Building the last Main Line Railway

Rugby to Barby: gcrcs108

A temporary water pump installed beside a line of contractor's temporary railway at Caves Inn, Warwickshire. Working to drive the pump beneath this somewhat ramshackle wooden shelter is a portable steam engine. The water seen exiting from the chute would have entered a ditch which would have been dug to the nearest stream or other place where the water could be discarded.

A bridge can be seen in the background on the left indicating the contractor's temporary way was laid to the side of the excavation and the pump was lifting water from the bottom of the cutting. Note too the smartly dressed child posing with the navvy, and the bicycle propped against the timber frame.

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