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85-877: The Santa Maria Valley of the central California coast was isolated by the Santa Lucia Range to the north and the Santa Inez Range to the south. El Camino Real traversed the difficult Cuesta Pass to reach San Francisco via the Salinas Valley or San Marcos Pass to reach Los Angeles via Santa Barbara . The 1,800-foot (550 m) People's Wharf was built at Port Harford in 1869 to transfer freight and passengers from Pacific Coast Steamships Mohongo , Orizaba and Gypsy operating between San Francisco and San Diego . Goodall, Nelson and Perkins steamships Ventura and Constantine began weekly service to Port Harford in 1873; and Ah Louis built

170-525: A 2-4-2T called the "Avila" and a 4-4-0 called the "John Harford" built by Baldwin Locomotive Works . San Luis Obispo rail yard warehouses became a commercial center for inbound merchandise and outgoing shipments of hay, grain, dairy products, sheep and cattle. The rail line was extended from San Luis Obispo to Arroyo Grande in 1881 and to Santa Maria in 1882. Grant Locomotive Works built another 4-4-0 and two 2-6-0 locomotives to pull

255-525: A baggage car were sold to the White Pass and Yukon Route . A single combine car numbered 106 was the last piece of passenger equipment. The United States Navy bought the boxcars for use at Naval Station Pearl Harbor when operations ended in 1941; and locomotive number 111 went to the Oahu Railway and Land Company . Bell Oil Company briefly used the railway north of Santa Maria until the line

340-561: A 1,500 lb (680 kg) ice bunker at each end. The car was leased to Hormel and saw service between Chicago, Illinois and the southern United States. The concept failed to gain acceptance with eastern railroads and no additional units were built. The Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (SFRD) briefly experimented with dry ice as a cooling agent in 1931. The compound was readily available and seemed like an ideal replacement for frozen water. Dry ice melts at −109 °F or −78.33 °C (versus 32 °F or 0 °C for conventional ice) and

425-526: A cryogenic reefer, as well as several "insulated" boxcars also used for food transport. The first refrigerated cars in Japan entered service in 1908, primarily for fish transport. They were of the ReSo 200 type, from 1909 followed by the ReSo 210 type and from 1912 followed by the ReSo 230 type; all reclassified into Re 1 type  [ ja ] in 1928. Many of these cars were equipped with ice bunkers, however

510-557: A day from the area of production to processing, or onwards to the point of consumer consumption. Hence whilst similar cattle, fish, fruit and farm-fresh produce shipping requirements existed, the need to refrigerate was often minimised by the use of non-stop express train service to the required destination. In example, the London Midland and Scottish Railway ran specialised express trains from meat producer hubs in Scotland and

595-566: A fleet of 120 new flatcars . A new 3,000-foot (910 m) wharf at Port Harford was 80 feet (24 m) wide with tracks extending the full length. Oregon Improvement Company obtained controlling interest in the Pacific Coast Steamship Company in late 1882, reorganized the railroad as the Pacific Coast Railway, and extended the line to Los Alamos. The next project was to replace the heavy grade of

680-437: A horse-powered, 2 ft 6 in ( 762 mm ) narrow gauge tramway in 1873 to transport passengers and freight between Port Harford and a wagon road at Avila Beach. In 1875, Pacific Coast Steamship Company replaced the tram with the 3 ft ( 914 mm ) narrow gauge steam-powered San Luis Obispo & Santa Maria Valley Railroad to San Luis Obispo. Operations began with ten boxcars and one coach pulled by

765-740: A major railway center for the distribution of livestock raised on the Great Plains to Eastern markets. Transporting the animals to market from ranches in Texas required herds to be driven up to 1,200 miles (1,900 km) to railheads in Kansas City, Missouri or later to more westerly locations, such as Abilene, Kansas (1867, Kansas Pacific Railway ) and Dodge City, Kansas (1872, Santa Fe Railroad ), where they were loaded into specialized stock cars and transported live ("on-the-hoof") to regional processing centers. Driving cattle across

850-403: A major manufacturer of insulated boxcars and mechanical refrigerated cars. 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

935-737: A millionaire. By the turn of the 20th century, manufactured ice became more common. The Pacific Fruit Express (PFE) - a joint venture between the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads, with a fleet of 6,600 refrigerator cars built by the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF) - maintained seven natural harvesting facilities, and operated 18 artificial ice plants. Their largest plant (located in Roseville, California ) produced 1,200 short tons (1,100  t ) of ice daily, and Roseville's docks could accommodate up to 254 cars. At

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1020-457: A one-of-a-kind, four-wheeled ice bunker reefer intended to serve the needs of specialized shippers who did not generate sufficient product to fill a full-sized refrigerator car. NADX #10000 was a 22-foot (6.71 m)-long, all-steel car that resembled the forty-and-eights used in Europe during World War I . The prototype weighed 13.5 short tons (12.2 t; 12.1 long tons) and was outfitted with

1105-646: A part of a block of cars): Refrigerator cars required effective insulation to protect their contents from temperature extremes. " Hairfelt " derived from compressed cattle hair, sandwiched into the floor and walls of the car, was inexpensive, yet flawed  over its three- to four-year service life it would decay, rotting out the car's wooden partitions and tainting the cargo with a foul odor. The higher cost of other materials such as "Linofelt" (woven from flax fibers) or cork prevented their widespread adoption. Synthetic materials such as fiberglass and polystyrene foam, both introduced after World War II , offered

1190-495: A pre-determined level. Each car carried 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) of refrigerant and could maintain a temperature of minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (−30 °C). During the 1990s, a few railcar manufacturers experimented with the use of liquid carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) as a cooling agent. The move was in response to rising fuel costs, and was an attempt to eliminate the standard mechanical refrigeration systems that required periodic maintenance. The CO 2 system can keep

1275-477: A variety of mechanical refrigeration systems, or use carbon dioxide (as dry ice ) or liquid nitrogen as a cooling agent. Milk cars (and other types of "express" reefers) may or may not include a cooling system, but are equipped with high-speed trucks and other modifications that allow them to travel with passenger trains . After the end of the American Civil War , Chicago, Illinois emerged as

1360-744: A week to Boston, Massachusetts . Competing firms such as Armour and Company quickly followed suit. By 1920, the SRL owned and operated 7,000 of the ice-cooled rail cars. The General American Transportation Corporation would assume ownership of the line in 1930. Live cattle and dressed beef deliveries to New York ( short tons ): The subject cars travelled on the Erie , Lackawanna , New York Central , and Pennsylvania railroads. Source: Railway Review , January 29, 1887, p. 62. 19th Century American Refrigerator Cars: Source: Poor's Manual of Railroads and ICC and U.S. Census reports. In

1445-495: Is because fish transportation was protected by national policies and rates were kept low, and there was little profit in refrigerated car ownership. Due to the shorter distance to be travelled in the United Kingdom , the need for refrigeration was limited to specialised goods, which could in express-train format - mostly run overnight to avoid delays from passenger traffic - be transported in suitable timescales of less than

1530-651: Is characteristic of the Ventana Wilderness region: steep-sided, sharp-crested ridges separating valleys. At the mouth of the Little Sur river are some of the largest sand dunes on the Big Sur coast. About 50 streams flow out of the mountains into the sea. A few of them, including the Big Sur and Little Sur Rivers, Big Creek, Garrapata Creek, and Salmon Creek, are large enough to support anadromous and resident fish. California State Route 1 runs along

1615-597: Is just north of the Salmon Creek trailhead. The southernmost tree is about 15 feet (4.6 m) from Highway 1 at the approximate coordinates 35°49′42″N 121°23′14″W  /  35.82833°N 121.38722°W  / 35.82833; -121.38722 About 57 plants are only found in the Santa Lucia Mountains. This range is the only known habitat of the Vortriede's spineflower . The rock of

1700-588: Is often used for goods with less than 14 days of refrigerated "shelf life" — avocados, cut flowers , green leafy vegetables, lettuce, mangoes, meat products, mushrooms, peaches and nectarines, pineapples and papayas, sweet cherries, and tomatoes. "Express" reefers are typically employed in the transport of special perishables: commodities with a refrigerated shelf life of less than seven days, such as human blood, fish, green onions , milk, strawberries, and certain pharmaceuticals. The earliest express-service refrigerator cars entered service around 1890, shortly after

1785-575: Is part of the Outer South California Coast Ranges , in the Pacific Coast Ranges System. The coastal side of the range rises directly from the shoreline, with oceanfront ridges rising directly 4,000 to 5,000 feet (1,200 to 1,500 m) to the crest of the coastal range. The crest of the range is never more than 11 miles (18 km) from the coast. Cone Peak is the steepest coastal elevation in

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1870-687: Is the southernmost native location of about 225 plant species including the coast redwood trees and the northernmost home for about 90 species. The southernmost naturally occurring grove of redwoods is found within the Big Sur region in the Southern Redwood Botanical Area , a 17 acres (6.9 ha) reserve located in the Little Redwood Gulch watershed adjacent to the Silver Peak Wilderness. It

1955-596: The Big Sur coast on the coastal slopes of the range, while U.S. Route 101 lies in the Salinas Valley to the East, and crosses the southern Santa Lucia Range over Cuesta Pass to reach San Luis Obispo . California State Route 41 crosses the range from Atascadero to Morro Bay and Route 46 crosses from Templeton to Cambria . The only other paved road across the Santa Lucia Range is Nacimiento-Fergusson Road , connecting Lucia to Jolon . Since at least

2040-664: 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,

2125-617: The Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County . The range is never more than 11 miles (18 km) from the coast. The range forms the steepest coastal slope in the contiguous United States. Cone Peak at 5,158 feet (1,572 m) tall and three miles (5 km) from the coast, is the highest peak in proximity to the ocean in the lower 48 United States. The range was a barrier to exploring the coast of central California for early Spanish explorers. The Santa Lucia Range

2210-614: The Los Padres National Forest . The first European to document the Santa Lucias was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542 while sailing northward along the coast on a Spanish naval expedition. Cabrillo originally named the southern portion of the range the Sierras de San Martín , as he was passing the area on November 11, the feast day for Saint Martin . He named the northern part Sierras Nevadas because there

2295-481: The Northern Pacific Railroad ordered a number of modified covered hopper cars from American Car and Foundry for transporting perishable food in bulk. The 55-foot (16.76 m)-long cars were blanketed with a layer of insulation, equipped with roof hatches for loading, and had centerflow openings along the bottom for fast discharge. A mechanical refrigeration unit was installed at each end of

2380-568: The Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad (O&LC) began shipping butter to Boston in purpose-built freight cars, using 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

2465-551: The Railway Express Agency (REA) being by far the largest. In 1948, the REA roster (which would continue to expand into the 1950s) numbered approximately 1,800 cars, many of which were World War II " troop sleepers " modified for express refrigerated transport. By 1965, due to a decline in refrigerated traffic, many express reefers were leased to railroads for use as bulk mail carriers. For many years, virtually all of

2550-456: The ReSa 10000 and ReMuFu 10000 type  [ ja ] refrigerated cars that could travel at 100 km/h (62 mph) 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

2635-508: The Salinas Valley before arriving at Monterey Bay, where they founded Monterey and named it their capital. Like other Pacific Coast Ranges , the mountains' close proximity to the Pacific Ocean cause moisture to be deposited on the west-facing slopes, creating a suitable environment for conifers. This creates a rain shadow over Salinas Valley to the east, which is considerably drier. The higher peaks receive some snowfall during

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2720-517: The San Andreas and associated fault systems. The Palo Colorado and Church Creek faults are prominent features influencing the linear northwest–southeast alignment of primary drainages. The Palo Colorado-San Gregorio fault system transitions onshore at Doud Creek, about 7 miles (11 km) south of Point Lobos, exposing the western edge of the Salinian block. Stream canyons frequently follow

2805-690: The San Andreas Fault from an original position. It is predominantly Mesozoic granitic and pre- Cretaceous metamorphic rocks . There is some Cretaceous sedimentary rock of the Great Valley Sequence , considerable Miocene marine sediments, and some other Cenozoic sediments. Units west of the Sur-Nacimiento Fault are dominated by rocks of the Franciscan Assemblage . The basement rocks of

2890-722: The Sundowner winds of Santa Barbara, Santa Lucia's Cuesta Grade on Highway 101 has potential to produce some powerful katabatic winds . Temperatures have been recorded jumping 40 degrees F, to 110 F, in just three hours. Refrigerator car A refrigerator car (or "reefer" ) is a refrigerated boxcar (U.S.), a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple insulated boxcars and ventilated boxcars (commonly used for transporting fruit ), neither of which are fitted with cooling apparatus. Reefers can be ice - cooled , come equipped with any one of

2975-496: The 1870s, the lack of a practical means to refrigerate peaches limited the markets open to Samuel Rumph, a Georgia peach grower. In 1875, he invented a refrigerated railcar and crates that allowed him to grow peaches on a very large scale and ship them to distant markets. He was the first to achieve this. His innovations created Georgia's fame for peaches, a crop now eclipsed economically by blueberries. Edwin Tobias Earl

3060-770: The 1930s, accounts of encounters with Dark Watchers or Los Vigilantes Oscuros have been associated with the Santa Lucia Range, described as shadowy figures which watch hikers from atop mountain ridges. The Lost Padre Mines of the Carmel Mission have become part of local folklore, with their legacy recounted through various accounts, including those within Randall Reinstadt's works such as Ghosts, Bandits, and Legends of Old Monterey, Carmel and Surrounding Areas and Tales and Treasures of California Missions. These narratives suggest that indigenous communities held knowledge of abundant gold deposits concealed within

3145-681: The GTR (a railroad that derived little income from transporting live cattle) to haul the cars into Michigan and then eastward through Canada. In 1880 the Peninsular Car Company (subsequently purchased by ACF) delivered the first of these units to Swift, and the Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL) was created. Within a year, the Line's roster had risen to nearly 200 units, and Swift was transporting an average of 3,000 carcasses

3230-690: The North of England to the Smithfield Meat Market in London , with a dedicated goods station located below ground level directly into the market's slaughtering house. The LMS and the LNER also ran express fish trains from Fleetwood and Grimsby to Broad Street to access Billingsgate Fish Market . The big four railway companies standardised within their own networks their own ice-chilled wagons, which being built with more insulation again minimised

3315-719: The Santa Lucia Range contain Mesozoic Franciscan and Salinian Block rocks. The Franciscan complex is composed of greywacke sandstone and greenstone , with serpentinite bodies and other Ultramafic rocks present. Small areas of marble and limestone lenses form resistant outcrops that are prominent landscape features, often white to light gray in color. The Salinian block is made up of highly fractured, and deeply weathered meta-sediments, especially biotite schist and gneiss , intruded by plutonic (granitic) rocks such as quartz diorite and granodiorite. Both formations have been disrupted and tectonically slivered by motion on

3400-677: The Santa Lucias is dominated by granitic basement of the Salinian Block , between the San Andreas Fault and Sur-Nacimiento Fault . The core of the Salinian block formed as part of the same batholith which forms the core of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Peninsular Ranges of Baja California . It was separated from the North American Plate and transported north by the action of

3485-661: The Spanish Portolá expedition , camped on the coast near Ragged Point in present-day San Luis Obispo County on September 13, 1769. The expedition was forced to bypass the inaccessible coast and travel inland through the San Antonio Valley. The rough trail required much improvement by the scouts, and it was September 24 before the party emerged from the mountains at the San Antonio River near today's settlement of Jolon . They traveled north through

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3570-621: The United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association (UFF&VA) listed what they considered the best features of ice refrigerator cars in 1948: In the latter half of the 20th century, mechanical refrigeration began to replace ice-based systems. Soon after, mechanical refrigeration units replaced the armies of personnel required to re-ice the cars. The sliding plug door was introduced experimentally by P.F.E. (Pacific Fruit Express) in April 1947, when one of their R-40-10 series cars, #42626,

3655-564: The United States and internationally. Swift's attempts to sell Chase's design to major railroads were rebuffed, as the companies feared that they would jeopardize their considerable investments in stock cars , animal pens, and feedlots if refrigerated meat transport gained wide acceptance. In response, Swift financed the initial production run on his own, then — when the American roads refused his business — he contracted with

3740-487: The animal's mass is inedible. The death of animals weakened by the long drive further increased the per-unit shipping cost. Meat processors sought a method to ship dressed meats from their Chicago packing plants to eastern markets. 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

3825-400: The branches occasionally. Profits peaked in 1921 and declined as automobiles became more common, but the railroad saw a brief increase in business hauling gravel for construction of U.S. Route 101 in 1928 and '29. The gravel business required purchase of two 2-8-0s from the recently standard-gauged Nevada–California–Oregon Railway to replace Pacific Coast 2-8-0s dismantled for parts to keep

3910-465: The bunkers were not generally used. Fish were packed in wooden or foam polystyrene boxes with crushed ice . Fruit, vegetables and meat transportation in refrigerated rail cars was not common in Japan. For fruits and vegetables, ventilator cars were sufficient due to the relatively short distances involved, whereas since meat require low temperature storage, they were therefore typically transported by ship, since most major Japanese cities are located along

3995-411: The car, where sheet metal ducting forced cool air into the cargo compartments. The units, rated at 100 short tons (91 t; 89 long tons) capacity (more than twice that of the largest conventional refrigerator car of the day) were economical to load and unload, as no secondary packaging was required. Apples, carrots, onions, and potatoes were transported in this manner with moderate success. Oranges, on

4080-466: The car. By the mid-1970s, the few remaining ice bunker cars were relegated to "top-ice" service, where crushed ice was applied atop the commodity. The Topeka, Kansas shops of the Santa Fe Railway built five experimental refrigerator cars employing liquid nitrogen as the cooling agent in 1965. A mist induced by liquefied nitrogen was released throughout the car if the temperature rose above

4165-496: The cargo frozen solid as long as 14 to 16 days. Several hundred " cryogenic " refrigerator cars were placed in service transporting frozen foodstuffs, though they failed to gain wide acceptance (due, in part, to the rising cost of liquid carbon dioxide). Several experimental cars were built when wartime production restrictions were relaxed in 1946: During the 1930s, the North American Car Company produced

4250-425: The cars to more typical, non-refrigerated applications. Examples of many styles of refrigerator and ice cars can be found at railroad museums around the world. The Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola, California features a very complete roster of 20th century cars, including wood bodied ice cars, steel bodied ice cars, one of the earliest mechanical refrigerator cars, later mechanical refrigerator cars and

4335-504: The coast. Refrigerator cars suffered heavy damage in World War II . After the war, the occupation forces confiscated many cars for their own use, using the ice bunkers as originally intended. Supplies were landed primarily at Yokohama , and reefer trains ran from the port to U.S. bases around Japan. Around this time, the surviving pre-war refrigerator cars were gradually retired and replaced with newer types. In 1966, JNR developed

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4420-684: The contiguous United States, rising nearly a mile (1,609 m) above sea level, only three miles (5 km) from the Pacific Ocean. The range's northern section runs parallel to the southern section of the Diablo Range , part of the Inner South Coast Ranges, which lies to the east across the Salinas Valley . The range's highest summit is Junipero Serra Peak , 1,784 metres (5,853 ft) in Monterey County and

4505-492: The design to George H. Hammond , a Detroit meat packer, who built a set of cars to transport his products to Boston using ice from the Great Lakes for cooling. The load had the tendency of swinging to one side when the car entered a curve at high speed, and use of the units was discontinued after several derailments. In 1878 Swift hired engineer Andrew Chase to design a ventilated car that was well insulated, and positioned

4590-475: The first express train routes were established in North America. The cars did not come into general use until the early 20th century. Most units designed for express service are larger than their standard counterparts, and are typically constructed more along the lines of baggage cars than freight equipment. Cars must be equipped with speed-rated trucks and brakes, and — if they are to be run ahead of

4675-476: 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

4760-425: 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). Top icing is the practice of placing a 2-inch (51 mm) to 4-inch (100 mm) layer of crushed ice on top of agricultural products that have high respiration rates, need high relative humidity, and benefit from having the cooling agent sit directly atop

4845-403: The ice in a compartment at the top of the car, allowing the chilled air to flow naturally downward. The meat was packed tightly at the bottom of the car to keep the center of gravity low and to prevent the cargo from shifting. Chase's design proved to be a practical solution, providing temperature-controlled carriage of dressed meats. This allowed Swift and Company to ship their products across

4930-420: The industry's peak, 1,300,000 short tons (1,200,000 t) of ice was produced for refrigerator car use annually. On the east coast of the United States, in 1920 the company Fruit Growers Express (FGE) was established and owned by a consortium of eastern railroads to serve the wholesale market for refrigerated produce delivered by railcar. In addition to operating and servicing refrigerated railcars, FGE became

5015-412: The load (or within individual boxes). Cars with pre-cooled fresh produce were top iced just before shipment. Top icing added considerable dead weight to the load. Top-icing a 40-foot (12 m) reefer required in excess of 10,000 pounds (4,500  kg ) of ice. It had been postulated that as the ice melts, the resulting chilled water would trickle down through the load to continue the cooling process. It

5100-535: The loss of reliability and punctuality, important to fish transportation. In 1986, the last refrigerated cars were replaced by reefer containers. Most Japanese reefer cars were four-wheeled due to 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 operated in the late 1960s. Mechanical refrigerators were tested, but did not see widespread use. There were no privately owned reefers in Japan. This

5185-547: The most cost-effective and practical solution. The United States Office of Defense Transportation implemented mandatory pooling of class RS produce refrigerator cars from 1941 through 1948. World War II experience found the cars spending 60 percent of their time traveling loaded, 30 percent traveling empty, and 10 percent idle; and indicated the average 14 loads each car carried per year included 5 requiring bunker icing, 1 requiring heating, and 8 using ventilation or top icing. Following experience with assorted car specifications,

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5270-472: The mountains near Cayucos on December 7, 1987 after a gunman killed both pilots, causing the aircraft to crash. A total of 43 people were killed with no survivors. The Santa Lucia Highlands AVA , an American Viticultural Area and producer of California wine , is located on the southeastern slopes of the mountains, above the Salinas valley. Like the well known Santa Ana winds of Southern California or

5355-522: The need for onboard mechanical refrigeration. The Great Western Railway designed and built their own Mica A (ventilated) and Mica B (Non-ventilated) vans for such express produce trains, with ice supplied by the original product producer from their own plant. One specialised form of fresh produce train which existed in the UK was the milk train , which through use of specialised chilled glass-lined wagons remained in service until 1981. Like many railways around

5440-750: The north-westerly trending fault lines, rather than descending directly to the coast. The Salinian block is immediately south of the Monterey Submarine Canyon , one of the largest submarine canyon systems in the world, which is believed to have been an ancient outlet for the Colorado River. The region is also traversed by the Sur-Hill fault, which is noticeable at Pfeiffer Falls in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park . The 40 feet (12 m) waterfall were formed when

5525-606: The original tramway alignment with a deep rock cut and long fill. The line was then extended to Los Olivos in 1887. A fire in 1892 destroyed the San Luis Obispo car shops, grain warehouse, loaded freight cars, half of the railroad's passenger cars and all the cabooses while heavily damaging the station and freight warehouse. Operations were profitable enough to promptly repair the damage. Passenger traffic though Port Harford declined when Southern Pacific reached San Luis Obispo from San Francisco in 1894. Southern Pacific freight rates were high enough to keep most Santa Maria Valley freight on

5610-422: The other engines running. Service to Los Olivos was reduced to a twice-weekly mixed train by 1930 and ended in 1933. A used Plymouth Locomotive Works gasoline switcher was purchased in 1936. The line beyond Los Alamos was dismantled in 1936, and the branch lines were dismantled in 1937. In 1938 locomotive number 106 was destroyed in a grade crossing collision with a gasoline truck, and the last three coaches and

5695-477: The other hand, tended to burst under their own weight, even after wooden baffles were installed to better distribute the load. The Santa Fe Railway leased 100 of the hoppers from ACF, and in April 1972 purchased 100 new units, known as "Conditionaire" cars. The cars' irregular, orange-colored outer surface (though darker than the standard AT&SF yellow-orange used on reefers) tended to collect dirt easily, and proved difficult to clean. Santa Fe eventually relegated

5780-524: The passenger car, must also incorporate an air line for pneumatic braking, a communication signal air line, and a steam line for train heating. Express units were typically painted in passenger car colors, such as Pullman green. The first purpose-built express reefer emerged from the Erie Railroad Susquehanna Shops on August 1, 1886. By 1927, some 2,218 express cars traveled America's rails, and three years later that number rose to 3,264. In 1940, private rail lines began to build and operate their own reefers,

5865-425: The perishable traffic in the United States was carried by the railroads. While railroads were subject to government regulation regarding shipping rates, trucking companies could set their own rate for hauling agricultural products, giving them a competitive advantage. In March 1979, the ICC exempted rail transportation of fresh fruits and vegetables from all economic regulation. Once the "Agricultural Exemption Clause"

5950-409: The plains also caused tremendous weight loss, with some animals dying in transit. Upon arrival at the local processing facility, livestock were slaughtered by wholesalers and delivered fresh to nearby butcher shops for retail sale, smoked, or packed for shipment in barrels of salt. Costly inefficiencies were inherent in transporting live animals by rail, particularly the fact that approximately 60% of

6035-436: The same period Gustavus 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. Detroit's William Davis patented a refrigerator car that employed metal racks to suspend the carcasses above a frozen mixture of ice and salt. In 1868, he sold

6120-635: The steamboats; but the loss of passenger traffic put the Oregon Improvement Company into receivership. The reorganized railroad built a 4 miles (6.4 km) branch line in 1899 from Santa Maria to a new Union Sugar Company beet refinery in Betteravia . The increased agricultural business was shortly overshadowed by discovery of oil in the Santa Maria Valley. By 1902 the railroad had converted its engines to burn oil and

6205-440: The stream flowed over the hard gneiss of the Salinian block and encountered the softer Santa Margarita Sandstone. The falls were formed when the softer sandstone was worn away. The interior canyons are typically deep and narrow, and even in the summer sunshine only reaches many of the canyon bottoms for a few hours. The land is mostly steep, rocky, semi-arid except for the narrow canyons, and inaccessible. The Little Sur River canyon

6290-546: The summer, except for some perennial streams in the wetter areas in the north. The western slopes of the range facing the Pacific Ocean are moist with growths of coast redwood , Douglas fir , ponderosa pine , Pacific madrone and the local endemic species such as Santa Lucia fir (Abies bracteata) and Gowen cypress (Cupressus goveniana var. goveniana) . The east side is drier, with chaparral and open woods of pine (including Coulter pine and gray pine ) and oak woodlands of several Quercus species. The range

6375-538: The untamed terrain of the Santa Lucia Mountains. As legends of these riches were passed down over time, the Lost Padre Mines attracted attention. Versions of these legends appear to have originated from long-time residents of Carmel Valley . The stories if ghosts may be attributed to descendants of and the last residents of the native people who remained hidden deep in the mountains after the missions failed. Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashed in

6460-438: The winter. The climate is classified as dry summer subtropical , or Mediterranean . Rainfall varies from 16 to 60 inches (41 to 152 cm) throughout the range. Most of the precipitation falls during the winter on the higher mountains in the north. During the summer, fog and low clouds are frequent along the coast up to an elevation of 2–3,000 feet. Surface runoff from rainfall is rapid, and many streams dry up entirely in

6545-624: The world, modern UK railways do ship specialised refrigerated containers on intermodal trains, with such trains now taking-over the roll again from long-distance trucking on hub-to-hub routes to reduce carbon foot print. DB Cargo UK runs Europe's longest-distance single-operator handled train from Valencia , Spain to Barking in East London twice weekly, in partnership with Eddie Stobart Logistics and retailer Tesco 's, shipping fresh fruit and produce 1,800 km (1,118 mi) in refrigerated ISO containers. Standard refrigerated transport

6630-749: Was born on a fruit ranch near Red Bluff, California on May 30, 1858. His father was Joseph Earl, his mother Adelia Chaffee, and his brother was Guy Chaffee Earl. He started his career in the shipping of fruits. By 1886, he was President of the Earl Fruit Company. In 1890, he invented the refrigerator car to transport fruits to the East Coast of the United States. He established the Continental Fruit Express and invested US$ 2,000,000 in refrigerator cars. In 1901, he sold his refrigerator cars to Armour and Company of Chicago and became

6715-642: Was built in 1910 to serve an oil refinery near Sisquoc. Three center-cab electric locomotives worked the branches with a center-door interurban car built by Cincinnati Car Company in 1912. The 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge Santa Maria Valley Railroad was built parallel to the electrified branch of the narrow gauge. Santa Maria Valley agriculture slowly shifted from sugar beets to produce which could be loaded directly onto Southern Pacific refrigerator cars . The sugar beet factory closed in 1927, and electric operations ended in 1928, although steam locomotives still worked

6800-634: Was dismantled in 1942. Most of the remaining equipment was cut up for scrap by 1948, but caboose number 2 has been preserved at the California State Railroad Museum . The remaining Right of Way in Santa Maria was taken over by SMV and converted to standard Gauge. Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Range (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Mountains is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California , running from Carmel southeast for 140 miles (230 km) to

6885-525: Was equipped with one. P.F.E.'s R-40-26 series reefers, designed in 1949 and built in 1951, were the first production series cars to be so equipped. In addition, the Santa Fe Railroad first used plug doors on their SFRD RR-47 series cars, which were also built in 1951. This type of door provided a larger six foot opening to facilitate car loading and unloading. These tight-fitting doors were better insulated and could maintain an even temperature inside

6970-436: Was found, however, that top-icing only benefited the uppermost layers of the cargo, and that the water from the melting ice often passed through spaces between the cartons and pallets with little or no cooling effect. It was ultimately determined that top-icing is useful only in preventing an increase in temperature, and was eventually discontinued. The typical service cycle for an ice-cooled produce reefer (generally handled as

7055-478: Was snow on it. The present name for the range was documented in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno , who had been tasked by the Spanish to complete a detailed chart of the coast. Passing by the range around December 14, he named the range Sierra de Santa Lucia in honor of Saint Lucy of Syracuse , for whom many Christians celebrate a feast day on December 13 . The first European land exploration of Alta California ,

7140-420: Was strapping tanks from standard gauge cars onto their flatcars at the rate of ten per month. The railway's three 2-6-0 locomotives were inadequate to move all the oil to storage tanks near San Luis Bay. Five new Baldwin 2-8-0s were delivered by 1906 as the freight car fleet expanded to two hundred cars. The Betteravia branch was electrified in 1906 and extended to Guadalupe in 1909. Another electrified branch

7225-436: Was twice as effective thermodynamically. Overall weight was reduced as the need for brine and water was eliminated. While the higher cost of dry ice was certainly a drawback, logistical issues in loading long lines of cars efficiently prevented it from gaining acceptance over conventional ice. Worst of all, it was found that dry ice can adversely affect the color and flavor of certain foods if placed too closely to them. In 1969,

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