Description
The first book to be published on its subject, the complete story of how milk was transported in bulk by the railways – after the development of the milk tanker and demise of the milk churn, but before road transport took over. The arguably “happier” years before deregulation and the bullying dominance of the supermarket chains of recent years. The background and general history of the subject is covered, with the development of larger dairying companies and the formation of the Milk Marketing Board being being well explained. There is a large amount of detail, covering in particular the development and different types of railway milk tanks used for the traffic, together with comprehensive details of the dairies and locations sending out milk by rail tank, together with the varied destinations and depots that received it. Large depots such as Wood Lane, together with more obscure destinations like Eltham and Forest Hill. All of this is accompanied by a very large number of photographs and illustrations, many of which have not appeared in print before. The different routes and train workings are also explored, in addition to the varieties of specialist brake vehicles used, together with the different types of motive power utilised. An appendix has the late Glen Woods’ complete summary list of all milk tanks operated, and the book also has an index of the locations included in the text.
