Building the last Main Line Railway

Rugby to Barby: gcrcs3

View of another section of the Great Central's line being excavated by steam shovel south of Rugby circa 1897. Compared to the construction methods of the railways built earlier the Great Central's London Extension was much more mechanised by using the power of the steam shovel. As seen above the steam shovel was used to excavate the cutting and would undertake several side-by-side passes, the number depending upon the reach of the machine and the width required for the cutting. However the removal of the spoil was still dependent on horses in the immediate area of the working. This was because horses provided a greater degree of flexibility in marshalling the wagons into trains than locomotives. Locomotives would in the main be used to haul trains of wagons to an area of the line which required building up into embankments. If the cutting was of a greater depth than 10 to 15 feet then the contractor would remove the earth in layers. In some places along the line this might require two or three such passes, each requiring the contractor's temporary way to be lifted and relaid.

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