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Line-side factory, maybe a brewery.... or not?


ITG
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Track is laid at a small through statIon, with a passing loop and a single siding, which I fancy to be serving a line side factory. Been musing as to what industry this could be, but I lean towards pandering to the family’s/friends’ stereotyping of me, or more accurately, of one of my other interests.... that of (drinking) beer/ale! Now, with my layout set somewhere in the 60s-80s, I know that real ale was non-existent at that point in history, but I can afford to stretch the truth a little... a brewery is a brewery!

 

So what traffic by rail might I see at a brewery? Grain .... in bulk hoppers? Vans .... for barrels?

 

or, if I opted for a different industry, what is interesting? With varied traffic of an identifiable type?

 

ideas most welcome, as scenery hasn’t started yet. 

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Well the campaign for real ale group started in 71 but that might be a bit optimistic, traditional breweries tend to be quite large and tall, often with skylights to give light to the vat rooms. As an alternative a small chemical plant, or an engineering firm might well work for a 60's to 80's period

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11 hours ago, ITG said:

 Now, with my layout set somewhere in the 60s-80s, I know that real ale was non-existent at that point in history, but I can afford to stretch the truth a little... a brewery is a brewery!

 

 

 

Real ale had disappeared from some parts of the country at that date. But elsewhere it still existed with small local breweries of the size that would be appropriate to your layout.

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On 15/09/2020 at 08:34, DKGL said:

Line side factories are great for generating traffic.

I like Cider !!!

 

IMG_5042.jpg.a8d0466c45c81c3372cd64f4fdaa420a.jpg

 

Or else, what about Milk ?

 

544234966_IMG_4818(7).jpg.b431cf892b580bb0c048c2e4cc2401bb.jpg

Lovely looking layout.  do you have your own thread.       

What about a small animal feed mill.  most small towns seemed to have them back in the day

 

 

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21 hours ago, darthmh said:

Lovely looking layout.  do you have your own thread.       

What about a small animal feed mill.  most small towns seemed to have them back in the day

 

 

Hi darthmh,

Haven't posted much recently, but some more photos in "Layout Topics", and search under Brislington.

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On 15/09/2020 at 08:39, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Real ale had disappeared from some parts of the country at that date. But elsewhere it still existed with small local breweries of the size that would be appropriate to your layout.

 

Yes, I remember being taken by a mate to a pub which sold 'real ale' in about 1974, so there were a few about. I think CAMRA was in its infancy back then. 

 

However, I didn't really fit in as most people in the pub had beards and wore corduroy jackets. 

 

 

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On 22/10/2020 at 11:24, jonny777 said:

 

Yes, I remember being taken by a mate to a pub which sold 'real ale' in about 1974, so there were a few about. I think CAMRA was in its infancy back then. 

 

 

Traditionally brewed and served cask conditioned beer (real ale) never died out. It was always available but under threat from mainly larger brewers who started producing brewery conditioned (keg) beer. It was a matter of knowing where to find and drink a decent pint of cask ale.

 

Before CAMRA the SPBW was established who helped promoted cask ale and knew where to find it. I joined them on several pub crawls.

 

 

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Our local brewery King and Barnes, produced cask conditioned ale, until they were bought out and production moved and the brewery closed and sold off. Friary Meux up the road in Guildford was still in production when I left Sussex in '71 and Brickwoods were also still going, but there were alternative names for it.

 

 

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Milk would get my vote. The traffic lasted up until 1980 and railside dairies came in various shapes and sizes. The smart art deco example at Moreton in the Marsh is always a favourite of mine and loosely inspired the kit-bashed dairy on my layout.

 

gwrmm991b.jpg

 

Chew_Magna_creamery.jpg

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How about shoes? Clark had a couple of factories in relatively rural Somerset that were not huge and which lasted into the 1980s. Whilst, AFAIK, neither was rail connected, the Bridgwater one was near the station, so it's not a massive stretch to imagine it having a private siding. 

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A brewery would traditionally be four or five stories tall, as the brewing process used gravity to flow the ale from one process to another, but some were less. Adnams in Southwold IIRC is three stories and would perhaps lend itself to a model.

 

Real Ale has been around for eons, it was just not as high profile in the period you are modelling, but many local breweries were going strong on that period, many of which have been swallowed up by the multiples. 

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On 15/09/2020 at 00:25, Paul H Vigor said:

A Jam factory, perchance? Loads of fruit and sugar in; finished jam out. The Vale of Evesham alone supplied many thousands of tons of fruit for Tiptree jam.

No, jam comes from a mine near Liverpool! Bass at Burton on Trent still received grain in ancient unfitted covered hoppers upto the late '70's, MOD traffic was still being shipped by rail to a very small yard at Parbold

https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=3&id=17931&gallery=Railways&offset=560

sometimes the train was much shorter than this.

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My favourite lineside factory remains the paint factory just south of Stowmarket - back in the 1970's they used to have rows and rows of paint samples left out to test that they were colourfast in sunlight. In the days of slide film only I never  "wasted" a  shot on this. I don't know if the factory was ever rail served.

 

In another thread some also remarked that Stowmarket received the last ever train load of milk - so possibly two in one around that area.

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