17. Beaterfloor foundations. The south end of the machine house on the right. The railway wagons are standing on the main mill siding parallel to the SECR mainline which runs along the embankment behind (prominent dark band) with the pale boundary fence posts in front of it. The main mill siding became one of the two eventually running from the connection near west mill drain pump house up to New Hythe Lane, passing under no 6 mc annexe and the beaterfloor on the way. This was where Bounty and later Hornblower would be stabled, visible from passing trains. New Hythe halt did not exist at this time, though the line from Maidstone to Strood had opened (by the SER) in 1856. A wooden halt was provided adjacent to the New Hythe Lane level crossing in 1929 to serve the mill, and was rebuilt to its current form (more or less) in time for the line to be electrified in 1939 (as part of the Maidstone and Gillingham electrification project).
One wagon is another Midland Railway open, the other appears to have either E R or L R visible on its side, I’ve tried enhancing the photo but cannot see clearly the first letter, E does not make sense, but if L then it could well be an LNWR low sided open, as one is visible inside the machine house during the installation of the papermachines.
