Browse the videos that interest you below and click on the video thumbnail to open the link. Most open in YouTube, some on other channels, for copyright reasons.
Videos are listed by date of the material that they cover, or publication date. Oldest first. General-interest videos (not Express) are shown like this.
Explore and perhaps follow our own Express Dairy Tales YouTube channel where there are around 50 unique videos about Express Dairy over the years.
View of Vauxhall Station with 17-gallon conical churns on a train journey from London Waterloo, probably in the 1920s. Although the narrator, John Huntley, suggests the churns are from Express Dairy at Nine Elms, I think it more likely they are for United Dairies, who used Vauxhall as a railhead in later times. From ‘Down The Line Rail’ Facebook Group.
Scammell Lorries promotion 1957
A factory promotional film from Scammell Lorries Ltd introduces the Scarab to the commercial haulage world. Its name was made up from Scammell and the horse, Arab.
Also includes footage showing horse-drawn operation which the Scarab aimed to replace.
Thanks to the Classic Vehicle Channel.
Churn Collection in the Dorset Snow in the severe 1962/3 winter, when rural roads were blocked and farmers had to take their milk to the dairies and creameries by tractor and trailer. (4.5 minutes, silent, archive film through the Windrose Rural Media Trust).
Video includes extracts from the full cine film that include loading, travelling and unloading the many types of vehicles used by Express Dairy in the early 1960's... milk floats, tankers, rail tanks, milk and egg transport trucks, etc. Locations include Chesterfield, Glasgow, Manchester, London, Staplemead Creamery (Frome), Seaton Junction (Devon), South Morden Dairy, and Swanley (Kent).
Last delivery from South Morden 1992
South Morden Processing dairy opened in 1954 as a showpiece dairy and supplied much of London, Surrey and Kent with milk until its closure in 1992. Dave Fane was one of a team of HGV drivers taking milk from the processing dairy to the retail depots for distribution to customers. This is his last delivery trip on return from Aylesford Depot (Kent), before taking redundancy and the closure of the plant.
Dr David Turner's fascinating and detailed account 'On the Rails' - of milk transport by rail from his 'Tracks Through Time' series (5) - The development of London's rail-based milk supply from c.1840-1914.
‘Milk for London: A History of Milk Trains in the UK' from Model Railways Unlimited is a fascinating video about the history of milk transport, illustrated with model railway operations of a very high standard. (33 minutes)
The Milk Train – United Dairies
‘The Milk Train – United Dairies’ from the ‘Doncaster Drawn’ Facebook Group, charts the history of the transport of milk from the 19th Century onwards with particular emphasis on the LMS 6-wheel milk tanker, as preserved at the National Railway Museum in York.
The Milk Float is a comprehensive history of electric delivery vehicles and floats. Smiths and Wales & Edwards staff are interviewed, the adoption by dairy companies in place of the horse is covered, and the eventual decline of the milk float with the reduction of doorstep delivery is discussed. Express Dairy floats can be seen at 6:55, 11:52 and 13:34. A BBC Perpetual Motion Documentary.