Building the last Main Line Railway

Catesby Tunnel and Viaduct: gcrcs148

This is the timber framed headgear at the top of shaft no. 8, the largest to be sunk during the construction of the Great Central's Catesby tunnel. Note the wooden centrings on the right of the picture: these would be used to provide the shape of the tunnel arch.

Piled beside the contractor's temporary railway - waiting to be lowered to the army of navvies working below - are some of the thirty million bricks which are estimated to have been used for the tunnel's construction.

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