EXCURSIONS 1 937 



Three excursions v/ere arranged for the sijinmer of 1957, the 

 first being to Ashford Locomotive WorKs which started in 1846 when 

 the Directors of the South Eastern Railway purchased 185 acres of 

 land in the area. The next step v/as houses for the men; also 

 workshops in -w'hich the first locomotive was started in 1848 and 

 the industrial prosperity of Ashford founded. 



Members v;ere welcomed by a guide, v;ho conducted the party 

 through fourteen shops in each of which some work connected with 

 the repair of locomotives or the manufacture of component parts 

 was in h^nd. Processes were explained and questions answered. 



Each year about fifteen hundred boiler tubes are de-scaled 

 and re-conditioned in the Tube shop. 



Locomotives are stripped in the Erecting shop and parts sent 

 to various shops to be renewed, cleaned and repaired before being 

 returned for erectiono In this shop and in the Boiler shop are 

 overhead travelling cranes capable of lifting from thirty to 

 fifty tonso 



In each shop men were employed on skilled but dirty work - 

 work absolute^ necessary to keep transport of people and goods 

 safely in motion. 



After tea in Ashford members rode to Hothf ield Common, Here 

 under the leadership of Miss V, Day and Dr. Scott they Vi/andered in 

 search of i^re plants for which the Comjuon is famous, 



xln hour's ramble ended, botanists v/ith specimens returned to 

 the Woolpack to partake of coffee before returning to Folkestone 

 via Ashford By-Pass, 



SISSINGHURST 



Sissinghurst visited on June 22nd lies in the centre of the 

 Weald and is noted for the Castle built by Sir John Baker from 

 the fortune he made by persecuting the Protestants during the 

 Marian Persecution, He held high offices in the State, became 

 a Protestant when Elizabeth ascended the throne, married a 

 daughter of Thomas Sackville and was created Earl of Dorset. 



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