I have B&A and NYC refridgerated cars in HO. Would they have been used to transport milk and dairy products? Pictures of milk cars that I have seen show that the milk cars looked different from what I have. If I want to do milk train do I need to get cars similar to what I see the Rutland RR running?
Thanks
Bruce
Generally a "milk train" was a train that gathered and or carried raw milk from the stations near farms to the dairy/creamery. They did not carry the processed milk or milk products.
They would carry the milk cans or bulk milk to the dairy and then carry the empty milk cans back out to the stations near the farms. They were not designed as a standard reefer, more like insulated baggage or express cars. A recent RMC had an article on modeling several milk cars.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
NYVTRR I have B&A and NYC refridgerated cars in HO. Would they have been used to transport milk and dairy products? Pictures of milk cars that I have seen show that the milk cars looked different from what I have. If I want to do milk train do I need to get cars similar to what I see the Rutland RR running? Thanks Bruce
I am modeling a bit of the dairy industry on my layout.
I have the book Milk Trains and Traffic by Jeff Wilson. A quick look revealed that the NYC had 220 milk can cars on their roster in 1920, 443 in 1930, 312 in 1951 and 53 in 1962.
For the B & A I'm not seeing any info so I can't help you there.
Hope this is helpful and I urge you to check out the book if you are interested in more detail about the dairy industry.
charles
Thanks for the info will try to find the book
Sometimes it is difficult to discern from the outside but there were bulk milk "tank" cars that looked quite like an express car on the outside but had milk tanks permanently mounted inside.
Tank_milk_Pfaulder by Edmund, on Flickr
Good Luck, Ed
Ed.
Some of those pictures are wild. I love the semi trailers on the MDT car. Talk about a pup trailer. When they say glass lined tank, I don't think they are referring to fiberglass. Talk about a fragile shipment. Bet you a dollar they didn't get humped.
Thanks Ed.
Pete.
More on Milk trains here, Pete:
https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/t/288176.aspx
I've got to thank the OP for getting me on a Milk Car search. I found a neat Overland, Borden Butterdish car at a reasonable price just now
Tank_milk_Borden by Edmund, on Flickr
I've gathered a pretty good roster of other milk cars. Broadway Limited and Intermountain have both produced some decent models in HO.
NKP_Express-refrigerator by Edmund, on Flickr
I picked up a pair of the Overland trailers that go with the Merchants Despatch car that I hope to scratchbuild a car for:
MDT_Milk-tanks_F30D by Edmund, on Flickr
MDT_Milk-trailer-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
Just another reason for modeling a slice of history that will never be repeated.
Tank_truck-MDT by Edmund, on Flickr
Hood_Milk-tank car by Edmund, on Flickr
Note the admonition to Shove or Ride to Rest.
Rolling Rock beer was also brewed in the "glass-lined tanks of the Latrobe Brewing Co." We had glass lined tanks at the GE plant where I worked. It was more like a porcelain coating but you could chip it with a hammer blow (or a dummy welding to the side of the tank ).
Cheers, Ed
The milk tank cars are not traditional reefers. They have no cooling system. There are insulated tanks inside what looks to be a reefer. Most of these had no ice hatches. The tanks were so well insulated they would keep the milk cool without refrigeration. I have models of older milk tank cars that do have ice hatches. I don't know how prevalent these were before it was discovered it was unnecessary to refrigerate the tanks.
I also recommend Jeff Wilson's book on the milk industry and railroads. Lots of good information. In addition to collecting milk tank cars along the route, milk trains would collect milk cans from the various creameries. These would sometimes be collected in an express/baggage car and cooled by being top iced. I'd have to go back and reread it to see if a traditional reefer was ever used for that same purpose.
Eventually, tank cars were created without the boxcar structure. These were called butterdish tank cars due to their resemblance to a butterdish. Again, even in the hottest weather, the tank cars were so well insulated that refrigeration was not necessary.
Other dairy products like cheese and butter would be transported in reefers and might be part of a milk train.
gmpullman"glass-lined tanks of the Latrobe Brewing Co."
Isn't that "from the glass-lined tanks of Old Latrobe"? I stared at enough Rocks in my college career at Penn State (I was a Friday happy hour 'Skeller Rat which offered discounts when you bought a case of Rocks for the gang) pondering the meaning of "33" to remember. And here it is....
"From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you."
A great comment about milk trains is that slow ones soon turned into yoghurt trains
Here is another interesting article about milk trains and the milksheds.
https://riverraisinmodels.com/libraryData/milktrains.pdf
Rick Jesionowski
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