Come On Guys

[blue streak 1]

Curious as how Bannanas are now transported.  IC's hauling of them back in the day probably cannot be  matched.  Lately have found they are really green in our stores.  However they do seem to have a few bruises when ripening up.

[SD70Dude]

Both potatoes and apples 'keep' for a very long time in my fridge, they're pretty low hanging fruit as non-frozen perishables go, so to speak.  If the railroads are letting either of them spoil that really speaks to excessive congestion and/or poor car management. 

Frozen loads should last far longer, unless they thaw of course. 

How many days worth of fuel does a modern reefer carry? 

[SD60MAC9500]

 

Overmod

You can't really freeze potatoes: just like when they freeze in the railroad car by accident, they turn to mush and blacken when they thaw.

I suspect the 'frozen potato' market Voigt is discussing is flash-frozen packaged products, like fries or pre-seasoned bagged wedges.  This is similar to the discussion of meat traffic, first between stock and carcasses, and then cut and packaged meat in trays for quick commoditized distribution.  

 

Yes Overmod potato products such as you mentioned above are what he means.

 

Well Greyhounds... BNSF's 2013 capacity crunch let Coldtrain out of Quincy become an operational mess leading to its closure.. UP's fumbling of Railex.. The Class 1's especially the western's have an uphill battle to re-gain the trust of PNW perishable shippers.

Unfortunately I don't see BNSF or UP under their current boards moving anytime soon to try and regain this traffic... Honestly I think BNSF, and UP are stagnant under current leadership.

I think we'll have a better opportunity watching CSX grow headhauls of Maine potatoes to the Southest, and Gulf Coast. With Florida perishable backhaul to the Midwest, and Northeast.

Also FYI. Eastern Washington has the highest potato yield per acre in the world due to is excellent volcanic based soil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Overmod]

You can't really freeze potatoes: just like when they freeze in the railroad car by accident, they turn to mush and blacken when they thaw.

I suspect the 'frozen potato' market Voigt is discussing is flash-frozen packaged products, like fries or pre-seasoned bagged wedges.  This is similar to the discussion of meat traffic, first between stock and carcasses, and then cut and packaged meat in trays for quick commoditized distribution.  

[greyhounds]

This is from Freightwaves. It's quite critical of RR management.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/railroad-barons-are-reconsidering-the-playbook-that-made-them-rich?j=226774&sfmc_sub=50660216&l=256_HTML&u=4697936&mid=514011755&jb=5012&utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FW_Daily_12_9_22&utm_term=Railroad+barons+are+reconsidering+the+playbook+that+made+them+rich&utm_id=226774&sfmc_id=50660216

I tend to agree with most of the writing.  But please note well that the problem started long before PSR.  I found the following particularly concerning:

"Over the last 15 to 20 years, Eric Voigt of the Washington Potato Commission said the farmers in his association have stopped moving potatoes by train. They’re all moved by truck now. Rail is much cheaper than truck, but it wasn’t dependable, Voigt said."

"Around 1 in 10 carloads of potatoes had some quality issue as a result of rail transportation, Voigt said. One example might include a carload of potatoes forgotten on rail siding, rotting for weeks." 

"Farmers in the Washington Potato Commission have stopped shipping (fresh potatoes) by rail because of the lack of dependability. (AP Photo/Roberto Pfeil)

The potato farmers of Washington state now use rail to move frozen potatoes; around 20% of frozen potatoes go on rail, according to Voigt."

Washington state produces a lot of potatoes. Thet're a close 2nd to Idaho in that regard.  These spuds are largely moving long disrtances to eastern population centers, etc. And the best the railroads can do is 20% of the frozen market.

Hauling potatoes isn't hard and the railroads need this long haul, high volume business.  They just have no idea how to go about getting such business.