# Ventilated Boxcars



## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

What is a ventilated boxcar and what were they used for? 

When did the go out of service and what railroads used them?


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Ventilated boxcars were the predecessors to refrigerator cars. They were used to carry produce for short distances, and went out of service in the early 20th century when ice bunker refrigerator cars were developed. Ventilated cars were essentially boxcars with bars or slats in the doors and end hatches to allow airflow through the car.










Refrigerator cars were superior in that they actually cooled the produce via ice in the end bunkers. They could also act as "ventilated cars" by propping the ice hatches open on the ends, allowing a flow of air through the car in the event actual refrigeration wasn't required on that particular haul.

Refrigerator cars designed to haul meat products had no mechanism for propping open these hatches as meat always required refrigeration. These cars used a brine (a combination of crushed ice and salt) to keep the car very cool. The crushed ice was about the size of your fist, not the fine stuff we think of today when we hear that term. The salt separated the chunks and provided more surface area of the ice to be exposed to airflow around and between the ice.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh, btw, ice bunker refrigerator cars lasted into the early 60s, though mechanical refrigerator cars were developed and started becoming popular in the 50s. These use mechanical refrigeration units (similar to the modern refrigerator) to cool the cars instead of ice or brine.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

In the 1 st. attached pic there are 2 doors; one is normal on the right while the door to the left has bars to allow wind to pass through. You can see vents on the end too.
The second shows off side panels for ventilation.
They could be fancy or simple.
John


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

Google "Atlantic Coast Line watermelon cars"; this will tell you the full story of these cars. Basically, they were wood boxcars with two sets of doors and door tracks that extended both left and right of the opening. One door, the "ventilated" one, was like a screen house door, with vertical bars, Also, louvered vents were placed about the body to allow air to pass thru while the train was moving.

I still have my HO Ambroid model of this car, built in the early 1950's.

Larry


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

Would you have seen these cars on a narrow gauge railroad in the late 30's or 40's?


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## HampshireCountyNarrowGage (Apr 4, 2012)

JB

The North Pacific Coast had a group of Carter Brothers 24ft cars. There's plenty of info on these cars in Bruce MacGregors book "The Brith of California Narrow Gauge" There maybe other narrow gauge roads that had ventilated cars but I'm not familiar with them.


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## chuckger (Jan 2, 2008)

JB
If you go over to LSC, check Bruce Chandler's build logs. He scratched a ventilated box car a few years ago. Might give you some ideas/help

Chuck


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Back in the mid to late 1940s, my family used to go to a restaurant (Hot Shoppes) on Route 1 just before it crossed the Potomac River into Washington, DC. Just to the east of the restaurant was (still is) the main north/south railroad line and it's bridge over the river. I remember a number of northbound freights with box cars having ventilated doors. As Larry said, we referred to them as "Watermellon Cars". Many were ACL cars, but I think that some were lettered for the Seaboard. There could have been others, but that was a long time ago.

Chuck


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

jbwilcox said:


> Would you have seen these cars on a narrow gauge railroad in the late 30's or 40's?


The D&RGW and its subsidiaries were running ice bunker reefers by that era. This is the first time I've heard of watermellon cars. Other than those, I'd think most ventilated cars would have been out of service by that time, but I could be wrong.

The North Pacific Coast was long gone by the 30s, though its successor, the Northwestern Pacific, continued to run narrow gauge trains on the old NPC trackage until 1935-36. The South Pacific Coast previously mentioned was broad gauged by 1906.

Not sure there were many other narrow gauge railroads left by the era you mentioned. The EBT was primarily a coal hauler. West Side Lumber Co. was a logging railroad. There may have been a few other narrow gauge railroads left, but I suspect those would have mostly been logging roads as well. Not sure about the 2-footers in Maine.

But it's your railroad... run whatever suits you.


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## zubi (May 14, 2009)

Jbwilcox, check the info on Gary Watkins site http://www.sierravalleyenterprises.com/cb_24_ft_box.html You can see a standard 24ft NG Carter Bros box car and the ventilated version. All these cars were probably gone by early 1900s. Best wishes from Tokyo, Zubi


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## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

By the thirties narrow gauge lines were not buying new equipment. (Yes, I know somebody will come up with an exception but it was at least very rare.) There was enough used equipment sitting around from the defunct lines that they could augment their fleet much cheaper than having new cars built.

You can probably find somebody who bought ventilated boxcars, but if the previous owner did not convert them the new owner probably did. For many of the cars this was a simple as replacing the side and end doors with solid doors, not a big deal. In fact I believe I read that on at least one line they had both ventilated doors and solid doors and when the shipping season was over used the ventilated cars as regular boxcars. Of course, I could be wrong.


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

It is interesting to learn about these cars.

From what I am hearing, they were used primarily before ice was put in cars to keep things cool. 

However, i know that ice has been harvested and stored for many years, probably going back to the 1800's so I wonder why someone did not think about using ice earlier in the history of railroading.

I am contemplating building an On30 small layout and I have been looking for box cars. The only thing I have found at Wholesale trains and Trainworld are the Ventilated variety from Bachmann.

So I guess if my railroad is set in the 30's and 40's it would not be good to buy a bunch of these cars.


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

JB, have you tried The Favorite Spot or Micro-Mark? They both list conventional boxcars as available.

Larry


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

John

The ventilated cars I saw in the late 1940s were all coming from the southern states. Unlike colder climates, they couldn't harvest ice in the winter. I also think that the fresh watermelons just needed to be kept cool not cold. The ventilation kept the cars from heating in the sun.

At the south end of the Potomac Yards in Alexandria was a large ice house where the reefers had their ice bunkers topped off.

Chuck


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Ventilated cars were for fresh produce that didn't like the cold of a refer but would get too hot in a box car. Produce such as watermelons, apples and celery were 3 I know about.
Kegs of apples ... 
I found a combination car Ventilator and refer.
John


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

I distinctly remember in the middle 40's, seeing ACL "Water Melon Cars" in Montreal. My father called them that, because they were used primarily for shipping melons up to Canada, in our Spring time, before our local crop was even planted. They were in fact, Ventilated box cars with the dual doors, just like the Ambroid kits. Iced reefers were of course very common with southern/western road names up here. All our fresh fruit came North in them during the Winter. During the fall and Winter we used to get Potatoes from PEI, and New Brunswick in dual purpose cars that could be iced, or heated, depending on the need to keep the potatoes from freezing, or going bad in the heat. Some came in bright coloured cars from the "State of Maine". We used to also see "Pacific Fruit Express cars here (Iced) with oranges and other stuff from the South West coast of the US of A........and other cars from Florida too. No frozen Orange juice in those days. !!

I hope this gives some information of interest..

Fred Mills


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

I Loved those days when there was such a variety of freight cars. I loved to wander through the freight yards and see how many different cars I could find.

Not any more. All of these container cars or what ever you call them arre just plain boring. Real life railroading has become very boring for me.

I remember waiting at a grade crossing for the chance to see the caboose and there was always some one waving as it passed by.

No cabooses (Cabeese) now. Boring -- Boring -- Boring


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

I think the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes RR modified some box cars as stock cars by essentially making ventilated cars... Slotted doors that kind of thing.


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

The forlorn moan of a steam engine whistle in the distance is one of those sounds that sends shivers up and down my spine. I can listen to it all day long. i just love going to the Cumbres and Toltec raillroad.

A dismal can never have that effect on me! They are just boring!

I love the almost endless variety of the steam era railroads. 

These unit trains just do not have the same effect on me!

I am sure there are young people who have never seen a steam engine working its way up a steep grade who have no idea of what I am talking about.


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