This month’s Point of View topic is transport refrigeration. The inspiration was seeing the train cars pictured in the photos above going by last fall. I noted there was a car related to ice service and another was labeled “refrigerator and ventilated fruit car.”

I don’t know what specifically was in those cars. Well, actually I do — nothing.

You see, the train cars were part of a miniature set in the Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve in Niles, Mich. According to a statement from the gardens, “Four trains on various levels of track circle around the pond, through tunnels, and over trestles, past replicas of local landmarks created from natural materials.”

It was a fun feature to a most interesting nature preserve — one that my wife and I have been to several times over the years when we’ve vacationed in southwest Michigan. (By the way, the preserve is open year around and the train set starts up about May 1 each year running to late fall.)

So even though the cars in question were empty, I did appreciate the recognition of refrigeration, especially transport refrigeration. And I have all the respect in the world for those of you who work in transport refrigeration. Quality frozen foods and those in need of refrigeration get from large processing and packaging facilities to virtually every part of the country thanks to properly operating freezers and refrigerated equipment mounted in real trains and trucks.