j ,. , nr A 001 104052 4 



Heavy Loading of Nort..*^,^ 



THE USE OF BOX CARS IN EMERGENCIES 



Box cars are not suitable for long-distance fruit shipments, and 

 their use for transporting perishable food products should be restricted, 

 in so far as practicable, to short-haul shipments. 



Tables 1 to 6 and the diagram in figure 7 show that during 1917 

 the supply of cars at hand in the Northwest was not used to the 

 best advantage. Heavy loading was not practiced extensively until 

 the car shortage was actually felt. Instead of loading cars heaviest 

 when shipments were moving under ventilation, this was not done 

 until several weeks after the normal season for ventilated shipments. 

 Box cars were not utilized until the supply of refrigerator cars was 

 practically exhausted, with their greatest use coming after favorable 

 weather conditions were past. They were then used indiscriminately 

 for all shipments, whether consigned to markets in adjoining States, 

 or to those on the Atlantic seaboard. 



It is recommended that shippers and carriers, through their repre- 

 sentatives, meet periodically to compare the tonnage to be moved with 

 the apparent car supply. When conditions apprehend the necessity 

 for heavy loading or for the use of unsuitable equipment, such as box 

 cars, as was the case in 1917, it would then be possible to effect heavy 

 loading when shipping under ventilation rather than wait for the 

 shortage to be actually visible, and box cars would be utilized over 

 the entire season, but only for such fruit as ordinarily reaches a 

 nearby market. The best regulation of loading and shipping cannot 

 be made effective if the carriers and shippers work independently. 



