Roundhouse HO 50' Smooth Side Mechanical Reefer, CN #231160. The railroads responded to the migration from ice stored in bunkers as a primary cooling system to the diesel mechanical systems.
The railroads responded to the migration from ice stored in bunkers as a primary cooling system to the diesel mechanical systems. The mechanical reefers could keep a more regular temperature, often times colder then what the ice bunker cars could at the time. Initially mechanical reefers were used primarily in frozen food service. This would soon change as mechanical refrigeration began to replace ice-based systems. Soon after, mechanical refrigeration units replaced the “armies” of personnel required to re-ice the cars. Several different deliveries of the 50’ mechanical cars were made to many different railroads in the mid to late 1950s and 1960s.
