Weald of Kent Steam Rally

We had a great weekend at Weald of Kent Steam and Country Show.

There was a lot of interest in the story of Fowler Ploughing Engines, Linkey and Sevington, which were brought together at the Show for the first time in quarter of a century.

Relatives of our volunteer (a descendent of the Links) current owners of the two engines and their colleagues and people that had worked for the Link Brothers, or otherwise on the Romney Marsh, all discussed the history of the engines.

We will follow up all of the information gained to complete our story of the two engines.

Visitors also told us about using threshing machines, like our model Humphries, and Field Marshall tractors.

Linkey and Sevington

K7 steam ploughing engines 14257 and 14258 were built by John Fowler & Co in 1916 and purchased by Pickering and Higgins. They were delivered new to Eastbridge, Kent on 20^th May of that year.

The engines were sold as a pair for ploughing by the two engine method devised by John Fowler. A balanced plough is hauled between two traction engines which move across the ends of the field at each turn of the plough.

14257 and 14258 were purchased in 1925 by Link brothers, Harry, Bert and Horace.

The Link Bros used them, on their own farms and contracted them to other farms in Kent until 1943. They lay idle for 14 years beside the Newchurch to Romney Road, following which they changed hands several times being split up in about 1998.

Model Threshing Machine

Our model of a Humphries SFA 1 threshing machine and the Field Marshall Tractor that is with it were built by apprentices at Stanhay, agricultural engineers, when the company was based in Ashford.