GWR milk Rotanks. Who were they built for?

[Karhedron]

Please can someone help as I don't have a copy of Russell to hand?

 

During the 1930s and 40s, the GWR built around 35 road/rail milk tanks or "Rotanks" for dairy traffic. The details I have suggest that these for built for the Co-operative Wholesale Society but I have found a photo from 1935 of a GWR Rotank in United Diaries livery. This means my list is either wrong or incomplete.

 

 

Please can anyone tell me if any members of diagrams O37, O48, O49 were built for United Dairies?

 

[WillCav]

Hi Karhedron,

 

I've tried a few books for you but not much concrete info I'm afraid.

 

Russell GW miscellany vol 2 - nothing

 

Russell GW coaches 1903-48 - nothing

 

Russell GW coaches appendix vol 2

Fig 535 no. W3107 text suggests Guinness usage empty to Park Royal

Fig 536 later B748830 (1949) also empty to Park Royal

Fig 537 top view of B748830

 

Russell GW wagons - nothing

 

Russell GW wagons appendix

Fig 148 CWS road trailer 6 wheel no rotank

Fig 149 top view of rotank used for Guinness. Captioned as 1731 but faint 3107 on cross member (same vehicle as fig 535 in appendix vol 2)

Figs 150/1 4w trailer (no diary markings) being loaded onto 2501 rotank

Figs 152/3 4w trailer (no dairy) on 2503

Fig 154 4w trailer (no dairy) on 2501 1932 photo

Fig 156 2 x United Dairies 4w trailers on rotanks with no numbers visible 1935 pic

 

Russell freight wagons and loads of GW - nothing - it was a long shot!

 

I haven't found any info on diagram numbers in any of the above - so probably not what you wanted. It does confirm your UD rotank and gives the option of a Guinness one (no picture of the trailer though).

 

Will

[WillCav]

Just had another look at the wagons appendix book figure 156. If the 1935 date is correct then they must be O37? (I can't find a build date for O48 but O47 sausage Van's were 1936 so I'm assuming later than that).

 

The wagons in that photo look the same as 2501/3 pictures but you can't see much due to the platform and churns.  Unlikely to be 'foreign' vehicles in a book by Russell.

 

If (and it isn't definite) figure 156 is 2 x O37 then you've got two that were used for United Dairies at least.

 

Will

[Karhedron]

The Great Western Society came to my rescue. Apparently 2501-03 of lot 1485 to diagram O37 were built for United Dairies.

 

Thanks for sharing the details from Russell. The photo of 2501 being loaded with a plain steel tanker is interesting. I wonder what the story is there. I think you are probably right that fig 156 shows two of the tankers from lot 1485 so I guess they must have been painted later on.

[WillCav]

The UD trailers look the same type as the unbranded ones - both have Dyson plates on the end. So I think you're right. My guess is that took some publicity / training shots with an unbranded one so they could show other dairies.

Will

[Wickham Green too]

According to Mike King the Southern built three four-wheeled 'carriage trucks' for CWS trailers in 1931 and these were "Proposed for reframing in 1936" ...... seven six-wheeled 'carriage trucks' followed for United Dairies trailers in 1932-3. Three further six-wheeled 'carriage trucks' were proposed as rebuilds for the original four-wheelers ( but how much of the original would be left ? ) - "( Order cancelled 8/37 - built by GWR" ...... so that suggests you can have CWS trailers on your GWR wagons too.

[Karhedron]

You are right. In fact I think that the CWS was the single largest user of Rotanks as they seemed to have quite a number of facilities located away from railheads. Here is one of the original 3 solid-tyred rotanks being loaded onto its MTT at Cole on the S&D.

 

 

For comparison, here is a SR United Dairies Rotank built just a year or so later with pneumatic tyres and a 6-wheeled MTT.  The GWR design for the CWS were very similar to the one below.

 

[Wickham Green too]

I do love the way United Dairies have kit-bashed a lorry cab onto that tractor !

[Michael Hodgson]

Looks laborious.  Roughly how long would it take to unhitch the tank from the tractor wind it onto the wagon and chain it down securely, and shunt the wagon onto the milk train?

[Karhedron]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Looks laborious.  Roughly how long would it take to unhitch the tank from the tractor wind it onto the wagon and chain it down securely, and shunt the wagon onto the milk train?

 

Longer than it took to fill a normal rail tank in a siding but less than it took to manhandle the equivalent number of churns onto a lorry and then carry them to a van at the station end. Rotanks were a compromise solution allowing churn traffic to be eliminated without the expense of building new dairies with direct rail connections.

 

The principle lasted nearly 30 years. By the early 60s, Rotanks fell out of use as traffic was increasingly concentrated at the large rail-served dairies which could dispatch multiple tanks per day. The creameries that had used Rotanks either switched to lorry to take the milk directly to the bottling plants or simply closed down.