Trane Mechanical Refrigeration

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This page was last updated on May 20, 2026.

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Refrigeration Unit Suppliers

(The focus of this page is the early history of The Trane Company, and its history as it became a supplier of mechanical refrigeration for the transportation industry, using sources not previously readily available. Sources include a wide variety of internet searches, online newspapers, and current websites and abandoned websites, and industry trade magazines at Archive.org.)

Based on Trane's own historical records, the company became involved with railroad passenger car air conditioning (refrigeration/cooling) in the early 1930s, coinciding with the broader industry rollout of railroad passenger car air conditioning.

Trane's 100-year history document notes that, following the Depression-era slowdown, Trane invested more man-hours in researching new applications, and among the products developed during this period were railroad air conditioners, alongside unit heaters, ventilators, and other equipment.

Trane's first air conditioning units, introduced in 1931, were designed for offices, restaurants, ships, department stores, factories, and movie theaters — and the railroad market followed shortly thereafter as the industry rapidly adopted the new technology.

For context on the broader railroad trend before Trane's involvement, by 1927, early air-conditioning systems were being designed for railroad passenger cars, and the Baltimore & Ohio became the first railroad to field an air-conditioned dining car in daily service in 1930. The results proved so successful that within five years, railroads across the country had air conditioned nearly 6,000 passenger cars. Trane was among the suppliers equipping those cars during this rapid expansion in the early-to-mid 1930s.

It's worth noting that the specific date of Trane's very first railroad contract isn't pinpointed in available records, but the company's involvement clearly dates to the 1931–1932 timeframe, when it was actively developing and selling cooling equipment for rail applications.

The Trane Company

July 7, 1953
A Canadian Pacific mechanical refrigerator car successfully completed a nine-day test run from Vancouver to Montreal, carrying nearly 43,000 pounds of frozen fish. The test, a joint effort by Canadian Pacific, Canadian National Railways, and the National Research Council, was deemed highly successful. The car can maintain internal temperatures between -10°F and 65°F despite external temperatures ranging from -40°F to 110°F. During the trip, the fish started at 15°F with the car's thermostat set to -10°F. Although outside temperatures ranged from 46°F to 87°F, the fish arrived in Montreal at 9°F below zero. The refrigeration system, supplied by the Trane Company, is housed at one end of the car and includes an evaporator, condenser-radiator, motor compressor, and a diesel engine/generator power plant. (Montreal Star, July 7, 1953)

1954
"Four companies are principal suppliers of fruit car refrigerating equipment: Trane Company; Frigidaire Division of General Motors Corporation; Carrier Corporation and United States Thermo King Railway Corporation." (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, July 30, 1954)

(Pacific Fruit Express used Trane refrigeration units in three class of their mechanical refrigerator cars. The first group, coupled to Detroit Diesel engines, was their R-70-7 class cars (11 cars built in 1952-1953 by SP in Roseville), numbered as PFE 300015-300025. The second group, coupled to Witte Diesel engines, was their R-40-30 class cars (300 cars built in 1958 by SP in Los Angeles), numbered as PFE 100028-100327. And the third group, also coupled to Detroit Diesel engines, was their R-70-12 class cars (989 cars built in 1960 by SP in Los Angeles), numbered as PFE 301213-302201.)

(Santa Fe used Trane refrigeration units in a very large number of their refrigerator cars. The Trane equipment was coupled to several brands of diesel engines. Most were connected to Detroit Diesel engines, but the early tests and small groups were driven by Fairbanks-Morse and Sheppard engines. The Detroit Diesel engines were purchased direct from General Motors in the 1950s, but in the 1960s the Detroit Diesel engines were purchased as complete power units from Stewart & Stevenson in Texas, and in the 1970s from Western Branch Diesel based in Portsmouth, Virginia, and has since expanded to several other East Coast states. Stewart & Stevenson was originally based in Houston, Texas, and has since expanded worldwide.)

By the time the Trane company became involved in the mechanical refrigeration of railroad freight cars, it was already well established in the air conditioning of railroad passenger cars. The Trane company became involved with railroad passenger car air conditioning (refrigeration/cooling) in the early 1930s, coinciding with the broader industry introduction of rail passenger car air conditioning.

The Trane Company's factory was in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

October 1, 1947
"It is understood that these expansion plans are contingent upon success of certain new products being worked on in Trane laboratories. The company says it is "engineering minded." Among the projects nearing the commercial production stage are a railway car air conditioning system and a new, light-weight radiator for automobiles." (La Crosse Tribune, October 1, 1947)

July 30, 1952
"Pacific Fruit Express, one of the principal transcontinental perishable food carriers, placed a substantial order [with Trane] for special cooling units for refrigerator cars. The units will maintain sub-zero temperatures for shipping frozen foods from the coast. An experimental refrigerator car unit, for shipping either fresh or frozen foods at most favorable temperatures, was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway." (La Crosse Tribune, July 30, 1952)

From the Cornwall (Ontario) Daily Standard Freeholder, December 12, 1952.

The first of its type in Canada, a mechanical refrigerator car capable of keeping its lading at a constant 10 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit, or if needed, of heating it up to 60 degrees above zero, will arrive in the [Montreal] Place Viger terminal tomorrow on the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Toronto run. The car is making a series of test runs between the two cities, and has as its cargo tonight a load of beer.

The car is a standard C.P.R. overhead refrigerator car, previously capable of lowering the temperature under maximum refrigeration to 10 degrees above zero, which was remodeled at the Angus Shops in Montreal as part of a joint program of refrigeration development being carried on by the C.P.R., the C.N.R. and the National Research Council.

The overhead ice tanks and floor level baffles are being removed and in their place the mechanical refrigeration unit was installed in one end of the car, taking up six and a half feet from the end bulkhead. This leaves the car with an overall capacity of 1895 cubic feet.

Where the tanks used to be in the roof of the car, there is now an air distribution duct leading from the evaporator coils and electric strip heaters situated over the motors. The refrigeration unit is a Trane 6-cylinder compressor, using Freon as the refrigerant. A separate diesel motor drives an alternator which supplies power for the refrigerating and heating equipment.

The car carries 340 gallons of diesel fuel, enough for 12 days of constant operation. The heating units are also used to defrost the refrigerating coils, this being done automatically. The equipment for the installation was supplied by Trane Company of Canada.

It is expected that the car will run between Montreal and Toronto until July 1st, when a joint test will be run to the west coast from Toronto.

July 7, 1953
A Canadian Pacific mechanical refrigerator car successfully completed a nine-day test run from Vancouver to Montreal, carrying nearly 43,000 pounds of frozen halibut. The test, a joint effort by Canadian Pacific, Canadian National Railways, and the National Research Council, was deemed highly successful by the railroads and the council. The car can maintain internal temperatures between -10 and 65 degrees F despite external temperatures ranging from -40 to 110 degrees F. During the trip, the fish started at 15 degrees F with the car's thermostat set to -10 degrees F. Although outside temperatures ranged from 46 to 87 degrees F, the fish arrived in Montreal at 9 degrees F below zero. The refrigeration system, supplied by the Trane Company, is housed at one end of the car and includes an evaporator, condenser-radiator, motor compressor, and a diesel engine/generator power plant. (The Montreal Star, July 7, 1953)

1997
Ingersoll Rand acquired Thermo King from Westinghouse for $2.56 billion in cash, adding it to its Climate Control Technologies businesses alongside Trane and Hussmann.

2020
Ingersoll Rand underwent a major corporate restructuring, spinning off its industrial segment while retaining its climate and refrigeration businesses — including both Trane and Thermo King — under the newly formed Trane Technologies plc.

So Trane and Thermo King became siblings under the same parent (Trane Technologies) in 2020, rather than Trane directly buying Thermo King.

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