RMweb Premium Neil Posted January 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 1, 2020 (edited) Browsing the fabulous Speyside photos at Ernie Brack's flickr site my curiosity was piqued by this image of a tank wagon. It's not an internal user vehicle as it (or one like it) appear elsewhere as part of a BR train formation. What would its contents be and where would it have travelled from? Many thanks. Edited January 1, 2020 by Neil 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Just now, Neil said: Browsing the fabulous Speyside photos at Ernie Brack's flickr site my curiousity was piqued by this image of a tank wagon. It's not an internal user vehicle as it (or one like it) appear elsewhere as part of a BR train formation. What would its contents be and where would it have travelled from? Many thanks. Can we have a link please? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neil Posted January 1, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 1, 2020 Sorry Mark, just realised my error as I hit the post button. Link now in place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John Isherwood Posted January 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 1, 2020 10 minutes ago, Neil said: Browsing the fabulous Speyside photos at Ernie Brack's flickr site my curiosity was piqued by this image of a tank wagon. It's not an internal user vehicle as it (or one like it) appear elsewhere as part of a BR train formation. What would its contents be and where would it have travelled from? Many thanks. Well - I believe that S.M.D.L. stands for Scottish Malt Distillers Limited; so some form of alcohol would seem likely. Regards, John Isherwood. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Scottish Malt Distillers (Carron) No.4 was built 1939 and registered with the LMS, no. 150747, so was passed for use on the main line. It was a 20 Ton, 12' wheelbase tank wagon; info from P.O. Freight Wagons on British Railways (D. Larkin). Unfortunately no info is provided on load carried. The maroon livery appears to rule out fuel oil though; the wagon passed to the Strathspey Railway after withdrawal, in the same livery. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kylestrome Posted January 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) On 02/01/2020 at 03:12, Signaller69 said: Unfortunately no info is provided on load carried. I'll make a really wild guess here and suggest that it could, just possibly, be malt whisky. 😁 David Edited May 30 by Kylestrome 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TheQ Posted January 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 2, 2020 20 minutes ago, Kylestrome said: I'll make a really wild guess here and suggest that it could, just possibly, be malt whisky. David Though not necessarily, It could be blended whisky going off for bottling. or In the late 70's early 80's I used to buy white spirit up in Scotland , on the bottom of the bottles it said "White Horse Whisky". I'm guessing accumulated waste spirits would be processed into white spirit.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 There were also some tanks, both fixed and demountable, used to bring water from Highland sources to dilute ex-still liquor to a marketable strength. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Kylestrome said: I'll make a really wild guess here and suggest that it could, just possibly, be malt whisky. David Wouldn't that need a 'Class A' tank !!?! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Wickham Green said: Wouldn't that need a 'Class A' tank !!?! You would think so. Distillers Co. Ltd based in Edinburgh, which operated a fleet of Whisky grain wagons into the 60s (very old ones with wooden solebars and peaked roofs, salt wagon style, with PO type lettering) had a similar tank(s) eg no. 201, which was in Class A livery of Silver with red solebars, with a big "no naked light to be brought near tank" warning on the sides, though whether this was used in whisky traffic is not known. I can't see such tanks being used for water at Carron as Distilleries are generally known for using, and being near, consistent, reliable water sources. Edited January 2, 2020 by Signaller69 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roddy Angus Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Signaller69 said: You would think so. Distillers Co. Ltd based in Edinburgh, which operated a fleet of Whisky grain wagons into the 60s (very old ones with wooden solebars and peaked roofs, salt wagon style, with PO type lettering) On the grain wagons, you might be getting these mixed up with the Leith General Warehousing (LGW) or the Robert Hutchison grain wagons. As far as I am aware, Distillers did not have any of these type of grain wagons themselves. Roddy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Roddy Angus said: On the grain wagons, you might be getting these mixed up with the Leith General Warehousing (LGW) or the Robert Hutchison grain wagons. As far as I am aware, Distillers did not have any of these type of grain wagons themselves. Roddy They were similar to the LGW wagons but of more vintage appearance. There is a photo of one on p.34 of P.O. Freight Wagons on British Railways taken by Don Rowland. They had Light Grey bodywork and solebar with black corner plates, lettered "DCL" with a large wagon number below "No.52" in the centre and smaller info along the bottom corners. Not certain when they lasted in service until; the photo was taken at Millerhill but is undated; it appears to be coupled to a BR 16t mineral. The DCL tank photo was taken in 1963 at the same location. Edited January 2, 2020 by Signaller69 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Signaller69 said: You would think so. Distillers Co. Ltd based in Edinburgh, which operated a fleet of Whisky grain wagons into the 60s (very old ones with wooden solebars and peaked roofs, salt wagon style, with PO type lettering) had a similar tank(s) eg no. 201, which was in Class A livery of Silver with red solebars, with a big "no naked light to be brought near tank" warning on the sides, though whether this was used in whisky traffic is not known. I can't see such tanks being used for water at Carron as Distilleries are generally known for using, and being near, consistent, reliable water sources. I was thinking more of water from a particular source being used to reduce the liquor to a potable strength. There were certainly purpose-built tanks to take water from inland supplies to blending plants around Western Central Scotland;this was for the production of White Hart Rum. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) Malt extract, as in that gooey brown tar-like stuff that used to get doled-out by the spoonful as a supplement when I was a skinny kid? Its got some kind of valve at the crown of the tank at the far end - a washout entry, or a steam entry, or an adjustable pressure relief valve? Edited January 2, 2020 by Nearholmer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted January 2, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 2, 2020 OT but remove the steam and that could quite happily be in the ‘prototype that looks like a model’ thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Nearholmer said: Malt extract, as in that gooey brown tar-like stuff that used to get doled-out by the spoonful as a supplement when I was a skinny kid? Its got some kind of valve at the crown of the tank at the far end - a washout entry, or a steam entry, or an adjustable pressure relief valve? Steam coils would be a necessity for malt extract - like any other tank carrying tar-like stuff ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 That’s what I thought, but I don’t know enough about tank-wagon accessories to know whether or not that thing is a steam fitting ..... it does look vaguely like one. Steam coil thingies are usually down at the bottom of the tank by the head stocks, aren’t they? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Well, in the lower half of the tank anyway ........ and I'm not aware of any that have such a fitting on the tank top : the steam would be at such a low pressure that it wouldn't be necessary .............. unless the product expanded greatly p'raps ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 To avoid a repeat of the The Terrible Glen Trummoch Malt Extract Explosion of ‘ninety-seven, in which an entire valley was left dripping with warm, brown goo, perhaps? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 This tank No 4 is conserved at the Strathspey Railway and the photo on the Rolling stock register shows it to be almost identical to the ones owned by Distillers and produced as a rtr model by Airfix/Dapol and currently by Hornby! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roddy Angus Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 4 hours ago, Signaller69 said: They were similar to the LGW wagons but of more vintage appearance. There is a photo of one on p.34 of P.O. Freight Wagons on British Railways taken by Don Rowland. Thanks for that heads up Signaller, I've never seen that version of the grain wagon before. I do wonder if those wagons were taken over by LGW, as when looking at a train of wagons, one or two are sometimes noticeably not as high as the others, are they perhaps the old Distiller's ones which have been added to the LGW fleet? It would seem odd that LGW would build two different sizes of wagon for their own fleet and the photo you highlight might explain the difference. Thanks once again. Roddy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 I suspect the valve on the top at one end is a pressure relief valve, which would be opened during loading and unloading; failure to do so could result in an 'imploson' 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John Isherwood Posted January 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 2, 2020 2 hours ago, Fat Controller said: I suspect the valve on the top at one end is a pressure relief valve, which would be opened during loading and unloading; failure to do so could result in an 'imploson' Are we overthinking this? The valve looks like a bog-standard unloading valve on any Class B tank wagon; it's just at one end instead of roughly central. Regards, John Isherwood. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 The link to tank No 4 at Strathspey. http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=6356 Mark Saunders 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulzer27jd Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 13 hours ago, Kylestrome said: I'll make a really wild guess here and suggest that it could, just possibly, be malt whisky. David It won't be malt whisky, because it would then be required to sit in the tank for years to mature. It won't be blended whisky as this was done away from the distillery. More likely the wagon will be for the transport of Pot Ale. In some locations this can be discharged into nearby water courses, but on Speyside the known effect on oxygen levels in the river meant this was not permitted, so as to protect salmon stocks. A plant was build before WW1 in Rothes to convert the pot ale into a syrup that was then dried and used as a fertiliser. At the time the photo was taken 1966 the railway was still the main means of transport and the warehousing of whisky was still traditional. Although we are used to seeing road tankers today, this was not practice at that time. Dailuain was bought by the Distillers Company Ltd in 1925 and their subsidiary was Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. John 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now