Good Fruit Grower

December 2013

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PHOTO BY T.J. MULLINAX Cold Trains leave Quincy, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, six days a week hauling fresh and frozen produce to the Midwest and East Coast. The Intermodal part of the name describes the integration of truck and rail. Since starting, Rail Logistics-Cold Train has developed agreements with four major railroad enterprises—BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and, most recently, Canadian National. The rail network connects to major cities, with trucks providing right-to-the-door pickup and delivery. Neither shippers nor receivers need to have rail sidings to use this rail service, Boss said. On the truck side, Interstate Distributor Co. provides a dedicated fleet of trucks for short-haul drayage service FRUIT AND VEGETABLE KERIAN SIZER GENTLE: Separates without damaging peaches, apples, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes ACCURATE: Precisely grades grape tomatoes, cherries, nuts, and small berries, maintaining that accuracy for larger products including cantaloupes and pineapple FAST: Thirteen standard models customdesigned to meet your needs sort from 1,000 lb/hr to 100,000 lb/hr SIMPLE: Effective but simple design provides a rugged, low-cost, low-maintenance machine at a high value to our customers. It can even be used in the field! VERSATILE: Specialized rollers allow for the accurate sizing of round products (potatoes, onions, and citrus), long products (carrots, russets, and cucumbers), and irregular products (bell peppers, jalapeños, and garlic) KERIAN MACHINES, INC. 1709 Hwy 81 South, P.O. Box 311 Grafton, ND 58237 701-352-0480 • Fax 701-352-3776 sales@kerian.com • www.kerian.com www.goodfruit.com for Cold Train to and from the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal in Washington State. C&K Trucking provides a dedicated truck fleet to Cold Train within a five-state radius of Chicago. The Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal began operating in 2002 with the intention of providing rail service from central Washington west to Seattle carrying fruit and other produce destined for export overseas, Boss said. "It soon became evident that short-haul intermodal rail wasn't practical or efficient. It took too long, so most produce shippers continued to truck product directly to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma," he said. While the Port of Quincy was trying to do westbound intermodal rail service for produce, there was an eastbound service out of Wenatchee from Amtrak called the Fruit Express. Amtrak put some specially designed refrigerated railcars on the back of its passenger trains for shipment of apples and other produce to the East Coast. Then Amtrak stopped the service. In late 2007, Rail Logistics-Cold Train approached the Port of Quincy about doing an eastbound express refrigerated intermodal service out of Quincy. "Given the previous success of Amtrak's Fruit Express from Wenatchee, we thought that Cold Train's proposal really had some merit," Boss said. "Additionally, we learned that BNSF's long-haul intermodal trains move very fast from Quincy to Chicago." Two-mile trains Cold Train now moves produce on trains departing six days a week, arriving in Chicago in three to four days and the East Coast in six or seven. The refrigerated cars are monitored and temperature is controlled by satellite GPS, Boss said. Cold Train is now delivering refrigerated cargo from Washington and Oregon to 19 states—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Self-Propelled Work Platform TREE PLANTER A properly planted tree produces like no other. Hydraulic Work Platform (sold separately) can be mounted on any available running gear. • Adjustable tree depth. • Works on stony and tough ground. • Shoe swings for handling. • Electronic distance marker also available. • Two row tool bar available. PHIL BROWN WELDING CORP. • • Contact Vine Tech Equipment your Northwest Phil Brown Dealer GOOD FRUIT GROWER DECEMBER 2013 83

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