The current discussion of bananas and the Illinois Central reminds me of some circa 1952-53 correspondence I have regarding the IC objecting to Fruit Growers Express' refusing to route their Mechanical reefers over the IC. Other correspondence from the era indicates that the FGE/WFE/BRE System was very protective of their early mechanicals and had little confidence in railroads outside of their owner RR's being able to deal with any repairs if they were needed. I don't have any information how long the concern persisted but the early Mechanicals proved to be reliable pretty quickly.
