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South Moredon Dairy (a Morden South Bottling Plant inspired micro)


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Following sb67 's comment:

I thought it was time to put finger to keyboard, and let the world see my latest attempt to blur fact and fiction.

 

The photo which prompted my interest was in Milk Trains To Mordon South 1970s and comes from Mike Morant's SmugMug site.

Industrial_Express_Dairy_slide331-600x40

The Mordon South thread went on to include several more photos of the site, and links to a wonderful film of the plant. I was hooked!

 

My own on-line searches yielded some more photos; the possibilities for a layout were obvious. And that was before Hornby announced that they were going to produce a model of the shunter! Loco duly pre-ordered I had intended to get the layout built ready for Hornby’s release, but even with a slippage of several months in their delivery schedule I hadn’t lifted a finger when the model arrived. Eventually the time was right and serious analysis of the various photos began to see exactly what the project was.

 

The film talks about the site being able to accept 14 rail tank cars at a time, with the yard suitably sized to match, and much bigger than my plan. I settled for a mere 4 tanks at a time in the shed and a similarly shortened yard, truncated even further by a bridge for the scenic break to bring the whole layout down to a manageable size.

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The idea of SR EMUs running alongside the sidings, like the real location, was attractive, but even a 2-car would be too long for this micro layout. But I do have an AC Cars railbus on my stock shelves, and with both GWR and BR single diesel railcars available RTR, a change of geographic location looked possible. And so Morden South became South Moredon a location on the Midland & South Western Junction Railway on the north western of Swindon, and in reality the location of a rail served power station.   

 

Was I stretching reality too far? Or could a believable layout result? The only way to find out was to get started with the build.

 

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With the AnyRail plan printed out full size and laid across my dining table a few tanks were added, and various Wills Scenic sheets placed in roughly the right positions things started to take shape.

 

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As this could by no means be seen as a full-scale replica of the Express Dairies plant it was decided very early on that a few liberates would be taken. For example, the sheet material used extensively at Morden South had flat sections between the ridges, whereas I would be using the Wills Scenics corrugated asbestos. I did do an online search for suitable sheets but found nothing. To be fair there probably is something suitable in one of the American or Continental ranges, but some of these are so extensive its not always easy to discover what is available, and the Wills option has the advantage of being readily available.

 

The various photos I had found on-line and a few screen shots from the film we examined in great detail, enlarged as far as possible to glean as much information as possible. Having photos on screen not only allows them to be enlarged, but they can also be lightened to bring out detail. Going back and fore between the various photos time and time again I gradually got the information I needed.

 

image.png.e821ad301d95fcae7b7935314662feef.png

 

One photo which keeps giving in terms of information is this one on Flickr

Milk to Morden

 

Although not in the perfect position, the middle tanker is pretty close to the end of the unloading shed, close enough for me to get a fairly accurate estimate of sizes. It’ll not win any prizes for accuracy, but the initial scale of measurement was from track level to the horizontal bar across the end of the tank.

 

By pasting the photo into a Word document and then enlarging and cropping to the right size I could then draw lines on it to find the sizes. By double clicking on the line Word shows its dimensions at the right-hand end of the top ribbon.

image.png.df9b89b6c6fa362bc20b32f3a19aaf0b.png

 

 

The BFI film has some interior shots of the unloading shed, showing that it had posters on the wall. This seems a bit odd, especially as they seem more permanent than something installed specially for the film, but as a contributor to the Morden Milk thread recalls they ran public visits to the site for school children, and the film also shows housewives watching cooking demonstrations on-site so perhaps the posters aren’t so strange after all if a tour of the sidings was included in itineraries. Anyway, some research gave a likely size for the posters and from that another calculation could be made to confirm the initial one.

 

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The shed is quite tall but allows head room for staff standing on the tanks clear of the roof beams, probably not something I'd have thought of if I was designing the building myself. Copying the real thing, if only in spirit helps avoid these design errors. 

 

Working from these estimates the relative sizes of other buildings could also be estimated. A couple of complications are that the land drops away from the front to rear of the layout, with the rearmost buildings being about 8 feet below siding track level.  This will be represented on the model, but isn’t on my dining table!
 

I'm not saying the above offers the right way of going about modelling a real location, or even a good way of doing it, but it is how I do it. Sometimes, despite my best efforts to try to work out how something fits together, its only once the plastic is cut that something dawns and I can see what I've assumed isn't quite what is there - and that's after using paper templates and prototypes in some cases!  But I fumble along, hoping I'm getting somewhere close, despite all my assumptions and alterations caused by selective compression.

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On 15/07/2021 at 20:40, HillsideDepot said:

Following sb67 's comment:

 

And so Morden South became South Moredon a location on the Midland & South Western Junction Railway on the north western of Swindon, and in reality the location of a rail served power station.   

 

Was I stretching reality too far? Or could a believable layout result? The only way to find out was to get started with the build.

 

 

Sounds like a great plan! Wiltshire was (and still is) prime dairy country. There really was a rail-served dairy north west of Swindon at Cricklade on the M&SWJR so your plan is very close to reality. It would be easy to imagine that something similar had been built a few miles closer to Swindon.

 

I look forward to seeing this develop. 

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Osborns do an N gauge laser cut dairy which is quite close to what you are looking for. I realise this is the wrong scale but since it is laser cut, it might be worth getting touch with them. In theory, scaling it up to 00 gauge should not be too difficult.

 

https://www.osbornsmodels.com/arch-laser-creamery-low-relief-ready-built-n-gauge-32173-p.asp

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On 28/07/2021 at 10:19, ELTEL said:

Looking forward to the next instalment 

 

Thank you.

I thought I was up to date with the thread as not much has happened to the model for the last fortnight as most evenings have been taken up with Scout Deputy District Commissioner (14-25) duties. But I realise that actually there is more to report.

 

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The main walls are now cut, after a few false starts. It is sometimes difficult to work out what photos are telling me, especially when the whole building isn't visible in one shot. Then there is the possibility that photos taken years apart are actually showing alterations to the buildings, and what I'm seeing at one end of the building isn't what is at the other end in a different photo. 

 

The corrugated building next to the chimney definitely had a window by the grounded tank, but the only photos showing the other side have a tree where the window might be. So, a second window or not? As the photo shows, I opted for two windows. I might yet hide it with a tree. Like the milk tank I used for heights next to the unloading shed, the grounded tank, being only fractionally taller than it would have been on its rail underframe, was ideally placed for calculating heights of the adjacent building. That and a photo showing a door into the building gave me some good references to estimate from.

 

The long window in the other corrugated building caused me some difficulty. Different photos of the two ends of the window showed it close to the roof on the right but some distance away on the left. I puzzled over this for some time, thinking that the window had been altered at some point. Having cut the parts and not been happy I realised that the right hand roof came down lower on the left and so the recently cut sheet found itself reattached and the roof line continued down. It appears that at Morden there was once another third building in the sequence, but only the first part of the roof remains in a couple of photos. I think that I am going to ignore the truncated roof.

 

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The BFI film does give some glimpses of the interior of the covered area, which I have tried to do justice to. The detail isn't clear in the film, it being rather a dark area for a film camera, but as it won't be particularly visible on the completed model I'm happy for it to be a representation. There is a cylinder to go below where the pipes disappear through the wall (when I can get to an old layout and remove the casting I have in mind), a steel cupboard / locker type and a table /work bench to fit in too. The cable trunking and sockets are a great little Scale Model Scenery kit.

 

That's about it. I really need to make the baseboard now as I intend that to be slightly wider than the A4 paper the plan is printed on, and whilst I know things will fit I now need the actual sizes to make the side walls of the background buildings. Yes, I could just add a strip of paper to the plan, but I'm finding it hard to visualise how the background buildings will look when they are set down at the correct ground level, so I think it is time to cut some wood. Needing to do the carpentry in the garden the heat beat me last week, and the showers have so far this week halted work.

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Sounds like a great plan! Wiltshire was (and still is) prime dairy country. There really was a rail-served dairy north west of Swindon at Cricklade on the M&SWJR so your plan is very close to reality. It would be easy to imagine that something similar had been built a few miles closer to Swindon.

 

I look forward to seeing this develop. 

 

Yes, Wiltshire is still dairy country, I can often hear cows mooing at night from home when other sounds are few. As well as Cricklade, Wootton Bassett and Melksham, both near here had rail served dairies, while my home town had a large Nestle factory which is now an office complex. 

 

It is another of the slight distortions with the model, the loco was an Express Dairies asset while Wiltshire United Dairies and Cow and Gate (later merged into Unigate) would be more appropriate for the supposed location of the model. But them Morden South was a bottling plant while South Morden is assumed to be a milk loading plant, although it could well serve its locality with dairy produce as well as sending milk to London. 

   

 

Osborns do an N gauge laser cut dairy which is quite close to what you are looking for. I realise this is the wrong scale but since it is laser cut, it might be worth getting touch with them. In theory, scaling it up to 00 gauge should not be too difficult.

 

https://www.osbornsmodels.com/arch-laser-creamery-low-relief-ready-built-n-gauge-32173-p.asp

 

Thanks for the link, useful to keep in mind for other layout ideas, as I am quite wedded to the idea of a Morden-ish factory for this project.

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4 hours ago, ELTEL said:

Im just wondering if this layout is still ongoing ahead ?

 

Terry 

Yes Terry, it s, but slowly.

I've built the baseboards, including the dropped section at the rear and was about to start track laying. But realising some of the dimensions will be tight I wanted to complete the section of station canopy and platform at the front before committing myself to positions. 

And then I got myself immersed into reproducing some TOPS style lists for my Mortimore's Yard layout, and that rather took over (replicating the green stripes on alternate lines of the old continuous fold computer paper is probably taking it too far, but hey, why not?).

 

I'm afraid I'm like that, lots of projects on the go, each of which tends to go in fits and starts with generous helpings of pondering and thinking in between!

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Thanks for the update.

 

Likewise I always seem to have more projects on the go than time available.

 

Look forward to future developments.

 

Managed to go to my first model railway exhibition yesterday in south Birmingham since March 2020

 

Well done Bournville club, it was great to see many old faces and catch up on the gossip.

 

A most enjoyable few hours including two members layouts from Stafford Railway Circle on there first exhibition outings for what seems a age.

 

Terry 

 

 

 

 

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Just to show that things are still progressing, albeit very slowly, a couple of quick snaps to show the current state of play. 

 

The baseboard is built, and the dairy sidings are laid. The track for the station hasn't been laid yet as that needs to be raised up, so better to do work on the sidings without that getting in the way. And, I've only just got enough flexi track for the passenger line, so that's another reason for not laying that just yet. As it is in the foreground I might use Peco bullhead there, where it will be more clearly seen, and as I have enough in stock.  Wiring next...

 375266568_DSCN3583(2).JPG.03b3b4d41693737b778186fb928ed3d8.JPG

 

The speed of progress of this project reminds me of two of the milkmen in Chippenham in my childhood. One had a big, flash American car and was known as the "fastest milkman in the west" (after the song) while another used a battered old Bedford HA pick-up which rarely seemed to move much before midday. Inevitably, he was known as the "slowest milkman in the west".

 

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An update is long overdue here!

 

Things have been moving on, slowly, largely because the rest of life seems to be going like an HST at full power!

 

Compared to the photos above, the low relief buildings are now roofed and the bridge to the fiddle yard is largely complete. The small embankment from the passenger line to the sidings is in, and I'm pondering the steeper banks down to the lower level at the rear of the layout. The "grounded" milk tank (I say grounded, its actually up on brick columns) has been done. Wiring is done, and the layout works, which is good. 

 

I'll try to get some photos in the next few days. 

 

One thing's for sure, with an exhibition booking for the layout I can't be larking around...

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Tanks for the memories...

 

Many, many years ago, when I still had a 8 x 4 train set I was given 4 of the then new Lima 6-wheel milk tanks. Amazingly all 4 survive today, and 3 have had roles on more recent layouts.

 

As Lima intended - and still with the red sticky label underneath used to identify my rolling stock at the youth centre model railway club! 

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Repainted as an Internal User for my Hillside Depot layout

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Repainted (and not fitted correctly back to its chassis!) for my Liverpool Street inspired London Road Loco Sidings micro.

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An in-progress (not much progress!) conversion to one of the temporary refuelling tanks the Western Region had.

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The chassis used for the refuelling tank has donated its body to South Moredon thus. It's doubtful that this tank and the little Ruston were on site at the same time, but well, why not?

2115450586_DSCN3667copy.jpg.68f84101cab38f475ee8f4fdaf57ed56.jpg 

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At last, some progress! 

 

The unloading shed is getting there now, with a representation of the pipework within. The various photos and segments of the film don't really show more than a glimpse or two of the pipework, so it is largely supposition, based on limited fact. But, like the whole layout, I hope it achieves a suitable representation of what was there. The fence between the sidings was a mass of chrome pipework, but again details are sketchy. Although not visible on the prototype, so possibly not correct, I will probably add a few flexi hoses as a means of unloading the tanks. The stop blocks were 3D items in reality, but compressed here to fit, and should look the part when the third wall and the roof are added.

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The front wall is placed in position. The next items to build, which I'm not looking forward to, are the roof girders, at least my building is only 2 tanks long and not the 7 it should be.

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The low relief buildings are pretty much done now, although I realise that an extra inch on the layout width would have made things look better; too late now though.

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The exit to the fiddle yard. In reality the equivalent bridge at the real location was some distance beyond the point where the sidings joined the mainline. The M&SWJR had both arch bridges and girder bridges, but not, as far as I've found both together. But an arch with the later addition of a girder span seems to work here. 

1316300900_DSCN3680(2).JPG.eddea98fb56dc150703f03fb3961c15e.JPG

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Hopefully we're over the tech problems and my reinstated photos are all there and showing correctly.

 

Work is continuing, in fits and starts, but gradually getting there. So a couple of shots, albeit both are now out of date as things have progressed again since.

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I recently visited the site of South Moredon Dairy, on the course of the M&SWJR in Swindon. Moredon Power Station is roughly where I envisage the layout to be, and while the power station is long gone there is still a large electricity sub station there, and some fencing which might have been the site boundary. But it is very hard to pick much out.

 

There is however an arch bridge not far north of the location, which I was keen to record in an attempt to get the colouring right on the model. 

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A little further north, towards the southern end of the Swindon and Cricklade Railway a bridge has been removed, but various small pieces of brick and stone were scattered around, which are likely to be demolition rubble. I selected a sample of each, although when photographed in artificial light the colours are rather different. I'll do any colour checks with the model in daylight.

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The model bridge is getting there, but possibly needs a wash of a lighter colour on the stone, but again natural light is the key.

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Finally the grounded (doesn't seem the right word for something up in the air!) milk tank has been weathered. The ladder needs extending to the ground, but I'll wait until I've finished all the ground work in that area.

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Hi Adrian - 

It is great to follow this thread as I have known the Wimbledon to Sutton line since my childhood and have always thought that the Express Dairy sidings would be ideal for modelling. I remember passing Morden South one late 70s afternoon and saw an all blue Class 73 in the sidings, diesel burbling away, with several milk tanks. It was the only time I saw a BR loco actually working there apart from the Express Dairy’s own Ruston shunter.

 

Your post on 16 July 2021 included various photos, and one view has greatly intrigued me. Photos 009 and 0010 show a full brake carriage in the sidings - so raises various questions! What could it have been doing there? What service could have brought it there - and then taken it away, also to where, plus what hauled it?

 

There are models of Express Dairy four wheel vans with logos mentioning eggs. Or what about milk churns - were they handled at this dairy, and moved in and out on a BG? Did Siphon bogie vans therefore ever appear at Morden South?
 

What specific type of BG is it - there seems to be a lookout window midway so would that be an LMS version? It seems to be in a two tone livery so what was the year? The photo appears on a website for the Merton Historical Society which mentions 1956 - but would this be correct?

 

Any information or thoughts appreciated on the Morden South full brake mystery.

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Looking at other steam period photos full brakes seem to be common on milk trains and appear to be the vehicles chosen to carry the guard. No idea if they carried anything else. I would expect churns or other dairy produce to be well ventilated Siphons or similar but don't know for certain. 

Andrew

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2 hours ago, ModRXsouth said:

Any information or thoughts appreciated on the Morden South full brake mystery.

Thanks for your interest.

 

Before Guards were allowed to ride in the back cab of the loco they had to be provided with accommodation in the train, and given the higher speeds that milk trains ran at this would, as Sitham Yard says, usually be a "passenger" brake rather than a "goods" brake, at least on the main haul. That the BG appears in those photos perhaps suggests that the train was being shunted at the time. 

 

Edit to add that the film of Morden South suggests that churns were emptied into tanks (road or rail) at country depots for transfer to the bottling plant, indeed although strongly influenced by Morden South, my take on it at South Moredon is of the country end of the process, despatching rail tanks to London for bottling. 

 

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Progress at South Moredon has been slow and spasmodic, but I hope to have an update soon.

 

In the meantime, interviews have been held for dairy staff. Or put another way I've had a go at painting some Modelu figures. I've not painted figures before, and wasn't particularly confident, but they have turned out better than I expected, albeit not with the level of detail many manage. The excellent 3d prints are a great starting point, I just need to up my game to make best use of them. 

 

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