I recently saw a string of all white railroad cars. What are they?

1 ANSWERS

1. amomipais82
   

   Hi There,
   The first refrigerated cars in Japan entered service in 1908 for fish transport. Many of these cars were equipped with ice bunkers, however the bunkers were not used generally. Fish were packed in wooden or foam polystyrene boxes with crushed ice.
   
   Fruit and meat transportation in refrigerated rail cars was not common in Japan. For fruits and vegetables, ventilator cars were sufficient due to the short distances involved in transportation. Meat required low temperature storage, therefore transportation was by ship, since most major Japanese cities are located along the coast.
   
   Refrigerator cars suffered heavy damage in World War II, afterwards the occupation forces confiscated many cars for their own use, utilizing the ice bunkers as originally intended. Supplies were landed primarily at Yokohama, and reefer trains ran from the port to US bases around Japan.
   
   In 1966, JNR developed "resa 10000" and "remufu 10000" type refrigerated cars that could travel at 62 mph (this was very fast in the sense of Japanese freight trains). They were used in fish freight express trains. "Tobiuo"(Flying fish) train from Shimonoseki to Tokyo, and "Ginrin"(Silver scale) train from Hakata to Tokyo, were operated.
   
   By the 1960s, refrigerator trucks had begun to displace railcars. Strikes in the 1970s resulted in the loss of reliability and punctuality, important to fish transportation. In 1986, the last refrigerated cars were replaced by reefer containers.
   
   Most Japanese reefers were four-wheeled due to the small traffic demands. There were very few bogie wagons in late years. The total number of Japanese reefers numbered approximately 8,100. At their peak, about 5,000 refrigerated cars were operated in the late 1960s. Mechanical refrigerators were tested, but did not see widespread use.
   
   There were no privately-owned reefers in Japan, as compared to the US. This is because fish transportation were protected by national policies and rates were kept low, and there was little profit in refrigerated car ownership.

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