Catalogue description Photographs of Ashford Locomotive Works

This collection covers wagon building at Ashford after the Second World War, with views of plant, production lines, components and completed wagons; also images of wagons ordered by overseas railways, including vehicles built for Kenya, Yugoslavia, and Sudan.

The collection is part listed.

Ashford Locomotive Works

• Railway transport

Ashford Locomotive Works was built for the South Eastern Railway Company in 1847 and was extended in the early years of the twentieth century on amalgamation with the London, Chatham & Dover Railway. Engines built at Ashford included the Wainwright Ds and, following the grouping of 1923 Ashford built steam locomotives, diesels and electrics for the Southern Railway. The last engine, a diesel shunter, was built at the works in 1952, and although Ashford continued to maintain and service engines for a further ten years this ceased in 1962, when all Southern Region locomotive repair work was transferred to Eastleigh. Ashford Works was then devoted entirely to the production and maintenance of rolling stock, building wagons both for British and overseas railways.