Building the last Main Line Railway

Rugby to Barby: gcrcs3

This view shows the excavation of the line south of Rugby. Compared to the construction methods of the railways built earlier the GC's London Extension was much more mechanised with the use of the Steam Navvy. As seen above the steam shovel was used to excavate the cutting and would require several side-by-side passes reflecting the reach of the machine and the width of 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. Locomtives in the main would be used to haul trains of these 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 make several passes removing 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. C1894

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