"Juice Trains" (or "Orange Juice Trains") are the unit trains of Tropicana fresh orange juice operated by railroads in the United States.

History

right|thumb|CSX pulling the Tropicana Juice Train across [[Manatee River near Bradenton Riverwalk in 2018]]

Tropicana Products was founded in 1947 in Bradenton, Florida by Anthony T. Rossi, an Italian immigrant, growing from 50 employees to over 3,000 in 2003. Early distribution of fresh orange juice was by way of hand-delivered juice jars to nearby homes, but demand grew, especially in the northeastern United States. By 1957, the ship, S.S. Tropicana, was used and delivered up to of juice to New York for its weekly delivery. The ship's last voyage was in 1961 when transportation shifted to truck and rail transport.

In 1970, Tropicana orange juice was shipped in bulk via insulated boxcars in one weekly round-trip from Florida to Kearny, New Jersey. By the following year, the company was operating two 60-car unit trains a week, each carrying around of juice. On June 7, 1971, the "Great White Juice Train," the first unit train in the food industry, commenced service over the route. The unit train consisted of 150 insulated boxcars, fabricated in the Alexandria, Virginia shops of Fruit Growers Express. An additional 100 cars were incorporated into the fleet, and small mechanical refrigeration units were installed to keep temperatures consistent. Tropicana saved $40 million in fuel costs during the first ten years of its operation. The Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) carries Tropicana cars from a second processing facility in Fort Pierce, Florida. A reliable and economically viable transport mode, the Juice Trains are also a powerful advertising platform, running ten trips each week to Jersey City and Cincinnati. Additional shipments in specially equipped refrigerated cars currently travel by rail to California. Tropicana had its own GE 70-ton switcher locomotive, No. 98, to switch cars at the New Jersey destination.

In 2017, CSX abolished separate Juice Trains between Philadelphia and Tampa, Florida. Tropicana products are carried on other CSX trains to and from Florida. A separate train for Tropicana operates over the short distance north of Philadelphia.

Routes list

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Route list

!Route number

!To

!From

|-

|<nowiki>#</nowiki>1

|Jersey City, New Jersey

|rowspan="3"|Bradenton, Florida

|-

|<nowiki>#</nowiki>2

|Cincinnati, Ohio

|-

|<nowiki>#</nowiki>3

|City of Industry, California

|}

See also

  • Agriculture in Florida

References

  • Tropicana's Official Web Site
  • CSX Corporation Official Web Site
  • Florida East Coast Railway Official Web Site