It was simply a "refrigerated" rail car loaded with whiskey that was used to keep it from freezing during transit. The control system, in an effort to save money, would turn off the diesel generator when not needed for power to run the heating/cooling system. After reaching setpoint in a warmer region it failed to start again in a much, MUCH, colder region followed by a long transit delay resulting in the mass freezing of something like 100 tons of Whiskey.