Cider From Taunton And Hereford.

[RichmondCommu]

G'day everyone,

From what I can remember back in the 1980's cider from the above two towns generated a fair amount of traffic for railway, none of which runs now. Indeed I can remember seeing a Cargowaggon van branded Taunton Cider passing through Crewe although I couldn't for the life of me tell you where its final destination was.

I'm curious to know whether the cider was carried as part of the Speedlink network or whether there was enough cider to run a block train.

Any information would be gratefully received!

Kind regards,

Richmond Commuter!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

G'day everyone,

From what I can remember back in the 1980's cider from the above two towns generated a fair amount of traffic for railway, none of which runs now. Indeed I can remember seeing a Cargowaggon van branded Taunton Cider passing through Crewe although I couldn't for the life of me tell you where its final destination was.

I'm curious to know whether the cider was carried as part of the Speedlink network or whether there was enough cider to run a block train.

Any information would be gratefully received!

Kind regards,

Richmond Commuter!

I can tell you as I was the Resources and Contracts Manager (Edible Products) for Railfreight in the mid 1980's.

In my day - Taunton was served by the afternoon Tavistock Junction to Severn Tunnel Speedlink , and Hereford was served by one of the STJ - Mossend services which also called at Warrington and Carlisle. (6S96 from memory)

Loads could be quite heavy - seasonal cider peaks ! - both places sent to Stranraer for transhipment to road and the Northern Ireland ferry , Deanside Transit at Glasgow and the BR run terminal at Tyneside Central Freight Depot. For a brief while there were flows to Barking - but that did not last long. Gross revenue looked good - but the cost of onward distribution + the return of empty crates dented the net revenue.

Come the Network 90 review the traffic was incapable of being re-priced (or served at an efficient way - think of the cost of a stand alone working from Carlisle to Stranraer for 3 loaded wagons) - and a company called Tiger Rail tried to run a block china clay train in the slot of the old Tavvy - Mossend , with a call at Taunton for cider - but like BR they could not make it pay.

Used to move Anchor Steam beer from Truro on the same train and a bizarre flow of diet Irn Bru from Deanside to Barking for the expatriate Scots in London , as well as the "hard" Irn Bru !

Even worse economics for the yoghurt flow from Chichester to Manchester. Another story.

 

[richw]

For some reason I was imagining "VegEx" for cider drinkers, and a return load of drunk passengers when I read the title!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

For some reason I was imagining "VegEx" for cider drinkers, and a return load of drunk passengers when I read the title!

Some of the wagons used were VGA types - 2 axle stainless steel vans (most of which are now graffiti scarred and dumped in places like Willesden Brent) - then they were at an absolute premium , carefully looked after and jet washed to give them a "clean" aspect for food and drink traffics.

Interesting how DBS could never make any new inroads into this traffic - though the Tesco and other trains in swap bodies no doubt carry some of this product...

 

[Cowley]

I remember the Taunton Cider depot when it was still used. Is part of the line that links the West Somerset on the old depot siding now?
Another cider flow that I remember down here was Whiteways Cider which kept the goods yard at Whimple intact until the late 80s.