Icing platforms

[SteamGene]

Most diagrams of real icing platforms set them somewhere inside a yard.  Was this a standard practice, or might they be elsewhere to take advantage of water/electrical supply?  Also, would the normal siding be double ended for speed of ice loading? 
Gene

[Atlantic Central]

Gene,

Many icing platforms were located at the point of loading, meat packing house, etc.

Also, they could be found at division point yards for re-icing of loads. Yes, double ended and multi track set ups were common at busy locations.

Sheldon

[BillD53A]

There are two Yahoo groups that you might be interested in. The first id 'Citrusmodeling' and the second is 'Railway_Bull_Shippers_Group'.   The first deals with the California packing industry including packing houses,  ice docks and refrigerator car operations.  The second group does the same for the meat packing industry.  They both offer lots of photos and info.  It took about 10 minutes to ice a reefer.   

[PhilipCal]

Growing up in Southern Calif in the late forties/fifties, I saw quite a few icing platforms. Most that I recall were actually away from yards. In those days, Southern Calif still had a viable citrus industry, and icing platforms at the sites of packing houses were quite comon. Depending on the size of the facility, two, three, tracks were often required.

[Flashwave]

Don't forget, this is YOUR layout, you can stick one in the middle of a forest if you wanted, and claim that the trains needed a place to re-ice on long hauls.

[SteamGene]

While I am not a rivet counter, I do like to look and see if rivets are on riveted cars! 
Gene

[SteamGene]

How about an icing platform actually on the main?   This sort of goes along with the picture on the Walthers box - not that I think it is all that accurate.
Gene

[japasha]

In Modesto, California there was a smaller icing facility next to the main line but not on it. There was one siding and then the lead for the icing platform. This was a strictly seasonal operation to ice the cars before they were spotted at the shipper for loading. The main icing was at Stockton or Fresno after loading ans shipping.

This facility could handle ten to fifteen cars at a time. There was a mogul to switch the facility and local industries.

[RAM]

It takes too long to the icing facility no the main line.  Even at only one mimute per car, it would take it would take more than an hour to ice a sixty car train.  Large facilities had a siding more than two longs so they could clear the main and not bearkup the train.  some facilities could ice the train without stopping the train.  There was a lot of work to do with Ice ref. cars other than putting ice in them.  This is why they were replace in just a few years after depentable mechanable ref. were developed.

[SteamGene]

AFAIK, iced reefers lasted more than 50 years.  The location of my icing platform is going to force the train to block the main unless a switcher moved the reefers to the icing platform from the yard and then returned them to make up a train.  That might work.  I would still use a double ended siding to allow the switcher to run around the reefers for the return trip to the yard - which is not that far away.
Gene

[Atlantic Central]

RAM,

A brief history:

Mechanical refrigeration was conceived in the late 1700's, invented by 1856, largely perfected by 1900 and in wide spread use in industry by 1920. That is how the ice was made for the ice reefers (and for peoples ice boxes). By the 1930's ice systems for passenger cars and water exchange systems for the air conditioning of large buildings had been developed.

Those early industrial systems used ammonia as a refrigerant. Ammonia is a very dangerious poison. That is why it was not used on passenger cars or to air condition peoples homes or buildings. A leak in a coil would kill everyone in the place. A few ammonia systems can still be found in large industries (meat packing, etc) and as recently as 25 years ago the majority of large industrial systems still used ammonia as a refrigerant.

BUT, practical units of small enough size, weight and efficiency for railroad freight cars or highway trucks where not developed until the 1950's. The railroads had a large investment in ice reefers so it took over 20 years for them to completely replace ice reefers with mechanical ones.

The invention of FREON in the 1920's and the latter developement of FREON-12 and FREON-22 allowed safe home use and very small efficient package units for cars, trucks and railroad reefers.

Gene,

Yes, a re-icing station would/could be along the main, but would be on a passing siding.

Sheldon

[SteamGene]

We're just going to selectively compress.  There is no room on either passing siding for an icing platform now.  It will be west of Leesboro, on the other side of the Michael farm and the Michael girls can collect pieces of ice to cool the lemonade for their lemonade stand in the summer.  I installed the west switch this afternoon. 
Gene