[hiball3985]

Great pictures Tim but with my failing memory I have a couple of questions.
1. were we still using ice type refers in 1972?
2. is that an early BAR code and when did we start using BAR codes?

[keystoneaholic]

I can't say for sure about 1972 but my ORER for October 1967 shows that there were 728 cars in the number series NRC 16000-16799 (owned by Merchants Dispatch). If you include other series there were over 1900 similar cars listed under NRC reporting marks (the 16000 series is included in this total).

I have a feeling that many cars would have not all have gone out of service within 5 years.

Yes, that is an ACI label on the car. I can't say what the time frame for their use was, but as far as I'm aware they weren't around for too long.

[conductorchris]

Bananas are not refrigerated, though they are temperature sensitive. Perfect use of ice reefers without ice.
Christopher

[copperpen]

I think bananas are refrigerated to delay the ripening process while in transit. Not frozen though.

[Genma Saotome]

No ice, standard ventilation.

[Railroad Librarian]

Just thought I'd share my info on the banana cars...

My copy of: The Boys Book of Railways (1909) by J.R. Howden offers the following information about the IC "Banana Express"

"...Another example of a special train for special service
is shown us in Figure 1 10. The Illinois Central handles
a considerable amount of traffic in fruit and vegetables
coming from the Southern States, and shipped at points
in the States of Mississippi and Tennessee for Chicago
and the North. Traffic of this kind must be worked
through on a fast schedule, similar to that of a passenger
train.

Our picture shows the Banana Express approaching
Wetaug, Illinois, on the main line, about 18 miles north
of Cairo. The train, on the occasion when our picture
was made, consisted of 34 cars, weighing in all 1045 tons
gross, the net load being 433 tons. The train, like most
American fast freight trains, is being worked by a power
ful six-coupled engine of the Mogul type.

At New Orleans the Illinois Central devote one freight
house, out of the 25 belonging to the road which line
the levees within the city limits, exclusively to banana
traffic. This house has a capacity for 40 carloads of
bananas, and fruit is transferred direct from the steamer
to the warehouse, from whence it is loaded into specially
constructed fruit cars and despatched northward by fast
freight trains such as the one shown in our picture..."

[KB...Pic Below]

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One other tidbit about the actual type of banana:

When I first moved to Spain in the early 1990's, I was surprised at the variety of fruits I'd not seen in my grocery stores produce displays. I quickly learned that the small 'very brown' bananas that were popular where I'd moved were indeed very sweet and delicious. This intrigued me enough that over the years I looked thru different accounts on the reasons Americans eat the Cavendish banana today. The short story is that from the late 1880's (with the introduction of bananas -- via the IC express trains [and perhaps others]), American ate the smaller and tastier Gros Michel (Big Mike). Several successful ventures introduced the banana to Americans and they became so popular that everyone knew about them (even if they'd never actually tried one). In fact, they were popular enough that a song about them -- "Yes We Have No Bananas" [song] introduced in 1922 by Billy Jones became a favorite.

Sometime later, beginning in the mid-1940's, the largest banana importer was Chiquita and they began importing a different breed of banana – the Cavendish. This banana was hardier and easier to transport and sell, as it was a specially bred type for that purpose. But, as with many things, customers were reluctant to buy and eat them. So…

Chiquita’s public relations department created a jingle song(they even contracted South American star – Carmen Miranda to sing their new song) to teach Americans how to ripen and use bananas, which were, at the time, still an exotic tropical fruit to many. The other purpose of the song was to SELL the newer Cavendish. The song was originally introduced via pre-movie spots in cinema house around the country. By the mid-1950’s the song was being played up to 376 times a day on radio stations across the United States. It was one of the most successful commercial jingles of all time.

But in the mid-1950's a blight across the growing regions of Central and South America brought an end to the big mike and all suppliers were soon forced to import the Cavendish – which by then was being accepted…and the rest, as they say, is history.

One post script should be added here though…there is a growing risk that the Cavendish is now at risk by a similar blight that took its predecessor. I wonder what will be its replacement?

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[Genma Saotome]

Do note the position of the roof hatches -- they're all open. That's called standard ventilation (or just SV when you see it in any wheel report). Bananas do very poorly when chilled so they do not ice those reefers... ventilation is good enough. Watermelon is similar, which explains why stockcars were often put into service hauling watermelons.

[ebnertra000]

A note about the "BAR" codes, known as ACI labels (Automatic Car Identification). Those went into use around 1970, and were discontinued about 1978 due to reliability issues. Some railroads continued use of them, though they were in the minority. If they were a little more detailed, I might have been able to get a name and number out of it

[Railroad Librarian]

It's been a while but my brother asked me for a couple new reefer schemes. First up -- Libby's, since I finally found a nice enough image to do up a set for him. I wish I had the talent to paint from scratch but these'll do for us. I've still got to create a activity where I place all my repaints in a large yard somewhere.

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[Genma Saotome]

Umm, Libby's initials were LMLX in the years correct for that roof and ends. What was the date of the photo you used?