Building the last Main Line Railway

Catesby Tunnel and Viaduct: gcrcs88

This ramshackle timber structure was built to hold the headgear that ferried men and materials up and down shaft No.7 of Catesby tunnel. The wooden hut on the right of the picture housed the steam engine that powered the shaft's winch.

Note the large stack of bricks piled beside the contractor's temporary railway, and the two Griff mineral wagons: the Nuneaton coal mine was clearly providing the coal required for the steam machinery used in the tunnel's construction. T. Oliver & Son was the contractor employed to build this section of the Line (Contract No.4, Rugby to Woodford).

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