I found an old 5gal. milk pail. I know the route just not the details. Timing, handling, etc. Any help or direction would be appreciated.
Hi, Ron.
Please let us know a few more details about what you have, maybe even a low-resolution picture of the milk can. Please also let us know what part of the country you are interested in. There are a lot of good people here with information who can help you out.
Best,
~SS
Steve SweeneyDigital Editor, Hobby
Ron ,the can you have is just a part of the dairy story.In days past the cans were picked up by truck at the farm and continued on to other farms. At the end of the route the driver took all the milk to a dairy. There in south eastern Ohio the dairy was in Westerville Ohio. Later as the cans became obsolete a pipeline to a tank from a milking stand of cows is the thing. When the tank was full then a tank truck came and pumped the milk into the tanker . At the end of the route of farms the tanker went to the creamery at Westerville. All this was done on very sanitary conditions and inspected on a weekly basis by a health inspector. I know because I was there on the farm in my younger years. Sure hope this helps you.
Respectfully, Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
RON SIMUNIC I found an old 5gal. milk pail. I know the route just not the details. Timing, handling, etc. Any help or direction would be appreciated.
Welcome, RON!
Without a photo, it is more of a guess than anything... If your 'milk pail' is in fact a milk can.. It should have an opening with a 'collar like a funnel' the opening will be possibly six or more inches wide, for transit to the collection point they were fitted with a plug-type cap... If the opening to the can is smaller, possibly, about four inches wide; you have a 'cream can'. (?) [ They were used to transport, seperately, the more valuable cream from the milk.]
Dairy farming out here is a dying industry, smaller dairies, giving way to the fewer,larger, industrialized dairy farms...Milk is shipped in truck-load quantities to the proicessing plants. Some Amish farm communities out here (southeast Kansas), still utilize cans to transport their milk to collection points; The milk is put into storage tanks, and then trucked to cheese plants for processing. You may even have an old milk can that bears the name of the Creamery on it?
Many farmers hauled their own cans to the station, too, behind a team, or eventually by truck. My mother recalls doing this.
The cans oftimes had markings for the owner and the proper station, so they could be properly returned.
It was this business that coined the term "milk run," a train that stopped at every station, as well as special stations/platforms set up just for the milk trade. As these trains sometimes carried passengers as well, it made for a loooong trip.
Milk was a stock in trade for the New York, Ontario and Western. The loss of the milk trade was a factor in its downfall.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I thought of taking this thread in another direction, but I decided I'd be mliking the subject.
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
Looking at the title.... Didn't the cows bring it?
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Can't we moooove along.
Thanks for the helpfull posts so far. Even like the attempts at humor (everything else in the world is "so" serious. Five gallon milk pal has the following identification on it. 116522 B&O - MONON otto brimm Salem IND. A triangle, with Tri State Butter under the triangle is what looks like two ovals. There is no longer a farm or people with the name Brimm in Salem. The google for tri state dairy, Cincinnatti wasn't much help. So prob. steam era? Could milk be delivered to a railroad in the P.M. And still be good, the next A.M.? Because it was used for butter, did that make a difference? etc. Thanks again for the help. History has a way of slipping away. Ron S.
This thread is turing into udder PUNishment.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
tree68 Many farmers hauled their own cans to the station, too, behind a team, or eventually by truck. My mother recalls doing this. The cans oftimes had markings for the owner and the proper station, so they could be properly returned. It was this business that coined the term "milk run," a train that stopped at every station, as well as special stations/platforms set up just for the milk trade. As these trains sometimes carried passengers as well, it made for a loooong trip. Milk was a stock in trade for the New York, Ontario and Western. The loss of the milk trade was a factor in its downfall.
Mom used to talk about her grandma filling the milk cans, taking them by wagon to the station at Fanning, MO where they were loaded onto Frisco trains and brought to a dairy in St. Louis. Fanning was halfway between Cuba and St. James on the Frisco main heading to OK. Mom's mother had grown up on the family farm and she'd take Mom and her brother for a visit every summer for a couple of months. Their dad was working as Frisco conductor and sometimes he'd take a few days off, get off the train and hike through the woods to the farm. His parents had also owned a nearby farm but it was just a place to live, since they worked for Frisco. Her mother's family sold milk, also timber to nearby sawmill and some other crops as a way of generating income. Mom and her brother would help with the daily chores while they were living there.
Henry Ford was asked how wide the rear floor of a Model T should be and he said, "wide enough for a farmer's milk cans." Sheer wisdom.
Steve, just reread my first post. Pretty lame. I guess now I need to piece the two railroads time tables and find the best route or option for the milk can. Need a course on passing along pictures. good article for the novices in the group. Thanks for responding. get and love all thre of your magazines. Ron S.
A fair number of interurbans were also involved in hauling milk. It may be hard to believe now but Chicago Aurora & Elgin handled milk for a brief period.
CSSHEHEWISCH, see by your name you are a South Shore fan. We have taken the South Shore at least once a year from Ogden Park to Chicago. My nose is always plastered in the window. By the way as convention chairman for the Monon, next years plan is to take the South Shore from hammond to South Bend as one of our activities. The South Shore once had 20% interest in the CSS&SB. thanks for the post. Ron S.
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