40' PC&F Wood Reefer

Prototype Information

Wood ice reefers typically featured four rooftop hatches at each end for loading ice into internal bunkers. Specialized icing platforms allowed crews to fill these compartments quickly. Cool air circulated over the ice and throughout the car to protect perishable contents. Shippers often pre-cooled the cars before loading to maintain lower temperatures and conserve ice during transit.

Ice reefers required fresh ice top-offs at least once a day. Icing stations sat along mainlines near steam locomotive water tanks for efficient servicing. These versatile cars also carried dry shipments like standard boxcars when refrigeration was unnecessary. Early models featured all-wood construction, but steel reinforcements at the ends and roofs became common by the early 1900s. All-steel designs appeared in 1936, though wood cars remained in service through the 1960s.