Tag Archives: Southampton

Canute Road Quay, General, History, Rolling Stock

The lager must be mine… Graham’s Golden Lager and a tenuous link to Canute Road Quay

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Released by Oxford Rail, back in February 2021 , their OR76TK2006 Graham’s Golden Lager No113 12 Ton Tank wagon was a bit of impulse buy due to its branding and the fact that I feel their 12T tank wagon is one of Oxford Rail’s best models to date. Little did I realise at the time that a wagon of a Scottish larger brewer would have an interesting Southampton, and by association Canute Road Quay, connection…

The real Graham’s Golden Lager tank wagon, image copyright and embeded from HMRS website

In 1927 a new beer was brewed in Arrol’s Lager brewery in Alloa, Graham’s Golden Lager. This was produced on behalf of Allsopp’s of Burton, following the moving their lager plant to Arrol’s in 1921.
Being sucessful, and as now Arrol’s were brewing all Allsopps lagers, Allsopp’s took a controlling interest in Arrol’s in 1930, prior to their 1934 merger with Ind Coope.  Arrol’s was completely bought out in 1951 and the brewery converted to a lager-only plant.
Arrol’s of Alloa appeared to have a number of branded rail mounted tanker wagons that included the example as model by Oxford Rail.
In 1959, Graham’s Golden Lager was rebranded as Skol, though for a while it was branded Graham’s Skol Lager. It became the main lager of Ind Coope and later the whole Allied Breweries Group.

I think the Waterloo Tavern (Ian…) might have over ordered… the picture that uncovered the story…

…So where does this fit in with Southampton…
…following posting the picture left, on  my layout thread on RMweb, Pete Cottrel kindly related the story that the Southampton branch of the Wine Merchants business of the Eldridge Pope Brewery was bombed in 1940 and that buried in the rubble were several intact crates of bottled Graham’s Golden Lager.

They weren’t actually near the docks but in Above Bar Street, in the area that is now Guildhall Square, no rail connection though, it was in the heart of the Old Town, inside the medieval walls.

The Oxford Rail 12T Graham’s Golden Lager tank wagon, picture courtesy KMRC

In 2005 while doing trial excavations on the site the crates were discovered with a JCB bucket that broke several of the bottles. The Eldridge Pope brewery and bottling plant were at Dorchester, so bulk lager could have been sent there.  However Cooper’s Brewery in Southampton had a bottling plant and had ceased actual brewing due to war damage, so it could in theory have bottled Graham’s Golden Lager post war.

The find was also reported on the BBC website:

Archaeologists’ intoxicating find, by David Fuller BBC News June, 2005

One of the best and well detailed wagons produced by Oxford Rail to date. Picture courtesy KMRC

Archaeologists searching for remains of a city’s medieval past have made an intoxicating discovery, a cache of World War II beer.
The hundred-or-so bottles of lager buried beneath Southampton’s Guildhall Square were still capable of developing a head when they were opened. It is thought they had been stored in the cellar of an off-licence which was destroyed in the Blitz. The routine dig was to study the site before a new arts centre was built.
Pete Cottrell, the dig leader, was hoping to find evidence of a medieval leper hospital known to have been in the area. He said the bottles were in very good condition, but the liquid inside was not. “I think you’d be very ill if you drank that, it’s absolutely rank.”
Some of the bottles have now been handed to the city’s museum, while the rest has been reburied.

I thought this was a fasinating story emanating from a simple impulse buy and a picture, and was worth sharing (even as a real ale drinker), I hope this little diversion from the normal is of interest…

 

Canute Road Quay, HW&DMRS

Announcing Canute Road Quay… a new little timesaving or timewasting project…

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A number of factors have led to me considering the possibility of producing a simple and small shunting puzzle layout to keep me entertained, be able to operate at home and possibly exhibit without the need for such a large operating crew and logistics.

Firstly, I do not have the space to have Fisherton Sarum completely set up at home, one of the disadvantages of owning a small 600 year old brick and flint cottage in the Chiltern Hills, or indeed the space to build any of the other two layouts, Hawkhurst in Kent and Lydford Junction in Devon, that I have been pondering over, researching and planing for many years (indeed in the case of Hawkhurst I have already built much of the rolling stock and some of the buildings, more on this in future posts on this blog perhaps).
Secondly, the arrival of the excellent Model Rail Magazine commissioned USA Tanks, and already having a kit built Adams B4, got me thinking about knocking up a quick dock / quayside type scene, but obviously not based directly on a specific Southampton Dock location, I did mention earlier my issue with space… Hence the name of Canute Road Quay to maintain a Southampton’ish identity.

I have often enjoyed operating (‘playing with’) shunting puzzle layouts that have been created by fellow High Wycombe and District MRS member Ron North usually based on the classic ‘Inglenook’ design these type of layouts can be fun to operate as well as not taking up much space. For Canute Road Quay I have decided that I have approximately 4ft x 1ft of space in which I can fit an adaptation of the slightly larger than the ‘Inglenook’ puzzle the ‘Timesaver’. This includes the addition of a small run around loop.

I am also allowing for the top left line to exit through to a hidden single cassette (utilising the same foot long locomotive cassettes that I use on Fisherton Sarum)  to allow for more operation and stock changing. The very front edge of the layout will be modelled as a dockside wall and the siding at the top right will be a small loco shed albeit single road and in semi low relief, being a sub shed of, and a similar look to the one actually at Southampton Docks.

Work in progress on USA Tanks,  s64 in early 1948 livery, 68 and also 72 in pre full SR modified condition, although I need to add cab side windows. All await weathering

The other two shorter sidings / headshunts will be just about able to hold 3 off box vans and a small shunting loco such the USA Tank or Adams B4. I will on the whole be remaining in my usual 1946 to 1949 Southern Railway time period; but will allow for the occasional change in era/area (perhaps the odd industrial loco)!

I will use a Tim Horn laser cut baseframe to result in a professional looking letter box type presentation with a built in front lighting pelmet.
Buildings, for simplicity and quickness will be a mixture of modified Ready-to-Plonk resin low relief type warehouses as the backdrop at the left hand rear, some laser cut versions for the buildings  acting as scenic breaks towards the front a at least one scratchbuilt such as the engine shed. Trackwork will be a mixture of open sleepered and inset track as seen around such docks / quays to give some variety to the surfaces.

As procurement of track, baseframe and some of the buildings has already commenced watch this space for more updates…