[5] Following the success of the Aveling and Porter business, Thomas rose to local prominence, first on the council and then between 1869 and 1870 as Mayor of Rochester.

[5] Not surprisingly (given the location of the Invicta Works) he was a strong advocate of improving the river bank at Strood, which was at that time marsh.

[11] Ten year later in 1881 the census locates him at Raleigh, Fox Grove Road, Beckenham with the family and servants as before plus his widowed sister-in-law Mary Studer.

Aveling had been concerned by the slow pace of agricultural labour arising from the "ancient and defective construction" of the machines.

He compared using six horses to pull such an engine as "six sailing vessels towing a steamer" which was "an insult to mechanical science".

He was the sole agent in Kent for Fowler's Steam Plough, for Burgess & Key's Patent Reaping Machines.

Inside was "Aveling's Patent Locomotive Steam Thrashing Train" with engine, threshing machine and straw carrier.

The firm exhibited their Patent Agricultural Locomotive Engine for Threshing, Ploughing and General Traction Purposes at Battersea in 1862.

In 1870 Aveling introduced horn plates which were extensions of the outer firebox and which carried all the motion, cranks and gearing.

[24] At the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) meeting at Leicester in 1868 Aveling showed "Little Tom", a small engine fitted with a crane.

By 1874 the catalogue listed a 2-ton crane engine with a rear differential to permit tight cornering without disconnecting either wheel.

[29] Avelings were now making cement manufacturing machinery (including concrete mixers), lamp posts and girders, the latter of which can be seen in the roof of the covered slip at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

In 1899 Avelings turned out "one large road engine per day", paid £70,000 pa in wages locally using "220 lathes and other tools".

[30] However, in 1900 the Public Health Engineer magazine stated that "modern American machinery is rapidly replacing the older forms of lathes and shaping and planing machines".

[31] In 1901 Aveling took part in a joint venture with Vickers Sons and Maxim to build a steel casting facility.

By 1903 Vickers were reporting poor results due to insufficient orders (in particular field guns) and in March 1904 pulled out, the works subsequently closing in October 1904.

[32] In the years prior to the First World War the Pelican Yard was built up and used for the assembly and testing of petrol engines for rollers and lorries.

[34] In the aftermath Aveling and Porter combined with Barford & Perkins in 1933 to form Aveling-Barford which continued to make steam and motor rollers.

[35] The rescue, part-funded by Ruston & Hornsby of Lincoln, involved the firm moving to Grantham, Lincolnshire, from the Rochester site.

After the Second World War the company continued to make motor and steam rollers as well as expanding into other construction equipment.

The company is based in Grantham, and still trades under the name Barford which uses a modern version of the Aveling-Barford "prancing horse" logo.

These vessels pre-date the great London train sheds of St. Pancras, King's Cross and Paddington—traditionally understood to be the oldest and largest metal framed structures of the time.

Their advantages were that they were cheap to manufacture (and to design in the first place) and they could be operated with minimal training by someone who was familiar with traction engines.

Early examples had used modified railway locomotives mounted on a variety of wheels to traverse soft land.

[58][59] Steam sapper number 1 was required to operate a 36-inch (910 mm) circular saw, grindstone, lathe and joiner as well as drawing 5 tons up a 1 in 12 slope.

[59] During 1869 military exercises in Dover included drawing a battery of guns from the railway station up to the castle, a high, steep hill.

[61] Towing a total of 13 tons on two "lorries" (trailers), it left the Rochester works, ascending the 1 in 12 Star Hill, and delivering the load to Chatham dockyard where it was driven across rough ground of cinder, bricks, clinker, stones and iron designed to test the rubber blocks.

It then proceeded to 1 in 10 Chatham Hill which was described as slippery, and it had to detach the last trailer, and ascended towing the other two (12 tons 6 cwt).

W. Awdry and the TV series based on the books: George the Steamroller, and Fergus the Railway Traction Engine.

The road roller used in the 1953 comedy film The Titfield Thunderbolt, which has a duel with a railway locomotive, was one of their engines (works number 5590, Maid Marion).