Engine’s return would be boost for rail town status

The return of a historic scale model steam locomotive to Ashford has been delayed after museum curators found asbestos inside it.

Fo r mer r a i l way works employee Martin Young has led a campaign to bring back the train called Ashford to the town after years spent at the National Railway Museum in York.

Mr Young hopes that once the asbestos is removed it can be brought back to Kent. The fiveinch gauge model was sent there in 1981 after it was snubbed by council officials in Ashford who said they couldn’t find a suitable home for it.

The campaign has been supported by Peter Gibson, whose brother Maurice worked as a fitter in Ashford but was killed in a shunting accident in Hoo in 1982.

Mr Young started as an apprentice fitter at Ashford’s Newtown rail works in 1967, and in 2010 was in talks about bringing the model back, with it possibly going on display in the new Gateway library in Church Road or at Ashford International Station.

In that time, a new model Former Ashford Railway Works employees pictured with a five-inch gauge model based on an existing industrial design, but modified with a new cab, and tender. Right, model steam train Ashford town railway centre at the former Klondyke works has been granted planning permission by the council, and could be an option for a new home for the model.

Mr Young says the 15-year campaign to repatriate The Ashford will go on. He said: “It was intended the model would remain in Ashford, but no home could be found. About 15 years ago an initiative, supported by the National Railway Museum, was made to repatriate Ashford. There was no commitment or interest shown by Network Rail, and the Kent County Council library manager said there was not enough space or security to display it.” He said that the model’s return would be a fitting gesture, given Ashford’s historic and future status as a railway town.