Building the last Main Line Railway

Catesby Tunnel and Viaduct: gcrcs155

View of the cutting being widened by steam shovel at the northern portal of Catesby tunnel. The entrance is yet to be completed and is shrouded in a temporary timber facade. A line of empty wagons used to carry bricks into the tunnel stand on the temporary track nearest to the camera. On the right of the picture is one of the mighty Ruston steam shovels: its makeshift wooden cab gives the machine a rather clumsy and dilapidated appearance, but these formidable machines represented a significant advance in railway construction and were arguably the contractor's greatest asset.

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