So Had an idea to put a building on my layout that produces freeze-dryed produce. My question is…since the produce would be shipped in on reefer cars, but what would the freeze-dried fruit be shipped on? I dont think it would be reefers, Would it? Or would it be regular box cars or Hi-Cubes?
IIRC, one of the impetus for acclerating the development and purchases of Mechanical Refrigerator cars by the various railroad reefer pools was to handle Freezed-Dried produce (think Birds-Eye peas, for example), because then-standard iced reefers really couldn’t maintain a cold enough temperature for proper shipping.
Ah, here we go!
I looked up “freeze-drying”. The process preserves a product by removingmoisture.
“If a freeze-dried substance is sealed to prevent the reabsorption of moisture, the substance may be stored at room temperature without refrigeration, and be protected against spoilage for many years. Preservation is possible because the greatly reduced water content inhibits the action of microorganisms and enzymes that would normally spoil or degrade the substance.”
Therefore refrigeration is not necessary. Probably insulated boxcars" Class RBL or XPI would be used.
The whole point of freeze drying food is to preserve it where it DOESN’T need refrigeration.
It would ship in boxcars if it went by rail (which is actually somewhat unlikely). I doubt one customer would use 70 tons of freeze dried food in one batch. The most likely method that would touch rail is piggyback.
Perhaps people are thinking of “flash freezing” instead of freeze drying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_freezing
Steve S
That was frozen produce, not freeze-dried, which was a much later development.
Freeze-dried produce would probably be shipped in insulated boxcars. Note that most freeze-drying operations are in the area where the produce is grown to avoid long-distance shipment. But a little moder’s license never hurt.