October 23, 2018
Beer Engines: "All Aboard!"
Dear readers, allow me to introduce you to the Milwaukee Road Beer Line! The model Beer Line is an HO scale sectional layout that the staff of Model Railroader built in 2008 and the article series was published in the January – May 2009 issues. There used to be a real railroad, the Milwaukee Road Beer Line, which ran through Riverwest until sometime in the 1980s.
The tail end of the Beer Line featured The Pabst Brewery, Blatz Brewery, and Schlitz Brewery, as represented here (courtesy of Model Railroader magazine); the black and white photo is the real Schlitz Brewery (also courtesy of Model Railroader):
While the actual Milwaukee Road Beer Line and the engines that ran along its tracks may be a thing of the past, authentic British beer engines in Milwaukee are a thing of the future! Actually, they're available now!
Our authentic British beer engine is manufactured by Harry Masons and was featured in Brewing TV - Episode 27: Ale Lang Syne. This unit is a 1/4 pint pull with a cooling jacket and is designed to clamp on to a bar surface for easy installation. Comes with plastic nut, tail piece, compression washer, and drip tray. Needed to serve from a cask but not included are: a cask tap, plastic nut, plastic tail, sealing washer, and 1/2" tubing. Optional sparkler is not included. The cooling jacket can be used by running cool water through the jacket with 3/8" tubing.