Ice House & Icing Platform

The Walthers Cornerstone Icehouse and Icing Platform brings back the heady days of railroading when fast freights forwarded meat and produce to market in ice-cooled reefers. From the 1880s to the 1970s, ice-cooled reefers were a fixture of railroading. Solid trains raced across country with their perishable loads riding in long strings of refrigerator cars. Supplying ice for the cars in transit was a huge industry. Railroads built ice houses and platforms, like this kit, about every 250-300 miles. Here, entire trains could be serviced and on the move in minutes. This complete kit includes a detailed icehouse, based on a prototype in Antigo, Wisconsin, plus a modular icing platform, from a Pacific Fruit Express design. Lots of add-on details, including an optional platform roof (used in warm areas to shade ice and slow melting), roof vents and 24 ice blocks are included.