Brewery Traffic

"Elliott Cowton" wrote

What era are you considering?

The one obvious omission is coal and possibly also timber for the coopers.

John.

Coal for boilerhouse/brewing heat.

While there were private owner beer vans (eg Allsop's) I would assume a small local brewery would tend to use the railway's vans.

Often the full casks were shipped in cleaned-up cattle wagons.

The yeast would be self-sustaining, producing more than was needed. The excess would probably be sold to local bakeries.

Hops shipped in sacks most likely by van but possibly covered open wagons.

Timber to repair casks.

Coal to boil the water and power machinery,and even the brewery's own small shunter if it had one (a tiny 0-4-0 tank like a Manning Wardle named after your wife or girlfriend).

Sugar? Unless it was all malt. Although this could be from locally farmed beet.

If you have ever toured Samuel Smith's brewery in Tadcaster, there is a magnificent "thingy" which looks like a stationary steam engine but is actually an ancient refrigeration pump.

Once upon a time this would have been steam powered.

As you mention 'Vanwides', I presume you're talking about relatively recent times (post 1960?). If this is so, then you might have aluminium casks/kegs carried in BR open tube or ale pallet wagons (both available from Parkside, IIRC)- the ones Bass used carried plaques with the trademark on them. Guinness used to use vanwides to carry their finished product to Tyneside from Park Royal. A number of brewers also used small demountable tanks carried on chassis resembling Conflats, whilst in latter years ISO containers might be used for large flows. Brian

Occasional open hoppers (sheeted) carrying 'spent grain' (outwards) Grain hoppers went in to the Bass breweries. Cask wagons were built by several companies, open framed affairs similar in general approach to US cattle wagons but smaller and on four wheels. Dont know of any surviving into BR ownership. Cattle trucks used to carry beer in barrels (when reserved for this trade they were marked ALE), a few wagons were built for beer traffic but they tended to be run from the major breweries I believe (there is a photo of one on either one of the LMS wagons books or possibly one of the MR wagon books (mine in storage so cannot confirm). In N the Ratio twin oil tanks can be cut down to produce a fair representation of the beer tanks, for the lazy but wealthy there is a continental (possibly Fleichmann) wagon with five transverse mounted tanks that would serve at a pinch, may be available in OO but personally I would sugest making the tanks up. Possible fuel oil for the (motor) drays, sheeted loads of hay for the horses. If there is an associated 'mineral water' plant you could have supplies of phosphoric acid supplied in tanks (Peco do one in N, should be heavily stained white)

HTH

Mike

"John Turner" wrote >

Loosely "Transition". When on the circuit both Soberton and NB operate in the closing days of steam, NB has the added attraction of 3rd rail and produces both blue and green units (which is not strictly speaking correct but we like it and it is our train set after all ;-).

Yes, and when you get the tour of the museum you get shown the boiler and the owner bemoans the fact that the only reason brewing does not take place on site any more is that English Heritage won't allow him to get the boiler serviced/uprated to a usable condition. Should have thought of that one, thanks John.

Thanks to everyone who has posted replies so far. In the light of one or two of the comments made I thought I would add a few clarifications to explain what we are doing.

Geoff Endacott is holding a Mega Modelex on 30 Sept/1 Oct in Melksham - big layouts only - to test run the future location for Trainwest (see

Originally I intended to offer Soberton with an extension to include Ian Griffiths' beautiful model of the West Meon Viaduct but the guys at the club were keen to expand the modular system to what we had originally intended, i.e. to include the triangular junction and hang an end-to-end layout from it as well. As a result of this we are having to build a transition board to connect Nictun Borrud to WMV (as well as the bl**dy junction - but that's another story).

When on the road both layouts operate in late steam/early diesel mode with the added attraction of 3rd rail electrics at Nictun Borrud. Therefore we feel we can get away with a mixture of PO and BR standard wagons.

The story behind Nictun Borrud is that it represents what would have been if the US Army transportation Corps had had their way and built a railway from the Meon Valley Line through to the SHAPE HQ during WW2. This line would have terminated quite near the Southwick Brewhouse which was still operational in those days, and we have chosen this as the "industry" to go on the transition board. the original. obviously, was not rail connected but we feel that the building can probably be adapted to suit this without too much alteration. The brewery itself would be a Micro Brewery by today's standards so would probably rely on railway vans for distribution (although it might not).

On the operational side choreographing a triangular junction might turn out to be more of a nightmare than we currently imagine and I am thinking that there might have to be long periods when NB has to be held in "splendid isolation" from Soberton and the joint fiddle yard. As a result I am thinking of setting up a basic flow of freight traffic using Wagonflow

Doing this properly should ensure that there is always a "reasoned" movement going on on the NB side of the layout but I need to understand the brewery traffic in order to do this, hence my original question.

Thanks to JT and Eddie Bray for pointing out the need for coal, completely forgotten that one even though a tour of the brewery museum includes a long explanation why the beer now has to be brewed in Gosport rather than on site - English Heritage will not allow the "listed" boiler to be repaired! I suspect that a half wagon load from a local coal merchant every few operational cycles could supply that want.

Raw materials for the brew, even in the early 60s, came from the slopes of the adjacent Portsdown Hill on horse drawn flat wagons (I can personally vouch for that) although I suspect a lorry could start to provide that service in our fiction.

The need for getting rid of waste products from the brewing process is duly noted, thanks Mike.

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Why not put the date in your diary and come and see the results.

Elliott

This may sound daft but IIRC 30 years ago there was very little brewing left in Burton on Trent, it had all moved to Birmingham. However there were lots of brewery tankers leaving Burton for Brum everyday full of local water. Do say if it is daft.

Cheers, Simon

"simon" wrote

No, sounds par for the course when bean counters get involved...

Elliott

If they still used horse drays for delivery it would be more likely to be horse shunting. A little difficult to make a working model though.

Alan

Bit of a defeatist attitude there :o)

Perhaps you could make a miniature pantomime horse suit for a cockroach, tying up its middle legs and wings, although its antennae might be a give away. :-)

Alan