Back Track
PART TWO
British Rail (BR) ceased handling milk on a regular basis in 1980 when the ‘Western Agreement’ contract with the Milk Marketing Board (MMB) expired; the MMB had made the decision to concentrate all of its distribution needs on road transport. Forwarding points for rail-borne traffic still active as of 1978 consisted of Carmarthen, Chard Junction, Lostwithiel, Marshfield, St. Erth, Swindon (see below), Totnes and Torrington, although traffic from the last mentioned would end in October 1978.
Interestingly, for a while during the late 1970s, Swindon started sending milk by rail to Carlisle (believed to be in connection with cheese production). The loaded train was electric-hauled from Bescot, as were the return empties from Carlisle as far as Bescot, thus rekindling earlier memories of the Shrewsbury to London
