Why Three Rails?

I can remember a horse drawn ice wagon servicing homes in Cambridge MA in the late 1940's. The iceman would sometimes give chips of ice to small boys (like myself) on hot days. They were as fine as the popicles from the Good Humor truck which would appear around 4 in the afternoon. The horse knew the route, and would amble forward to the next house while the iceman hustled block ice into the customers apartments. Our apartment had an electric refrigerator, but plenty of the neighbors were still on ice.

David Starr

An older couple a few door up the street (Woodward street in Decatur, Ill., in 1947-53) had an icebox, and the iceman there also drove a horse drawn wagon. He'd grab a block with those big tongs, hold it against his heavy leathre apron, and walk it into the house and drop it in the top of the icebox. It was always an event for us kids, and although it couldn't compare to Ringling Bros. unloading from the circus train several blocks north and the elephants parading, dragging wagons with poles and stakes and canvas, east to a large field just north of the Decatur Connies stadium (a small wooden green monster that housed the hapless Cubs farm team) where the big tents would be erected.

Gas (propane, but natural gas would work AFIK) powered refrigerators were (I'd guess they still are) common in motor homes. Perhaps these days they all have generators to supply 115 volts, but back in the 1970s and 1980s at least, they all had dual power fridges, that ran on gas or

We used gas when on the road or away from AC, and switched to AC when we were staying for any period of time somewhere. Compared to the water heater or heaven forefend the furnace, it used very little gas.

Large units for home use are probably very rare.

Regards,

DAve

Actually, perhaps no more rare than PV fed battery banks. Servel and Norcold manage to keep making them. They are expensive though, so relatively rare compared to Kenmore or Frigidaire or KitchenAid*

• why those doofuses put a fragile appliance bulb just inside the front top, right where stuff being lifted off teh top shelf can bang into it, with NO plastic cover over the bulb, I'll never know; a real piece of design stupidity

Being an ex-Chicagoan, I remember the old junk man with his horse drawn wagon going down the alley in back of our house on Komensky, calling out what sounded like "Rexline!" (probably something else, I was only about 4 or

We also had a specific room in the basement for the coal for the furnace and for the combination furnace/water heater that my gram would burn trash in for heating water. We had one just like it in the "summer house" that my grandparents eventually retired to out in Crystal Lake - you wanted a hot bath, get downstairs and stoke the water boiler..

Out in Crystal Lake, the Meadowgold Dairy guy had a truck, not a wagon, but it dripped melt water like rain in the summer time from the melting ice inside.

I do remember my folks bringing the grandparents a surprise gift - a television set (about 10" screen with a big magnifying lens setup). In the evening, I got to watch Captain Video until someone else wanted to watch the news or something. This was the first TV that anyone had for several blocks around and I suddenly developed a *lot* of new friends who wanted to come over and watch it.

Ed

lgb wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.sunsite.dk:

In Evansville, the old Pearl Laundry building is still standing downtown. It occupies a short city block and spelled out in contrasting brick over the doors on one end is the word "Office" and at the other end a much larger door is marked "Stable".

I haven't encountered anyone who actually remembers horse-drawn laundry delivery, but as long as that historic building remains, we'll have a reminder of a time when the pace of life was measured by a horse's steps.

Also WIDELY used in the "RV" industry for small refrigerators in trailers and motor-home vehicles. These don't work terribly well, but will keep the 'fridge' reasonably cold, though making ice is difficult. Many will operate off either gas, 12 VDC, or 115 VAC. All they need is a heat source, be it gas flame, or electric heating coil. No moving parts. None I've seen or owned used any electric fan. They do have a sizeable radiator that must be allowed free air circulation. My experience has been that they work best off 115 VAC or gas, but poorly off 12 VDC.

Dan Mitchell ============

Yes, that is what I had. Used to plug it into house overnight and then into car cig lighter. would form ice....

Jim Stewart

Woodland Scencis offers an HO scale soft-metal kit of an Aermotor (kit #209). Like many kits of that type and price, it involves a little cleanup of flash -- but nothing that difficult.

It can be used to help set the era of your layout.

Would that the same could be said of many web sites!

wagon going down the alley in back of our house on Komensky, calling out what sounded like "Rexline!" (probably something else, I was only about

We also had a specific room in the basement for the coal for the furnace

He was callling out "Rags 'n old iron!" and folks along the route would bring out recycleables for cash. We had a coal bin too. We were on the North side, on Winnemac and Western Avenues.