We have three ice-cooled refrigerator cars at our museum, one wood and two steel. I am putting together a display about ice-cooled refrigerator cars, and I am looking for some drawings that I could reference to explain where ice got loaded, where the bunkers where, how air circulated through cars, and so on.



I poked around the internet and found this diagram from PFE for mechanical cooling, but it's not quite what I need. Any leads would be appreciated.

-otto-

Have you looked at John White's Great Yellow Fleet? Pretty much the same info/diagrams in his The American Railroad Freight Car. There may be others in the trade press, but he used the best of them.

I can't help directly with a diagram, but I am sure I have seen several out there.

As far as where the cars where replenished with ice, there was an ice dock/platform at Wayneport NY along the NYCRR mainline.

It was active into the 60's at least.

According to my Father there was a strike back in the mid/late 60's and supervisors were operating the trains for a short time (days). Apparently one of the supervisors was routed down one of the tracks along the dock and he went a little too fast (trying to make up time ?). Apparently the higher box cars and such got to swaying side to side due to the higher speed and it wiped out the top of the ice platform. It was scrapped shortly afterwards.

And I believe the car from the terminal at Buffalo was also transported to the museum on it's own wheels by a friendly railroad. Or it might have been trucked in, that was 20 years ago.

Cheers Kevin.