A 40 foot ice cooled refrigerator car from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in H.O Scale.

A 40 foot ice cooled refrigerator car from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in H.O Scale., a photo by Eddie from Chicago on Flickr.

I took this photograph recently, at the Oak Park Society of Model Engineers, H.O Scale Model Railroad Club.

A once common sight in Chicago Illinois during the 1950's and 60's era, were these then industry standard 40 foot ice cooled railroad refrigerator cars. The model here represents a steam era example, from the former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.

The hatches at the ends of the roof, were for the ice bunkers where large blocks of ice were dropped inside.

Mechanical refrigeration systems began replacing these during the 1960's era.