>-ZDLSKP was recently been running as the ZDLGRP with its block being added to the Washington train at Green River (they were always combined there so not sure of a reason for a change)

Railex started several years ago (circa 2007) and began originating dedicated trains from their warehouse in Wallula, Washington (near Pasco) to their distribution warehouse in Rotterdam, New York (though trains seem to be symboled for Selkirk). These seemed to have gotten the nickname "Super Fruit". A few years later Railex opened a similar facility in Delano, California (southern San Joaquin Valley) and these trains seem to have gotten the nickname "Salad Shooter". Assuming the trains were on time, they would meet and be combined at Green River, WY and operate as a single train east. I did hear that CSXT had trouble keeping the train in one piece so they may run the larger trains in two sections. Frontier Rail has always provided car inspection, minor repairs and switching for Railex.

I think it was last year that Railex opened their facility in Jacksonville, Florida (but switched by FEC). Now the trains from Delano and Green River have to be combined and then split somewhere along the line for New York or Florida. It may be that the trains are now being symboled for Green River where the blocks are swapped, and they may be leaving already split into the two destinations. The train typically uses UP's newer ARMN reefers, and I know Wallula also loads some longer CRYX reefers which Railex leased and has their logo on them making the trains fairly easy to identify. I wonder if there is a maximum train length on these, both to fit in sidings and due to all of them having cushion drawbars which can make slack control an issue when trains get too many cars. Not sure what symbol the cars come back as though Railex has been looking for backhaul traffic (wine from the NE and OJ from FL), I don't think it is expedited unless car supply is tight.

The blocking on these trains is actually pretty complicated. In addition to destination, Railex also has to block cars by several priorities for unloading order. Railex tries to load them in blocks, but there are often hot cars that have to be switched into the correct block, plus empties have to be spotted according to what car kind (the CRYX are bigger/longer). I heard that Wallula is down to one train a week at present, but as the harvest begins they will go to two per week and have been striving to fill three. Delano might have enough to be originating more than one train, so it would still have to split into Jacksonville and Rotterdam trains at some point. The Green River switching must be interesting doing the block swaps and dealing with the DPUs. Railex is trying to get a Chicago location open soon, so this will make things more confusing/interesting/challenging.

UP seems to be making a fairly consistent effort to keep this traffic, though it is ironic that years ago it wasn't uncommon for most major western railroads to originate several expedited perishable trains every day. Somebody more familiar than I am will have to check what symbols are actually being used and when. Typically the Wallula train has been leaving Friday night/early Saturday morning, typically crossing the Oregon/Idaho border by noon. If there are two trains, the other one has departed Wednesday nights. Like everything it is subject to change according to Railex's needs.

http://railex.com/

http://www.up.com/customers/ag-prod/produce_railexpress/