I ran across a reference to a passenger car air conditioning system called an ICE system (ICE--all caps--does not refer to frozen water, e.g., ice-activated via blocks of ice loaded into rooftop bunkers). So, that being the case, does anyone out there know what ICE refers to, and how it would have worked? GS
Geez--I always thought ICE did mean cooling with chunks of ice!!?? The Frisco passenger car documents I've seen usually had a "Waukesha" or "ICE" notation under air conditioning. Tom G.
Some cars used ice right? In Phillip Hastings' photo essay of the Texas Special being serviced at San Antonio, the employees on the ground are throwing chunks of ice to the fella on the diner roof. This was the Katy diner but the Frisco LW diner was identical. Tom
Previous comments are correct: "ice" does in fact mean blocks of frozen water. Below is the source I referenced in my original question. Perhaps it will jog someone's memory. It came from a friend who is knowledgeable on the subject. GS Okay, first as you probably know the MILW used two types of air conditioning. Steam ejector like on the postwar Oly Hi cars and Waukesha a/c used on most of the other postwar streamliners. Waukesha a/c used propane bottles to power the a/c compressor. This "engine" they labeled an "ICE". I've forgot what it stood for, something like Ingenator Compression Engine maybe. You should be able to run it down by researching Waukesha a/c systems. They were used my multiple railroads. The main point being it was not "ice" as used by the GN, PRR, and a lot of others for the heavyweight a/c systems installed in the 1930s. A lot of documents, including my MILW roster, just label it as "Ice", not capitalizing all the letters which can catch some people unaware. One of those things that the RR guys "just knew" back then, but may not be obvious 60 years later.
Generally in power terminology, ICE stands for Internal Combustion Engine. Standard fuel fired reciprocating engine terminology.
Tom The ice being loaded through the roof hatch is for the ice boxes in the kitchen, not for air conditioning. Gordon
Pennsy used REAL ice for air conditioning ....but, Karl, my question is...weren't the diners Waukesha? RanchoB
Spot on...the Alexander Doniphan and late comer Picardy Lane were Waukesha, everything thing else, light-weight, was steam ejector
Cars marked with air conditioning showing "Ice" were cooled by big blocks of ice (frozen water) placed in bunkers under the car floor. As the ice melted, it produced cold water which was moved by electric pumps up to a heat exchanging coil above the cieling of the car where a blower pushed air from inside the car over the cold coil and then through ducts out into the car. The less cool water then returned to the ice bunker under the car to be cooled and recirculated again. This system was simple and did not take much electrical power (as compared with other systems), but only worked as long as ice was in the bunkers. As time went on the labor to hanle the ice became much more expensive. The other drawback of the ice system was that it could only drop the inside temperature about 8-10 degrees below theoutside temperature, which on a 95 degree days made the inside of an ice car less than comfortable.
ICE, regardless of caps or lower case, refers to an air conditioning system which is dependent on ice (frozen water) to work.
