Reefer Operations

[Dap]

On period routes, reefer operations always included a trip to the icing station to replenish the ice to keep the car cool. On modern railroads with mechanical reefers, how and when are the mechanical reefers serviced? I believe they have a desiel engine driving the on-board refrigerator plant, but some one needs to fill the gas tank and check the oil from time to time. How can this function be fit into the operations of a modern era model railroad?

 

[Tiger313]

From what I know, reefers here have regular servicing intervals in which they get sent off to a workshop to get checked over and where (sometimes also preventive) maintenance is done. Also, in every yard a reefer is handled/switched, someone has to check whether the cooling unit is still working ok and, if nescessary, fuel is topped off. Clients (both sender and recipient), too, often check whether the reefer is working ok, seeing as it's their perishables being transported. When glitches occur, usually a mechanic is only a phonecall away. If it can't be solved right there right then, the railway company needs to bring a new (working) one in and haul the broken one off to a maintenance workshop.