Bogie Milk Tanker No's 2-17

BMT 2 – 17 ‘Dairy Farmer’s Milk’ Pot

BMT 9 at Ultimo in 1958. NSW Archives photo

Commonly called ‘Milk Pots’, it is unclear exactly when these tankers were built, but they entered service in 1943. Milk tankers are unique, in that the tanks are glass-lined for hygienic reasons. These wagons are built on 24ft skeletal (open) deck underframes with ‘G’ type bogies. The tanks are 15’11” long and have a capacity of 3,000 gallons. The tanks were filled through a hatch at the top of the tank, and was gravity discharged via a pipe on the deck of the A end.

Builders: The complete underframes were built by the railways, but Dairy Farmers fitted the tanks.

- No’s 2-11 were introduced in 1943 and had 7’3” O.D tank

- No’s 12-17 were introduced sometime after 1949. They had slightly larger 7’5” I.D tanks.

Length: 24ft Tare: 18t Capacity: Gross: Equiv Length: 1.4

Bogies: Originally fitted with ‘G’ type bogies, from about 1963 most remaining vehicles were fitted with 2AQ roller bearing bogies.

Coding:

- Most only ever coded BMT.

- BMT 4 and 10, lasted beyond 1979 and were recoded NTFF.

Colour Scheme:

BMT 2-11

- As introduced, the tank and tank supports were painted Olive green. The wagons had large ‘DAIRY FARMERS MILK’ lettering in red on the tank sides. Underframe, bogies, ladder and walkways were black.

- In the mid 1950’s, the class was overhauled and they were repainted into an overall black colour scheme. They were fitted with a yellow name board that had black ‘Dairy Farmers Milk’ lettering on it.

- During their last overhaul in the mid 1960’s, the wagons had their name board removed and the tanks were painted white. Tank supports, underframe and bogies were black. It was about this time that roller bearing bogies were fitted.

BMT 12-17

- As delivered, it is believed that they were painted in the black with yellow name board livery.

- Most, later received the white tank, no name board scheme.

The black and then white colour schemes all weathered down to a dusty grey with a very noticeable creamy coloured ‘sour milk’ stain down the sides of the tank below the filling hatch.

Modifications:

- Wagons numbered 2-11, did not have cross bracing rods fitted originally. They were later strengthened when wagons 12-17 were delivered, as these vehicles were built with stronger tank supports and bracing.

- In 1963, BMT 4 and 10 were fitted with new 4,600 gal tanks and the underframe was lengthened to 27ft. BMT 5 was also fitted with a larger tank at the same time, but retained it’s 24ft underframe.

Similar Vehicles: BMT 1 twin-tank milk tanker. BMT 4, 5 and 10, later became NTAF petrol tankers.

Period of Service: 1943 to mid 1970’s.

Operation:

Milk was conveyed on special fast ‘milk trains’ from coastal country areas to Sydney processing and bottling plants at Ultimo and Pippita. Occasionaly, ‘milk pots’ were picked up by passenger or fast goods trains as required. The traffic was shared by MLV and MLK vans. From the mid 1970’s, these vans and the BMT’s were replaced by container wagons loaded with ‘tanktainers’.

Main milk pickup depots were – Camden, Campbelltown, Menangle, Mittagong, Moss Vale, Bowral, Bomaderry, Gerringong, Dapto, Singleton, Muswellbrook, Dungong, Gloucester, Taree, Wauchope, Casino and Lismore.

Milk transport by rail finished in the early 1990’s.

Modelling:

Lloyds Model Railways produced a kit in 1995. It is still available through AR Kits (Stock No. LMRF15).

Plan: Outline Drawing BMT GA plan