Hi all hope you are all doing well This is a bit of an odd topic but does anyone know if Wilsons or any other companies in the UK ever transported snuff by train To cut a long story short I want to create a small model railway with my dad and thought it would be cool to have a snuff mill on it rather than a paper mill or colliery etc but I do not know if any manufacturers ever did ship by rail in the UK Does anyone know what sort of weekly tonnage Wilsons or anyone would have been producing in say the 1950s (when rail would still have been preferable to road for many companies) Even if no-one ever did I will probably still do it but it would be interesting if anyone knows What makes me wonder is the size of tins of snuff etc would they ever have warranted haulage by rain or would a van or lorry have been sufficient All responses welcome and hopefully someone can shed some light on this Thanks Bill
Why don’t you ask Wilson’s directly? They are on Facebook, or you could email or even phone them!!
I have no idea but that’s awesome.
I am going to try calling them for sure but they wont be open till Tuesday and I am impatient lol but the whole idea has piqued my interest about other companies too now so if anyone knows anything please post 
If I get anywhere asking Wilsons direct Ill update on here
Railroad Mills / Helme Snuff Mills in Helmetta (New Jersey), maybe?
https://www.thehistorygirl.com/2012/12/tobacco-town-george-w-helme-snuff-mill.html
Thanks for all the replies everyone Got a speedy email response from Wilsons who informed me that they have never used rail and to their knowledge neither have any other mills in the UK So its plan B and the layout will be a fictitious brewery instead
Well by my own knowedge most likely none of tobacco manufactures did not owned any railway vans (boxcars). But definately raw tobacco could be transported by railway to bonded warehouse (or nearest railway station). Same applies to finished tobacco product, that was transported as general cargo on rails.
Jack
@jackgrave thanks thats good info
A bit late in the day to reply, but …
The first line (as you are probably aware) was the Stockton-Darlington route of 1825 followed in 1830 by the opening of the Manchester-Liverpool line. Sheffield was included in the rapidly increasing network in 1838. By 1847 the Midland line was completed and in 1850 the Sheffield-Lincolnshire line was finished. All these lines were used extensively by both Sharrow and Westbrook Mill.
The Wilsons of Sharrow were quick to see the importance of railways and invested heavily in them, making huge profits. Before then they used the canal terminus at Tinsley for both receiving tobacco from the bonded warehouse and for transporting some of the finished product. They also used firms of carriers for horse-drawn transportation. The railways deprived carriers (such as Thomas & James Pickford), many of whom went out of business. Canals and those who worked them also suffered with the expansion of the rail network.
Until the Second World War Sharrow,had no direct accounts. Their snuff was sold almost entirely to the wholesale trade. ‘100 lbs of snuff, cash with order’ was the minimum amount one could order. Consequently the ledgers show a small number of accounts, some of which were very large. Distribution via railway to dealers became the norm for more than a century. From these customers the snuff would find its way to retail outlets by whatever transport was available – horse-drawn transport if no branch line was available.
I would have to re-read J.W. Dunderdale’s history of the Kendal tobacco industry to see what mention is made of railways, but I do know that much early transportation was via ship from Whitehaven and Workington.
Not according to ‘The Wilsons of Sharrow: The Snuff-Makers of Sheffield’ by Mark Chaytor.