Express Dairy Exhibition Layout

[GraemeWatson]

Now that my layout building is progressing, I figured it was time to start documenting progress on my exhibition dairy/creamery layout.

My interest in rail-served dairies began when I saw the preserved Express Dairy milk tank at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

I purchased a model one, but then that kicked off the subsequent interest and paper trail, as often it does.

Compared to some industries, prototype information is "relatively sparse". However, a few articles have been published over the years in the modelling press that give some idea of the scale of milk traffic until it's end. Many of these articles reference each other, it seems.

A chance contact with a former employee of Wilts United Dairies brought me a King's ransom in primary source material on the prototype.

This included original brochures and promotional material for individual depot sites, his own hand made notes and photographs, aerial photographs of pretty much every United Dairies site in the south of England, and in-house documents.

From this wealth of information, I have designed a dairy layout. This primary material has informed track planning, building design, ancillary traffic and freight flows.

 

The following aims I bore in mind:

1) It had to be exhibitable

2) It had to be able to allow for use of a wide range of eras and companies, to provide interest for me and observers.

3) I wanted to have reasonably prototypical train formations.

 

Bearing this in mind, train lengths are dictated in part by motive power, so the layout was designed to accommodate a Class 52 Western (which is reasonably long in scale terms) so that the option was there to use it.

 

From studying my primary source documents, most dairy sites did not change too much over the years, save for the addition here and there of some modern processing equipment.

 

Track plans were often quite generous at some sites, especially Chard.

Chard junction had a loop, and several sidings, which I have incorporated into my fictional design.

 

Buildings are on the whole scratchbuilt to the best of my current abilities, using foam board, recycled card from work and covered with south eastern finecast brick plastic card. There are occasionally skale-bashed Hornby Skaledale buildings. A couple of modest railroad Bagnall shunters have been resprayed in Dairy colours.

Buildings will be weathered by airbrush when I'm happy with my skills.

Track is Peco Code 100, painted and weathered.

 

The setting of the layout is a medium to large scale Express Dairy creamery, with milk and other products destined for London. It is designed in such a way as a portmanteau of features from Express and United Dairies buildings, from Appleby to Chard. It could be equally plausible as a Northern, Western or Southern region site. Panic not, fellow modellers, because time, money and space is of the essence, and a layout with geographically correct window dressing that can allow for a greater use of my collection of stuff is a winner in my eyes.

As a bonus, former express passenger locos including A4s, Castles and West Country classes can all be used if desired.

 

The creamery is set close to a country station, which is not represented on the layout.

Traffic into the site would include empty milk tanks (which can be swapped for clean ones in a running session within the two-lane shed), cattle wagons, perishables vans, full brakes and siphons.

Empty milk tanks arrive, and can be swapped for clean tanks. The dairy has it's own shunting loco.

At Chard, about half a mile behind the dairy site was a large egg-factory, with big Wilts United Dairy egg branding on the side. Though egg or butter traffic was not to the same scale as milk, they could be perfectly viable in the correct historical setting.

There are plenty of lines and sidings, based on actual practices at some sites; the aerial photos have proved invaluable.

 

EDIT: My Flickr album shows most of these pictures and more in high resolution.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/graemewatson/o25FSG

 

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by GraemeWatson
Restoring lost pictures

[GraemeWatson]

Just a few more photos with a slightly better camera.

The Bagnall shunter is ex-Hornby railroad, and a decent colour scheme fits it well.

It has been DCC fitted with a DCC concepts Zen decoder and supercap stay alive.

 

I haven't yet worked on a "proper" brass kit of an industrial loco, but  I have spent a long time refining my painting techniques, on cheapies such as this, so that when the time comes for a proper go a of a kit, painting won't let me down when it is finished.

It's also worth remembering that this is a reasonably expensive hobby, but we can still achieve something on a budget.

(Loco £20 in sale, spray primer £4.50, blue spray can £6.50, assorted humbrol acrylics <£5).

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by GraemeWatson

[Oldddudders]

The loco certainly bears a more than adequate resemblance to that used at Morden South Express Dairy. The signalman at St Helier, the controlling signalbox, assured me it would not pull the skin off the proverbial rice-pudding, which does seem apposite for a dairy!

[GraemeWatson]

The loco certainly bears a more than adequate resemblance to that used at Morden South Express Dairy. The signalman at St Helier, the controlling signalbox, assured me it would not pull the skin off the proverbial rice-pudding, which does seem apposite for a dairy!

The colour scheme of that Ruston was certainly a major influence. I'm intending on building the Judith Edge kit at some point, when funds allow, but in the meantime, this shall have to do, and was a nice weekend project last summer.

[sp1]

What a great idea for a layout!

[Andrew P]

Looks really good Graeme, I worked in the Transport Office at the  Arla Dairy in Ashby De La Zouch which was originally an Express Dairy site, but never Rail Served, Your Buildings etc look really good.

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Graeme,

This looks really good, it's always good to see any "industrial" type of layout but a dairy is something extra special!

I look forward to seeing more in due course.

Cheers,

John

[Removed a/c]

This looks awesome so far, looking forward to seeing it develop. 

 

 

Regards 
Scott 

[47137]

I remember small "local" dairies which received bulk milk from farmers, processed it and distributed bottled milk by electric float to individual households - 1970s and early 1980s.

A modern dairy (2016) imports bulk milk from farmers by road, strips off the cream and mixes it back in, and exports bulk cream and graded milk products - all movements by HGV; but this is an age after the doorstep delivery.

 

Is there a precedent for a rail-served dairy processing and then distributing directly to households (by electric float) or is this a bit of "modellers licence"? I ask because my Father worked in the milk float business from around 1960 to 1980, selling milk floats across the UK, and never mentioned a rail-served customer.

 

- Richard.

[gismorail]

Excellent buildings which do capture the atmospheric feel of a dairy 'back on the day' will follow you progress with interest and encouragement.

[Mallard60022]

Yea. One day I should have a representation of the ED site adjacent to Seaton Junction. That set of buildings was nowhere near as posh as yours though (shame). May I ask that if you find any other ED vehicles suitable for this sort of era (as for your existing Tankers) circa 1960ish that you mention it as I have looked and looked and can find none other than this vehicle.

I have tried contacting Arla to see if they have any 'archive material' relating to the Express Dairies period, but have never had a response.

I do have one or two useful shots of the SJ buildings if that might be of use for weathering/detail etc.  I also have some taken last summer (but in a monsoon rainstorm) by Stubby 47 (bless him); may be useful?

Looking forward to seeing your loco 'fleet'.

ATB

Phil

Edited April 20, 2016 by Mallard60022

[GraemeWatson]

I remember small "local" dairies which received bulk milk from farmers, processed it and distributed bottled milk by electric float to individual households - 1970s and early 1980s.

A modern dairy (2016) imports bulk milk from farmers by road, strips off the cream and mixes it back in, and exports bulk cream and graded milk products - all movements by HGV; but this is an age after the doorstep delivery.

 

Is there a precedent for a rail-served dairy processing and then distributing directly to households (by electric float) or is this a bit of "modellers licence"? I ask because my Father worked in the milk float business from around 1960 to 1980, selling milk floats across the UK, and never mentioned a rail-served customer.

 

- Richard.

There may well be.

This website gives a lot of information on companies that eventually formed unigate.

 

http://www.rooksbridge.org.uk/cvd.htm

 

There is the suggestion that some of the rail served areas in the West Country had some or were near to bottling plants.

In truth, I made the small float depot first, then went ahead with the whole thing as a layout; it seemed a shame not to incorporate it somehow.

An important distinction to make is that in general, milk processed at the creamery was rapidly sent on to the big cities by rail if applicable. At some creamery locations it was then moved on to a bottling plant, nearby.

Some sites have facilities that have been lost in mists of time. An egg packing and checking plant was up the road from Chard creamery, and is visible in old aerial photographs, in the era of Wilts United Dairy.

[Karhedron]

What a fantastic layout. I am a big fan of milk trains (both real and modelled) and this is the best model representation of a creamery I have seen. I cannot wait to see the rest of the layout completed.

[Revolution Mike]

Hi Graeme

 

Nice work - I'm very slowly working on a model of the "other" end (Morden South in N) so I'm enjoying seeing your input on Express Dairies!

 

Cheers, Mike

[Andrew P]

What a fantastic layout. I am a big fan of milk trains (both real and modelled) and this is the best model representation of a creamery I have seen. I cannot wait to see the rest of the layout completed.

You'll be liking the new Hornby Mag this Month then, really good.

[Karhedron]

You'll be liking the new Hornby Mag this Month then, really good.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I will look out for a copy. 

[GraemeWatson]

A mini-project for tonight, completed.

 

This photo depicts Appleby Express Dairy Manager, John Crosbie standing in front of a rotary churn cleaner.

The young lad to the right is one Jack Steadman, pictured here in ~1931; he was the dairy's first paid employee.

He had a role at the age of 21 working with the steel contractor involved in building the site in 1931, though he was able

to lift the 17 gallon  churns, and was kept on. Prior to this, he had been a railway porter, but was sacked upon

reaching 18 when he was entitled to a man's age.

He gave 44 years service at the Appleby site, retiring at the age of 65 in 1975.

 

Dairy sites had a rotary churn cleaner; most were manual, such as this one from Appleby.

This website gives good background reading and shows a similar machine.

http://mike.da2c.org/igg/rail/12-linind/milk.htm

I have seen perhaps two other photos of churn cleaners; most had a similar design, but were frequently different shapes.

 

Further photographic study reveals that churns of all shapes and sizes could be found on site.

Here is my attempt at making a similar piece of equipment. The figure is a Dart Castings/Monty's Models Porter and Churn; as befits railway modelling in austere times, he is being "re-purposed" from a previous layout, whilst an identical twin will be modified and painted in a different, more suitable way.

The open doorway leads to a loading platform on the outside of this scratchbuilt building, with working sliding door.

It is anticipated that small vehicles such as Scammell Scarabs, or flatbed trucks in the age of Milk Marketing Board can be located outside here, waiting to pick up the cleaned churns to be taken back to the farms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by GraemeWatson

[47137]

There may well be.

This website gives a lot of information on companies that eventually formed unigate.

 

http://www.rooksbridge.org.uk/cvd.htm

 

There is the suggestion that some of the rail served areas in the West Country had some or were near to bottling plants.

In truth, I made the small float depot first, then went ahead with the whole thing as a layout; it seemed a shame not to incorporate it somehow.

An important distinction to make is that in general, milk processed at the creamery was rapidly sent on to the big cities by rail if applicable. At some creamery locations it was then moved on to a bottling plant, nearby.

Some sites have facilities that have been lost in mists of time. An egg packing and checking plant was up the road from Chard creamery, and is visible in old aerial photographs, in the era of Wilts United Dairy.

It seems incredible how an operation the size of Unigate could slip away like this. And now the Express Dairies operation in Hatfield Peverel, which has been Arla Foods for some years and has managed 240 commercial vehicle movements every 24 hours, will probably go later this year.

 

I went to the Transport Museum at Wythall a few years ago - they have a selection of milk floats including Smiths and the W&E three-wheeler. They would be worth a visit (or perhaps some correspondence) to see about information they hold about the operators of the floats.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing more of your model.

 

- Richard.

[GraemeWatson]

I have done further work on the churn building. My previous post gave a little background on this aspect.

Here the churns would be cleaned, before being sent back to the local farms for milk collection.

[Karhedron]

Hi Graeme, any further progress on this one?

[Benjamin Brady]

Excellent layout look forward to seeing more of it

[81C]

I've just found this thread wish I had seen it sooner what a super diorama, I've found it difficult to get enough info on creameries/dairies I've been second guessing with most of my buildings I visited several sites in Devon this year and got no more info than I got from a scanning Google Earth Maps. 

I have laid out my Creamery for operation = churns in, empty, clean, churns out & rail tankers in, clean, loaded, tankers out, one addition is a tanker stand & siding with repair shed, in the late 1930's most of workers were in outfits of the day with aprons but the colour are debatable as per one of your photo's again best guess would be leather apron bleached white it's clearly looking very grubby. 

[cromptonnut]

Following with interest.  Never thought of a dairy as a standalone project as I have about 20 Lima "St Ivel" milk tanks needing something to run on so I've been trying to find ways to incorporate it into a bigger project and failing due to lack of space.

 

I grew up near the currently-being-demolished dairy at Chard Junction and have fond memories of the Ruston 165 with its flashing yellow light on the roof - not yet fitted in this picture https://www.flickr.com/photos/30937/8743616770/in/photostream/ but I do have an O gauge model of it with one, and 5 St Ivel tanks on pre-order to run with it eventually.

 

I don't have a huge amount of material about Chard Junction that will probably be of interest but if there is anything you'd like to know please message me and I'll be happy to try and help.  Chard Junction and dairies generally have been covered before on RMWeb.

[Karhedron]

in the late 1930's most of workers were in outfits of the day with aprons but the colour are debatable as per one of your photo's again best guess would be leather apron bleached white it's clearly looking very grubby.

It looks like sparkling white overalls was the order of the day for some dairy employees. This photo is from the United Dairies plant at Wood Lane in 1936.

 

http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/3270611-3rd-january-1935-employees-of-united-dairies-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=gcqE92k4%2Bm0wdSrjEME6lyWYF2ZO%2FbU3PfUEwum%2BQC1SlTJbCpuIV2L6ryZ9p3X7s0X21vnvcGfwF2p970yFiQ%3D%3D

 

Others seemed to have to make do with more mundane overalls as this shot from Express Dairies at Seaton in 1946 shows. Whether this represents a decline in standards due to WW2, different practices for different dairies or different uniforms for different roles is not clear.

 

[Karhedron]

Following with interest.  Never thought of a dairy as a standalone project as I have about 20 Lima "St Ivel" milk tanks needing something to run on so I've been trying to find ways to incorporate it into a bigger project and failing due to lack of space.

Some places like Lostwithiel had enough sidings and facilities to make a decent industrial layout, even without the adjacent mainline and nearby station.