No. 173 I’ll have a pint please, Bachmann’s Oakhill Brewery

I think Bachmann’s Oakhill Brewery collection is one of those iconic models, similar to their original Blue Pullman.  My Oakhill Brewery buildings are mostly date stamped 2009, with the boiler house chimney marked 2010.  My records show that I purchased my buildings from a variety of retailers in the period 19th to 30th May 2011, almost exactly 13 years ago to the writing of this Post

Bachmann Malthouse and Brewery as arrived - Note the extension piece to the loading bay platform

At first I only bought the two main buildings, the malthouse and the brewing building.  I had already laid a siding and visualised a gas works!  However I rapidly realised that I needed the full Bachmann Oakhill collection.  As luck would have it there was room for a new piece of baseboard.  Some extra sidings were laid and the full collection of brewery buildings was installed.

Bachmann Brewery Buildings shortly after arrival

From the outset I was unsure as to which way the malthouse should be orientated and whether to have a siding passing between the buildings.

As modelled by Bachmann the loading bay canopy is too low for 00 gauge vans to pass beneath.  Bachmann provide an extension piece for the loading platform to push the track further from the building so that wagons do not need to pass under the canopy.  This is fine where the tracks are on the outside of the brewery but it prevents a track both passing between the buildings and beneath the loading bay canopy.  In the event, I took the easy option and positioned all my sidings outside of the brewery complex.  This arrangement lasted for over ten years.

Bachmann Brewery 2011 - 2022

In 2012 I became aware of Chris Nevard’s Brewhouse Quay diorama (https://flic.kr/s/aHsjzZUiE9).  Chris had turned the malthouse through 180 degrees and had a running line between the buildings.  I must have coveted this arrangement and in 2022 I set about rearranging my sidings and buildings to provide an extra line between the malthouse and brewing building.

The new 2022 arrangement

The Oakhill buildings were turned to better line up with a new siding and they were all raised on a platform constructed from hardboard, topped with card butted up against the rail lines.  I tested the canopy clearance with some ex GWR fruit vans and all seemed perfect.  However later whilst playing with some ex LNER fruit vans with shell roof ventilators, these would snag on the canopy.  My final solution was to further raise all the main buildings on separate pieces of card.  I traced the outline of the buildings onto the backing card from some A4 paper pads and cut duplicate pieces to give a total raise of around 1/8th inch.  When painted with cream emulsion paint the footings to the buildings and the surface of the yard perfectly merged together.

2022 with Ratio ex GWR Spear Fencing 

I used some of Ratio’s exGWR spear fencing to edge the brewery site and later my wife planted some trees.  All green leafed initially, with one to become a copper beech later.  I think the collection of buildings is quite imposing.

2022 with Ratio ex GWR Spear Fencing

2022 Green trees and Dapol Pug

Christmas is a good time to for celebration and some barrels of ale arrived from Skytrex.  These are grey resin mouldings that require painting.

2023 Skytrex barrels and copper beech 

Moving on to 2024 I have finally finished the fencing and added a few little people. 

2024 Aerial view looking north

2024 Aerial view looking south 

2024 A little person checking some crates from the Gilbow Railway Collection 

2024 More little people 

2024 More Ratio fences and gates 

2024 Airfix Scammell tractor unit and trailer from the 1960s, Hornby Pug and Bachmann ex LNER fruit van.

There is a video on YouTube with the Hornby Pug marshalling some vans.

Hindsight 

Why didn’t I research the layout of the Oakhill Brewery buildings back in 2011?  Certainly there is a lot of information and there are pictures now available on the internet.  One starting point is the Ashwick Parish web site:  https://www.ashwickparish.org/home/oakhill-brewery/
This web site states that pre World War I the brewery was a major producer most famously for its award-winning ‘Oakhill Invalid Stout’.  During WW1 production and sale of British beer was limited in part by the Government imposition of a heavy taxes levelled to discourage drinking.  As Ireland suffered no such limitation sales of Oakhill Stout fell behind those of Guinness.  Production levels never recovered and coupled with a disastrous fire meant that the brewery suffered a steady decline culminating in closure in 2004.  During the run down the brewery changed hands a number of times.  Latterly the main site was closed (and demolished for housing) and brewing was transferred to the Malthouse buildings two or three hundred yards west of the main brewery.  It is the Malthouse buildings that are modelled by Bachmann. 

Extract from Ordnance Survey 25 inch from 1884 showing the Malthouse building to the west of the Main Brewery Site (National Library of Scotland) 

In the early days beer was delivered by cart and later by drays using heavy horses.  Later still a Wallis & Stevens traction engine delivered the barrels to Binegar station.  At its peak the brewery produced more Stout than Guinness.  By 1904 production was between 2,000 and 2,500 barrels per week and the Brewery constructed its own narrow gauge railway to take the barrels of stout the 1km or so to the Somerset & Dorset Railway at Binegar.  The line was 2’6" gauge and operated two 0-4-0T locomotives, the ‘Mendip’ and the ‘Oakhill’.  Traces of the railway line survive.  The 1913 edition Ordnance map shows the line following field boundaries linking the main brewery with Binegar Station.  None of the old maps that I have been able to view show any rail connections to the Malthouse site.  They all confirm that the nearest standard gauge rail tracks were the Somerset and Dorset railway approximately 1km to the west.

Extract from 1913 one inch OS map (National Library of Scotland) 

Whilst the main brewery has been demolished to make way for new housing, the buildings on the Malthouse Site have been converted internally to provide housing accommodation.  Externally their appearance remains largely unchanged with time.

The Hop drying building and the Malthouse Buildings prior to conversion to housing (Google Street View). 

Aerial view of the Malthouse Buildings after conversion to housing, note the numbered car park bays.  (Bing Maps).

Nowhere is there any evidence of a canopy and a loading bay.