Micro-Trains - 518 00 730 - Reefer, Ice, Wood - American Cranberry Exchange - 14021

Specific Item Information: This 40’ wood reefer is brown with grey decorated sides and runs on Bettendorf trucks. Built in 1927, this car was leased by North American Refrigerator Line to the Chicago-based American Cranberry Exchange in 1933. Used through the 1940s to ship “Eatmor” brand cranberries, it was equipped with permanent floor racks and two, 235 cubic foot ice bunkers.

Series Name: Farm-To-Table

Prototype History: During the mid-19th century, attempts were made to ship agricultural products by rail. As early as 1842, the Western Railroad of Massachusetts was reported in the June 15 edition of the Boston Traveler to be experimenting with innovative freight car designs capable of carrying all types of perishable goods without spoilage. The first refrigerated boxcar entered service in June 1851, on the Northern Railroad (New York) (or NRNY, which later became part of the Rutland Railroad). This "icebox on wheels" was a limited success since it was only functional in cold weather. That same year, the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad (O&LC) began shipping butter to Boston in purpose-built freight cars, utilizing ice for cooling.

The first consignment of dressed beef left the Chicago stock yards in 1857 in ordinary boxcars retrofitted with bins filled with ice. Placing meat directly against ice resulted in discoloration and affected the taste, proving to be impractical. During the same period Swift experimented by moving cut meat using a string of ten boxcars with their doors removed, and made a few test shipments to New York during the winter months over the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR). The method proved too limited to be practical.

The use of ice to refrigerate and preserve food dates back to prehistoric times. Through the ages, the seasonal harvesting of snow and ice was a regular practice of many cultures. China, Greece, and Rome stored ice and snow in caves, dugouts or ice houses lined with straw or other insulating materials. Rationing of the ice allowed the preservation of foods during hot periods, a practice that was successfully employed for centuries. For most of the 19th century, natural ice (harvested from ponds and lakes) was used to supply refrigerator cars. At high altitudes or northern latitudes, one foot tanks were often filled with water and allowed to freeze. Ice was typically cut into blocks during the winter and stored in insulated warehouses for later use, with sawdust and hay packed around the ice blocks to provide additional insulation. A late-19th century wood-bodied reefer required re-icing every 250 miles (400 km) to 400 miles (640 km).

From Wikipedia

Road Name History: In 1906, a group of growers founded the Wisconsin Cranberry Sales Co. and hired Arthur U. Chaney, a wholesale grocer from Des Moines, Iowa, to sell the Wisconsin crop. Some of the first paper barrel labels were produced for the A.U. Chaney Co. and glued to the wooden head of a 100-pound barrel full of cranberries, replacing the use of medal stencils. By 1911, Chaney renamed his successful marketing group the American Cranberry Exchange, the second fruit marketing cooperative in the country, following the California citrus fruit growers’ organization.

In 1916, Chaney looked to a large advertising agency for help. The ad agency asked Mr. Chaney what he hoped to achieve through an advertising campaign and Mr. Chaney replied, “I would like people to eat more cranberries.” Thus the ad agency came up with the brand “Eatmor Cranberries.”

Brand/Importer Information: Micro-Trains Line split off from Kadee Quality Products in 1990. Kadee Quality Products originally got involved in N-Scale by producing a scaled-down version of their successful HO Magne-Matic knuckle coupler system. This coupler was superior to the ubiquitous 'Rapido' style coupler due to two primary factors: superior realistic appearance and the ability to automatically uncouple when stopped over a magnet embedded in a section of track. The success of these couplers in N-Scale quickly translated to the production of trucks, wheels and in 1972 a release of ready-to-run box cars.

Micro-Trains Line Co. split off from Kadee in 1990 to form a completely independent company. For this reason, products from this company can appear with labels from both enterprises. Due to the nature of production idiosyncrasies and various random factors, the rolling stock from Micro-Trains can have all sorts of interesting variations in both their packaging as well as the products themselves. When acquiring an MTL product it is very important to understand these important production variations that can greatly enhance (or decrease) the value of your purchase.