Milk transport

I can't remember where i read it, but were the early milk tankers in the uk lined with glass?

They were indeed. I do the decals for just such a Tanker. United Dairies being one.

Edit: Found a photo of a model with my decals on.



Mike

Yes, they were Clive - that's one of the reasons some were six-wheelers - because of the weight. I believe they still move some chilled milk in this way in the U.S.

Without wishing to prolong this apsect of the discussion, the beverage industry has always 'packed at market' as the packaged product is invariably difficult to handle. Re-usable bottling, in particular, was a very local activity. Nowadays even spirits can travel as concentrates and be reconstitued at bottling with an ethanol base. I think we all accept Mike's observations about fine wine, however there is a finite amount bottled at point of harvest, and nowhere near enough to satisfy the demand for 'quality' wines.

Anyway, I am loving this thread, so has anyone got any links to any more piccies ?

Anyone remember the modeller Denis Allenden ? He modelled early french railways, and made both wooden and steel wine wagons in O scale. I have the article somewhere, and I'll try an scan it later in the week.

Glas lined milk tankers? I never knew that! Learned a thing today again! Does that mean the inside of the tank had a glass layer or coating of some sort?

There is a warning sign on the model with Mike's decals (great looking decals btw!). It says: "shunt with care". Was that a specific warning because it was a glass lined tanker or just a standard warning?

Quote :

I have the article somewhere, and I'll try an scan it later in the week.

Yes please! I'm very interested!!

Paul

Thanks Paul.

Just checked back through my decal sets and its just the glass lined tanks that have the Shunt With Care on them.



As to the lining I have to admit that since its not something you model I never thought about it, until now! Will have to investigate but my first impression is that it would be a glass lining put on the inside of the tank somewhat like a thermos flask to keep the milk cool and give a clean inside surface, but I will check.

Cheers

Mike

Interesting part of an article on Mike Smiths tiscali site:


MilkTank Wagons

Milk tanks were unusual in that the chassis was provided by the railway company but the tank itself was the property of the dairy company operating the wagon. A full milk tank weighed as much as a loaded passenger coach so if you are pulling any number of them you should have a decent sized loco at the front end. Milk tank wagons on four wheeled chassis arrived on the GWR and LMS in 1927, followed a year later by the LNER. The SR took up the idea in 1931, although their initial approach was to use road-rail tank trailers carried on four wheeled flat trucks built for the job (these are discussed below). A smaller country creamery would normally load a couple of tanks a day, a single three thousand gallon tank would supply the daily needs of about 35,000 people.

The early tanks had a simple glass-lined (actually it was a vitreous enamel coating on the inside of the tank) barrel with no internal baffles, this resulted in the milk sloshing about inside the tank which degraded the milk and made the wagons unstable. Following a series of derailments a six wheeled chassis was introduced (I believe this was in about 1931), which gave a smoother ride and six wheelers then became the standard chassis for all new milk tankers and wagons used for milk tank road trailers, although each company had its own design features. The last of the four wheelers were withdrawn in the later 1930s and six wheeled tanks continued in production under British Railways into the early 1950's.


mikey

Interesting... Do you have a link to that site, Mikey?

Its part of a long and detailed description;

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/7-fops/fo-milk.htm

mikey

Glass lined tankage (and other processing equipment) is quite common in the food/beverage and pharma industries. Milk was perhaps unique in that it was transported in glass lines tanks as well.

In the US, milk transportation involved special express trains - this was the origination of the term "milk run"- with the milk typically transported in canisters inside of "ice-box" and (later) refrigerated wagons. The milk runs even had priority over some express passenger trains. Nobody wants spoilt) milk.

I never appreciated the fact that a full tanker equalled the weight of a fully laden carriage. Imagine all that liquid sloshing around.It's a wonder there were not more accidents! (perhaps there were!!)

mikey

Unfortunately, some of the more famous glass tanks in the US are no more...



http://www.beer-faq.com/wp-content/uploads/image/rolling_rock_33.jpg

mikeyh wrote:

I never appreciated the fact that a full tanker equalled the weight of a fully laden carriage. Imagine all that liquid sloshing around.It's a wonder there were not more accidents! (perhaps there were!!)

mikey

VERY true, and why baffles/bulkheads were quickly employed, otherwise a half full tanker is a disaster!

As I was reading about milk trains (seen earlier in the thread) I bumped into this link :

http://www.kinglyheirs.com/NewYorkStateRailroads/MilkTrain1.html

LGB has made at least one milk reefer, No. 42723:


Hood's Dairy is still in business- I saw some of their product (Egg Nog) in the grocery store last evening.

Then of course there's the Lehmann Milch-Kesselwagen:


I have no idea if the Lehmann Milch Co. is still around. I suspect not.

KleineDicke wrote:

Then of course there's the Lehmann Milch-Kesselwagen:


I have no idea if the Lehmann Milch Co. is still around. I suspect not.

...Tell me this is not real...It's a clever Christmas joke from America.....

I know you have 'paintshop' and it's very well done.

I wish my photoshop skills were that good. The Lehmann Milch-Kesselwagen is indeed real- one of those "Toy Train" models aimed at the younger market, like another of my favorites, the Katzenlampen-Wagen:

I actually own one of those; the cat's mouth opens to reveal a flashlight.

KleineDicke wrote:

Then of course there's the Lehmann Milch-Kesselwagen:


I have no idea if the Lehmann Milch Co. is still around. I suspect not.

I found some great locomotives to run those cars:
- BTE 1001 Weserbahn (Piko BR204)
- BTE V51 Dieselloc(LGB V51) (for the real thing: click here!)

Paul

Or America style: GP16 cow themed engine

...proving once again that there really is a prototype (more or less) for everything.

This very interesting topic was split from the thread Margnat Tanker Conversion