Scottish distillery tank wagon

[sulzer27jd]

I have found a black & white photograph of this, or a similar wagon that shows the lettering better. The second line is SDSP (CARRON) [or possibly SOSP]

 

DSP in whisky terms normally refers to distilled spirit plant, but may or may not in this case.

 

A little checking also reveals that when the distillery was rebuilt in 1959/60 a dark grains plant was built on this site to convert pot ale and draft into animal feeds. This tanker shown may well then have been brining pot ale onto the site at Carron rather than taking in away.

 

John

[Wickham Green]

17 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

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?

Ah - yes - as recorded in that famous poem by William McGonagall ..........

[Neil]

Many thanks for all the replies, they've been most informative. Once again the combined knowledge and wisdom of the forum comes up trumps.

[Tony Cane]

I have finally come across an article on moving water for whisky by rail that I had vaguely remembered.

Attached is a scan.

[RLBH]

On 02/01/2020 at 23:14, sulzer27jd said:

It won't be malt whisky, because it would then be required to sit in the tank for years to mature.

I wouldn't be so sure - today, considerable quantities of malt whisky are transported around Scotland in road tankers, from distillery to bonded stores (most whisky is now put into casks and aged off-site since demand has outstripped distillery storage capacity) and from bonded stores to bottling plants. At least some of this traffic has been carried by rail in the past, although I don't know exactly when it started.

[sulzer27jd]

4 hours ago, RLBH said:

I wouldn't be so sure - today, considerable quantities of malt whisky are transported around Scotland in road tankers, from distillery to bonded stores (most whisky is now put into casks and aged off-site since demand has outstripped distillery storage capacity) and from bonded stores to bottling plants. At least some of this traffic has been carried by rail in the past, although I don't know exactly when it started.

The tank in question is from the 1960's, not today.

[justin1985]

On 03/01/2020 at 10:35, sulzer27jd said:

I have found a black & white photograph of this, or a similar wagon that shows the lettering better. The second line is SDSP (CARRON) [or possibly SOSP]

 

DSP in whisky terms normally refers to distilled spirit plant, but may or may not in this case.

 

A little checking also reveals that when the distillery was rebuilt in 1959/60 a dark grains plant was built on this site to convert pot ale and draft into animal feeds. This tanker shown may well then have been brining pot ale onto the site at Carron rather than taking in away.

 

John

 

Really useful info! Where did you find the photo?

 

That's just the info I was looking for - building a model of this wagon for a little layout inspired by Dailuaine.

 

Justin

[luke the train spotter]

Does anyone have any idea of the destination for these wagons? There are a couple of photos suggesting that the wagons headed south bound down the branch, perhaps to another distillery or dark grains plant?

 

1967, type 2 hauling a mixed freight southbound just outside of Carron. 

 

And at the rear of a goods train as it heads through Knockando. 

 

Both John Boyes photos available on Flickr. 

 

 

[Michael Hodgson]

I don't know what that tank was used for, but back in the day people used to put soda water in their whisky.

[Kylestrome]

And just for fun, here's my model of No.4 using available photos for reference.

 

Construction details start here.

 

[Cwmtwrch]

The photo taken at Aviemore in 1971 ["Private Owner Freight Wagons on British Railways", D Larkin, Bradford Barton, 1976] shows 4 straps over the tank, as required to comply with the RCH specification for 20T cradle- or saddle-mounted tanks; they are also visible in the colour photo above. He gives the tank colour as maroon, and the spillage on the tank is darker than the body colour.

[roythebus1]

In effect it was carrying Marmite!! Yeay, a Marmite wagon!

[Morello Cherry]

 

On 31/05/2024 at 00:32, roythebus1 said:

In effect it was carrying Marmite!! Yeay, a Marmite wagon!

 

So on its way to a toxic waste dump?

 

On 02/01/2020 at 17:42, Nearholmer said:

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?

 

You may mock but the Boston Molasses Disaster  which led to a 25ft high tidal wave of 13,000 tons of molasses killed 21  and injured 150 in 1919 (it damaged the Boston Elevated Railway to give it a railway connection).