the arrival of the railway promoted the growth of industrial agricultural businesses. in the middle of the 19th century chippenham was a major centre for the production of dairy and ham products; this led, later, to nestlé and matteson's having factories in the town centre. the railway also led to the growth of railway engineering works in chippenham: the first of these was roland brotherhood in 1842. a variety of companies then took over part or all of the business on the site, until in 1935 westinghouse brake and signal company ltd took over the site fully. the signalling side of the business remains at the chippenham site and is now owned by siemens rail automation group; the brakes business was taken over by the german company knorr-bremse, and is based at a site in nearby melksham.