Building the last Main Line Railway

Catesby Tunnel and Viaduct: gcrcs151

Another type of headgear employed above a shaft in order to extract soil as well as lower materials and men. Taken on a wet winter's day around 1897, this is a view across a churned landscape towards the large timber headgear which stood at the top of one of the shafts sunk during the construction of Catesby tunnel. From here, bricks and other materials could be lowered to the army of labourers working below ground: the buckets no doubt returning to the surface laden with spoil and debris.

back