Building the last Main Line Railway

Catesby Tunnel and Viaduct: gcrcs122

Photographed around 1897, these two navvies are standing by one of the ventilation shafts which were built to allow the rising smoke and steam produced by locomotives to escape from Catesby tunnel.

They were also used during the construction of the tunnel providing access to drive the bores and deliver materials and men. A quite imposing structure in its own right, this brick chimney close to the tunnel's southern portal is still standing today.

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