primary waybill. 

My thinking is that I am trying to save labor during staging, so I have come up with a generic bill for any car type bridging  the layout into a staging yard. For example,  a reefer car load of lettuce bound for a produce wholesaler in Richmond, VA., all my crew needs to know is that car is going into a staging yard representing Richmond, VA. It gets the same bill as a tank car full of gasoline going to a fuel dealer in Richmond, VA.

No need to produce, store, collate, use, and eventually retrieve and return to storage a waybill specific to a produce reefer that reads: “400 crates of lettuce. Joes produce wholesale mart, Richmond, VA”.

You might decide, however, that this added flavor is valuable to your op session. 

1* Action Bill - I along with my friend Al Daumann call these over-laying waybills Action Bills. An Action Bill is placed in the card pocket of the car card over the primary bill. It diverts the car in question to some facility other than its primary routing. 

For example the action bill might read “REST LIVESTOCK”. This would divert this car to the livestock rest station where livestock is unloaded, fed, watered and rested for 8 hours before continuing on it way. 

The action bill might read “RIP”. This bill diverts the car to the RIP track to repair some simulated damage to the car. 

Or the Action bill might read “ICE”. This bill diverts the car to the ice dock where one of the many protective services is performed. 

Now I choose to simply print an action bill that reads “ICE”. You might, however produce an action bill that reads, “ICE DOCK, OPEN VENTILATOR HATCHES TO 45 DEGREES” , or , “ICE DOCK. RE-ICE AND ADD 10% SALT”. That is up to you. In any case, what ever the action the action bill is directing, this bill is removed from the card pocket as soon as the action is performed, and the car continues on its primary routing.