2-799-046 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Opening of the Maidstone Branch Railway, 1844. '...a new branch railway, from the Paddock-wood station of the South-eastern line, put the town in close and easy communication with the metropolis [London], or the north, and with Folkestone and the continent, or the south...a special train, richly dressed with flags and flowers, left the Bricklayers' Arms...and, proceeding on its way, reached the Paddock-wood, a distance of forty-five miles, in little more than one hour and a half'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V.