I have the Woodlands scenics chips house and trying to figure out the best way to use it for operations. I was not planning to model any type of ice reefer loading docks. Is there another application I can use ice for were a car services this building for the local town I could put it in? Thank, Rob
What era are you modeling? May help get some answers.
Good luck,
Richard
In 1950 many homes had ice boxes (refrigerators and freezers) that used ice blocks.The early 1950's was when most homes got their ice free fridges.
I remember when we got our new fridge for the house we still kept the old ice box in the basement for quit a while.
I can still remember seeing a horse pulling a cart and delivering ice in Vancouver's Kitsalino area in 1950,
Growing up in the city,(Chgo) I remember very well,ice being delivered by horse drawn wagons,also the fruit and veggies wagon,the rags and iron guy,with his two horse wagon and then there was the coal delivery truck,a Mack chain driven ''Bull dog''. I also remember the sanitation engineers,pushing their white carts down the main streets,scooping up,horsey do do,dressed in their white uniforms. There was a ice house,closer to the Chgo. river,that was huge,it was rail served..As far as a small town,never really gave that much thought,I would imagine,it was probably rail served to a main distributor and then trucked to the town..
Cheers,
Frank
The fact that the ice house comes fully assembled, including the roof top sign, makes it difficult to conceal the fact that it is an ice house. So, why not just model it as an ice house? There really need not be much more to it than that. Find a suitable spot on your layout where it makes sense and just place it there.
Woodland Scenics does make an ice truck with the Chip's logo on the side. That would be a nice addition parked on the side of the ice house, or coming or going on the street in front of the ice house.
In terms of operations, just position the ice house along a spur track and place a reefer on the spur to complete the scene.
Rich
Alton Junction
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Since Chips is a small ice retailer he probably makes ice in house..
A modeling friend of mine converted his to "Chip's Beer Dock" by simply decaling over the old sign by using black blank decal film cut to fit and white alphabet decals.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
This building is based on the old DPM "Freight House" kit. I built mine as such, and cut open the front and rear doors for visibility when I added an interior and lighting:
Mine remains a freight house, so it's for less-than-carload freight. At one point, I picked up a reefer at a show that's badged for the Milwaukee Road and labelled "Ice Service." These were used by railroads to service ice houses that couldn't make their own ice. You could paint up an ice-bunker reefer for this purpose.
The ice dealer in my town goes by a different name.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Another possibility would be to place it in a rundown area, severely weather-beat it, and make it look like a "used to be" business that has long ago closed up.
Chip's Ice House is meant to represent one serving a small town in the days before refrigeration, with no connection to the railroad.
The ice house in my home town was several blocks from the nearest railroad.
MisterBeasley This building is based on the old DPM "Freight House" kit. I built mine as such, and cut open the front and rear doors for visibility when I added an interior and lighting: Mine remains a freight house, so it's for less-than-carload freight. At one point, I picked up a reefer at a show that's badged for the Milwaukee Road and labelled "Ice Service." These were used by railroads to service ice houses that couldn't make their own ice. You could paint up an ice-bunker reefer for this purpose. The ice dealer in my town goes by a different name.
Misterbeasley, That is the PERFECT name for your ice houise! Hilarious!!
Another thing would be what kinds of businesses would need ice. For instance, if you have a dock area, commercial fishermen need to ice their catch on teh boat to keep it fresh, then the delivery truck could also be ice cooled. I still see ice cooled "reefer" trucks on the Maine coast delivering fish and lobsters. ALso, just local folks need bags of ice for their coolers to keep food and beverages cool for various outdoor activities
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
G PAINE,
Since the OP,is modeling the mid 50's and I myself growing up in the 40's,era,in the kitchen was a two door weird looking thing that you had to put blocks of ice in,(AKA,''Refrigerator''),those people,myself included,would have to ask,,,''what is a cooler''?? LOL..
I'm a product of the 60's so I missed the ice block refridgerators... Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't an ice house also supply reefers ice for local perishable produce (fruit & vegetables), diary products and meat... Something for the OP to consider if he has a farm/dairy or a stockyard on his layout...
JEEPR,
In the sixties the local business,for food,or veggie's and meat,could make their own ice,or cool their product..The business that the OP is referring to from the 40's,50's era,the self contained unit to make ice or cool products,wasn't invented yet,,so the facilities had to have the ice trucked in or rail served distributor..
I remember on of the old ice houses in Prince Rupert that supplied a fish processing plant.. The building was about 80 years old and had been used continuously without interuption.
The building was more or less frozen solid and had been since the day it was built.
When they sold the building there had a lot of interest as the structure had been built with a lot of 10" wood beams.
It literally took weeks for the ice to melt so that they could salvage the timbers.
Don7,
I'll bet those,''Timber's'' are worth a lot of ,buck's..
I have several ice houses on the layout, all rail-served, but built for varying purposes. This one is the main storage facility - the unseen side is on the lakefront, from which ice is cut and harvested during the winter months. It has a short high platform for icing an occasional reefer, but its main purpose is to store ice for distribution to other local icehouses along the line:
At the west end of the structure, there's a small platform where trucks and wagons can be loaded with ice for delivery to local homes and businesses:
While a reefer may be spotted here occasionally for re-icing, the most commonly-seen cars here are ice service reefers. Mine are cheapo LifeLike (Proto-No-Thousand) 36' wooden reefers. I replaced the roofs to represent cars in which the ice bunkers have been removed, and added a few details. These cars are loaded through their side doors, from the low-level platforms, and are used to transport block ice to other ice houses along the line (seen here at the main car icing facility):
Here's a couple of local icehouses - they serve homes and businesses using delivery trucks and/or wagons. Each one holds about a carload of ice. The same company also sells coal:
This is the main icehouse for servicing reefers, and it also receives its ice from the storage plant:
Wayne
Wayne,
Quit that out,,,,,every time you post pictures,,you inspire me to go to my layout and do something,,anything,,,even if it's wrong....My problem lie's in the fact,my mind is willing,but my body isn't..Nice show..
Cheer,
That's Chips on the extreme right in the photo on my layout..
Since my setup is very operations oriented I'll use any excuse to make deliveries/pickups there...
Right now the three or so reefers are delivering extra ice so Chip is sure to have enough on hand for the local Fourth of July celebrations. I can stretch reality to the breaking point.
zstripe Don7, I'll bet those,''Timber's'' are worth a lot of ,buck's.. Cheers, Frank
Frank, you got that right.
In fact, just recently another of the old time fish processing facilities shut down and they have a number of buildings up for demolition. Some of these buildings date back to the 1920's.
There were a couple of architects flown in who were on site checking out the 12" beams that many of the buildings have. These buildings are more or less suspended on wood pilings over the inlet.
Most of the land is leased from the harbour authority who in this case want the land vacant and clean when the tenant leaves. That means even pulling the pillings.
A strange thing, if there are pilings in place that can be salvaged, you can build on them without all of the environmental requirements that are now in place if you are going to disturb the sea floor.
However, if you want to lease part of a waterlot that has never been built on it is almost impossible to financially meet all of the environmental requirements.
That is why it is strange to see that the pilings are to be removed, this site in all likelyhood will never be developed again.
National Ice Company in Marysville CA manufactured and stored ice in their facility on 9th Street . PFE contracted with them to perform energency icing service as needed. The single track platform on the east side of the building could service 4 cars. They also furnished ice, delivered by truck, to a 6 car platform on the Sacramento Northern in Yuba City.
A third icing facility was on the Western Pacific in Marysville. Owned by the WP, it had a 6 car platform to ice eastbound shipments not iced in Sacramento. Ice was delivered to it by rail and stored in the deliverly car on a 1 car unloading track.
NationalIce_zps7e5c4777 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Midvalley8_zps56d5c50b by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Midvalley7_zpsfc9839d9 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Midvalley6_zps6d01a7c5 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Midvalley5_zps137e45a9 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Mid4_zps2039c533 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Mid3_zps54219885 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Mid2_zps65abcc10 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Mid1_zpsb5b50750 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Photos show the "National Ice" facility today. Sanborn Fire Insurance map is the 1948 update of the 1921 map.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Having the luck of being around in the late 40's I remember "Ice Louie" delivering ice to homes and businesses in town. Us kids thought it was great fun to "steal" ice slivers off the back of his truck when he went into the house. Of course he always caught us and hollered gruffly at us as we ran off with our ill-gotten goods. His ice house was located over a mile from the tracks and I never recall him delivering to the RR. He did take care the needs of the commercial fishing industry in the area though. He had a large man made pond behind his large ice house. He filled it with water from the city installed hydrant next to the pond. Water was free then! His ice business lasted until the fishing collapsed due to sea lampery attacking the lake trout. this was in the late 50's early 60's. I am thinking of including his operation on my layout. BTW my home town is located on Lake Superior.
God's Best & Happy Rails to You!
Bing (RIPRR The Route of the Buzzards)
The future: Dead Rail Society
zstripe JEEPR, In the sixties the local business,for food,or veggie's and meat,could make their own ice,or cool their product..The business that the OP is referring to from the 40's,50's era,the self contained unit to make ice or cool products,wasn't invented yet,,so the facilities had to have the ice trucked in or rail served distributor.. Cheers, Frank
Frank,In the 50s in Columbus,Ohio the iceman was a relic of the past..The refrigerator replaced him.
However,ice house still produce ice for picnic ice coolers(like the old Colemans),stores,restaurants and taverns(aka beer joint) and started a new fad-the beer dock.Customers could by ice cold beer by the six pack,case or keg straight off the ice...
BTW.Ice was usually produced locally..A commerical ice house like Chip's didn't ice reefers but,made and supplied ice for their customers..
Refrigerator,,Tidbits;
1920,,There were some 200 different refrigerators on the market..
1946,,Mass production of modern refrigerators..
1955,,80% of American homes had refrigerators,,