I want to include head end equipment on my passenger trains but am unsure of the operations. My question is were reefers ever cut out of passenger trains on route to be picked up by locals and deliverd or did they only get switched out at major terminals? The town on my layout is a medium sized town with just a depot.
Am certain that whatever you do, there's a prototype somewhere. However the keyword here is "express" and yes here were many circumstances of express reefers being delivered to intermediate towns between principal passenger terminals. Not as common, but I'm certain happened somewhere, was the further delivery of the car to yet another siding away from the station. Again the keyword is "express." Normally the express car would be spotted at the stations' "house track." If an empty it would be loaded out as quickly as possible for final delivery. If loaded, it would be emptied normally fairly quickly. So if your station doesn't have a siding, you'll probably want to install one. And if your reefer is in REA service you'll probably want at least one REA truck real close by. Don't forget, a lot of those reefers handled bagged mail and cut flowers. So you have a wide variety of "off-layout" industries being served by one siding.
If they have hatches on the roof, they are ice-bunker reefers, and they would need to be serviced with ice en route. Like other reefers, this gives you yet another modeling opportunity - an ice house with an elevated platform for loading ice. I used the Walthers ice-house kit for this scene. I think there are a couple of other companies that make ice-house kits with similar elevated platforms. Although an ice house isn't really an "industry," it serves the same purpose on a layout. In fact, it can be quite a busy place operationally. A reefer would typically be loaded with ice and then delivered "cold" to a brewer, packing plant, etc. Depending on how long the loading process took and how hot the day was, it might be returned to the ice platform to be topped off before being made up into a train. So, you have a chance to spot the same car 2 or even 3 times. What's more, reefers require enroute servicing, so even through trains might need to have the cars iced before resuming their journey.
some express reefer info Hope these links help you out regarding your question, http://www.opsig.org/pdf/AARPassengerCarCodes.pdf Refrigerator car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia George
Thanks for the tips, If I were to have a ice house on my layout how did they ice express reefers in passenger trains? Did the whole train run through the icing track or were the reefers cut out, iced, and then put back in the train?
I don't know for sure, but I would imagine that they would be cut out and serviced separately. Express reefers would be considered "head end equipment" like baggage cars, and typically placed between the locomotives and the passenger cars. This allows them to be more easily cut out at terminals. I picked up two REA express reefers just because they were on sale at Walthers. They got me thinking, though, and now I'm planning an REA depot building with a siding so that I'll have someplace to put these cars when they're not in a train. Sometimes there are advantages to not planning too far ahead.
Check this out. This is pretty interesting. http://www.atsfrr.net/resources/Sandifer/Clinics/SFRD/3.htm Enjoy, Wolf
