- Juice Train
"Juice Train" (or "Orange Juice Train") is the popular name for famous
unit train s of Tropicana freshorange juice operated by railroads in theUnited States .Tropicana Products was founded in 1947 inBradenton, Florida byAnthony T. Rossi , an Italian immigrant, growing from 50 employees to over 8,000 in 2004. Early distribution of fresh orange juice was by way of hand-delivered juice jars to nearby homes, but demand grew, especially inNew York City, New York . By 1957, a ship, S.S. "Tropicana" was taking 1.5 million gallons of juice to New York each week.In 1970, Tropicana orange juice was shipped in bulk via insulated
boxcars in one weekly round-trip from Florida toKearny, New Jersey . By the following year, the company was operating two 60-car unit trains a week, each carrying around 1 milliongallon s of juice. OnJune 7 ,1971 the "Great White Juice Train" (the first unit train in the food industry, consisting of 150 100-ton insulated boxcars fabricated in theAlexandria, Virginia shops ofFruit Growers Express ) commenced service over the 1,250-mile (2,012-kilometer ) route. An additional 100 cars were soon incorporated into the fleet, and small mechanical refrigeration units were installed to keep temperatures constant on hot days. Tropicana saved $40 million in fuel costs alone during the first ten years in operation. Starting out onSeaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL) south ofTampa, Florida , the original used formerSeaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) andAtlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) tracks. It crossed over to theRichmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) inRichmond, Virginia at pier 5 of the famous concrete James River Bridge. AtPotomac Yard , inAlexandria, Virginia , Penn Central Transportation (PC) took over and operated it under the overhead wire with electriclocomotives most of the way to Kearny.There have been more than a few changes over the years. Tropicana, now a division of
PepsiCo , became the world's leading producer of branded fruit juices. In 1976,Conrail (CR) took over from ill-fated Penn Central, with electrification discontinued in 1981. SCL became part ofCSX Corporation (CSX) in 1980, and was successively merged intoSeaboard System Railroad and thenCSX Transportation , which also included RF&P by 1991. In 1997, a second Juice Train began servingCincinnati, Ohio . When CSX acquired part of Conrail in 1999, an all-CSX train began traveling to a new larger facility inJersey City, New Jersey .Rolling stock has also changed, including orange, white, and blue cars, some with innovative
refrigeration . TheFlorida East Coast Railway (FEC) is now carrying Tropicana cars from a second processing facility in eastern Florida. A reliable and economically viable transport mode, the Juice Trains are also a powerful mode of advertising, running ten trips each week to Jersey City and Cincinnati. Additional shipments with specially-equipped refrigerated cars now travel 3,000 miles by rail toCalifornia .In the 21st century, the Tropicana-CSX Juice Trains have been the focus of efficiency studies and have received awards. They are considered good examples of how modern rail transportation can compete successfully with trucking and other modes to carry perishable products.
References
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External links
* [http://www.tropicana.com Tropicana's Official Web Site]
* [http://www.csx.com CSX Corporation Official Web Site]
* [http://www.fecrwy.com Florida East Coast Railway Official Web Site]
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