Ashford railway works

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Ashford railway works was in the town of Ashford in the county of Kent in England.

It was built by the South Eastern Railway in 1845 moving from New Cross in London. The Locomotive Superintendent was James I. Cudworth. In 1853 he built the first of ten 'Hastings' class 2-4-0 locomotives. In 1855 he built two freight engines. An unusual feature was a dual firebox, each side fired alternately. Over the next twenty years, he built 53 freight locomotives at Ashford and around 80 larger ones with six foot driving wheels, plus the first eight of his sixteen express passenger locos, the 'Mails', with seven foot drivers. He also produced four classes of 0-6-0 tank locomotives.

In 1878 James Stirling, the brother of Patrick Stirling of the Great Northern Railway took over and introduced a deal of standardisation. He believed in the benefits of the pony truck and produced a class of 4-4-0 with six foot drivers and his '0' class freight with five foot drivers. He also produced over a hundred 0-4-4 tank engines, and in 1898 the 'F' Class.

In 1898 the railway amalgamated with the London Chatham and Dover Railway to become the South Eastern and Chatham Railway and Ashford became the major locomotive works for the new company. The new Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon Superintendent was Harry H.S. Wainwright who produced a series of successful and elegant designs at Ashford. Wainwright's tender engines built at Ashford included 0-6-0 freight locomotives of the 'C' class, and the 4-4-0 passenger engines of the 'D' and 'E' classes. His tank engines built at the works included the versatile and long-lived 0-4-4 'H' class, the larger 0-6-4 'J' class and the diminutive 0-6-0 tank engines of the 'P' class.

Wainwright was followed by R.E.L.Maunsell, who introduced the ultimately unsuccessful 'K' class 2-6-4 mixed traffic tank locomotives (which were later rebuilt into 2-6-0 tender locomotives), and the useful 'N' class 2-6-0 mixed traffic locomotives in 1917.

Following the amalgamation of the SECR into the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923, most new locomotive design and construction was transferred to Eastleigh works. However, more of the 'N' class locomotives were produced at the works, and parts for 'K' class locos that were assembled by Armstrong Whitworth of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1942 the works also built twenty of the Bulleid 'Q1' class 0-6-0.

Ashford works continued producing new steam locomotives until 1944, but in 1937 it was involved with in the English Electric company in the construction of three experimental diesel-electric shunters. After the war, the works began manufacturing a further series of 350h.p. 0-6-0 diesel-electric shunters. Between 1951 and 1954 the works also built three diesel-electric passenger locomotives numbered 10201-3. In 1962 locomotive production and repairs shifted to Eastleigh.

From 1850, it had provided all the company's new carriages and wagons. This continued with continental ferry vans, Freightliner vehicles, merry-go-round coal hopper wagons and the Cartic4 articulated car transporter. It was one of BREL's main wagon works, but as trade declined it operated on an ever-decreasing scale until it shut down in 1982.

[edit] References

• Simmons, J., (1986) The Railway in Town and Country, Newton Abott: David and Charles
• Larkin, E.J., Larkin, J.G., (1988) The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823-1986, Macmillan Press
• Bradley, D.L., (198o) The locomotive history of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society