Poisonous Fumes Placard

A necessary warning for hobos hitching rides in refrigerator cars and railroad employees working with these cars.

Previous posts on this topic:

/g/RailroadCitrusIndustryModelingGroup/message/5486?p=,,,20,0,0,0::Created,,milwaukee,20,2,0,42111940

/g/RailroadCitrusIndustryModelingGroup/message/3773?p=,,,20,0,0,0::Created,,monoxide,20,2,0,42108681

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

This should continue the availability of historical images and other material. From the ULV release:

"The University of La?Verne is the proud recipient of a $500,000 gift from Citrus Roots – Preserving Citrus Heritage Foundation that includes publications, photos, education, and artistic works to be housed in the university’s art collection.

The generous donation will enable the university to actively engage with the transformative history of the citrus industry in Southern California. Additionally, the university will commission a public mural to support the message of the citrus heritage. Per the donation, the University of La?Verne will also become the owner of and maintain the website and its online book store.

'The University of La?Verne is truly grateful and honored to receive a priceless collection rich in history and educational resources,” said University President Devorah Lieberman. “It is our responsibility now to ensure our students, faculty, and community are privy to this wealth of knowledge and continue to uphold the history of our citrus heritage.'

The City of La?Verne was once known as the 'Heart of the Orange Empire.' In 1923, the city was one of the largest orange crop producers. The University of La?Verne serves as the proud home of two of the only four remaining citrus packing houses in the city: the former Baum Building, which is now the Enrollment Management Building, and the Arts and Communication Building. Both structures are located adjacent to the Santa Fe Railroad, which was built in 1887."

Arizona Jim's Facebook Page

There are a number of Santa Fe photos on Arizona Jim's Facebook page:

I found the historical photos of Hemet personally useful for the article and presentation I am doing on the Hemet Depot.

A note of caution, though. Many of the original captions for the railroad photos contain errors. I have added comments for those in error that I have knowledge of but there may be others.

For those of you not familiar with Facebook (I'm really not a fan), just scroll down a bit to the Photos Section on the left and click on "Photos". Arizona Jim's Facebook page is accessible without being a Facebook member.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

Orange Groves - Hemet, CA

Circa 1937, taken at the Ramon Bowl, looking north:

The area with the groves now?is all housing with some open fields. However, further east there are still quite a few orange groves and grapefruit groves as well.

No oranges have been shipped by rail from Hemet for a number of years.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

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Model: PFE Ice Service Reefer

An HO scale Red Caboose model built and weather by Pierre Oliver:

This is a class R-30-9 reefer.

You may recognize Pierre Oliver as the owner of Elgin Car Shops ().

He also has a very informative blog:

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

Reefers In Fish Service

Keith Jordan, one of the authors of the Santa Fe reefer book, once commented, "If cars were in dedicated service, there would be bulletins, etc., that would indicate which cars were in a particular service or restricted from general service."

Keith also cited San Diego and said a photo in the Santa Fe reefer book (Page 144) shows a white “Fish Loading Return To San Diego When Empty” rectangle painted on the side of a Class Rr-33 reefer, SFRD 36350.

He noted that signage may have been the way these reefers were “controlled,” and thus restricted to some sort of “shuttle” service, i.e., not allowed to be sent to the citrus regions. He also said opening the door to the reefer would tell you a lot as well! The caption stated that once a reefer was in fish service it was always in fish service."

That said, the information below indicates that under certain conditions fish could be shipped in refrigerator cars without relegating those cars to fish service only.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

++++

Transporting Fish

The text below is from Refrigerating World, Volume 54, Issue 2, Page 24 (September 1919).

TRANSPORTATION OF FISH

The speed at which fish decay is not so striking as the length of time that fish will keep under proper conditions. according to the Food Research Laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture. Investigations in the handling of fresh fish—from the catch to the consumer—which have been underway for several years, have shown that when refrigerator cars are properly iced and the fish are properly packed, they can be transported even in midsummer for distances requiring five days of travel, and they will reach the market in excellent condition for eating. In fact, fish so shipped will be much "fresher" at the markets than fish shipped without refrigeration in fast express cars for 24 hours or less.

For successful shipping of fish by freight in refrigerator cars, the investigators outline the following instructions:

Keep Fish Packages Off Floor

Select a refrigerator car that has doors and hatches so tight that not a ray of light can enter. If the car is not provided with a rack in the floor, build one, placing 2 by 4 stringers lengthwise of the floor and nailing crosswise slats —1 by 3 inches—about 11/; inches apart. No car of fresh fish should be shipped without a rack on the floor.

With the car prepared, the bunkers should be filled with ice at least 12 hours before loading. The pieces of ice should not be larger than a man’s fist. Just before the car is loaded the ice in the bunkers should be replenished, and on top of the ice should be placed coarse gray rock salt in the proportion of 5 percent of the ice. Most refrigerating cars will require from 3,500 to 5,000 pounds of ice in each bunker. If the capacity of the bunkers is not marked, it can be determined by counting the number of cakes used, in the case of artificial ice, or by rough weighing, in the case of natural ice. The amount of salt required ordinarily will vary between 170 and 250 pounds to each bunker.

Only Package Ice in Cars

Fish to be placed in the car must be in boxes or barrels, plentifully supplied with fine ice. They should be hurried into the car, that the doors may not be kept open any longer than necessary. As soon as the load is stowed, the doors should be closed and sealed, and the haul should begin as promptly as possible. No ice except that in the packages should be placed inside the car.? It is a great mistake, investigators say, to cover a load of fish with fine ice, or to place heavy ice “headers” on the barrels. The same principle can be used with much success for the shipment of less-than-carload lots, provided the car is chilled when the trip is begun, and the trainmen close the doors promptly after each change in the lading.

Hauling fish in refrigerator cars under the conditions outlined does not harm the car by wetting the lining with fishy water to any greater extent than does ice-packed poultry or iced vegetables, and railroad officials will find value in knowledge of this fact, declare the investigators. They see no reason why fish so handled should not be loaded into refrigerator cars which, after unloading and airing, may go into other refrigerator service. Damage to refrigerator cars in fish traffic and much fish deterioration has been due to heavy meltage of ice in the fish packages, because the-car was not cold enough at the beginning to reduce the meltage. This difficulty can be overcome by salting the ice in the bunkers. During the haul, the bunkers in summer time must be iced and salted every 24 hours.

?

The article in Railway Age ( ) describes how the system works so if you are interested, click on the link.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

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Photo: S.R.I.X. Reefers (Safety Car Heating & Lighting Company)

These are unusual iceless refrigerator cars, circa 1930:

Scroll on the photo to enlarge it.

The lettering on the one car appears to say "Safety Refrigerator".

Courtesy of Jon Miller, an article from Railway Age, February 18, 1928:

Text from the article: "The Safety Car Heating & Lighting Company, New York, has had in service for a number of months an iceless refrigerator car, the principle of the operation of which is based on certain physical properties of a substance known as silica gel. No source of mechanical power is required, the operation being effected by heat from a stored gas supply. Several long haul runs have been made with the first car equipped with this system and the results have been uniformly successful. A variety of commodities have been carried, including frozen fish, oranges, and cantaloupe."

The mention of oranges led me to do a little digging. Not much resulted.

I have no information that Santa Fe experimented with these reefers.

Tony Thompson said there is a PFE memo at the UP Museum that states these reefers did not look practical to them.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

National Orange Packing House - Riverside, CA (Corrected)

Photos courtesy of J. S. Matlack:

This structure burned down in 2001

Other Structure

This is just to the north (railroad east) of National Orange:

Apparently the structure has several uses.

Bill Messecar noted, "In the later Sanborn maps it is identified at the Lerner Riverside Grain and Milling Co. In the 1908 Sanborn map it is just identified as an Orange packing house."

Bob Chaparro

Moderator