Page:Walker (1888) The Severn Tunnel.djvu/174

Rh Whereas the length itself had been taken out in a fortnight, it took more than two months to take it out the second time.

Towards the end of February, Sir John Hawkshaw for the first time passed through the whole of the heading under the river. The work was then to be seen in all stages of progress. The old timbering, which had been put in before 1879, was also to be seen; and the points where the roof had fallen in, in consequence of insufficient timbering.

There were at that time about ten break-ups at work, half of them in hard rock, and half of them, on the east side of the river, in the red marl.

Early in April the brush electric light system was brought into operation on the works on the Gloucestershire side of the river. This was a 12-light system, and was used for lighting the top and the bottom of the pit, the spoil-bank on which the skips were tipped, and the length of tunnel where the arch was completed; each light was of 2,000 candle-power.

Shortly afterwards, a 40-light system was started on the Monmouthshire side of the river. The cable from this dynamo was 5 miles long, lighting the yard at Sudbrook, and the top of the pits there, the roads leading to the works, the top and the bottom of the pits at 5 miles 4 chains, and the top and bottom of the pits at both Marsh and Hill; and wherever the arch of the tunnel was completed for