Volume Eleven - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - some more aspects - The Steam Navvy and the Dock Extension of 1883 . . .

A good deep gullet offers as a rule the most advantage, be cause the whole of the semicircle in front of the machine can be cut round, and not merely part as in the side-face cutting ; there is better facility for changing the wagons smartly, and there is a shorter average distance for the jib to swing through in order to get over the wagon. All these things economise time and increase the duty, for a few minutes' loss now and then means fewer cubic yards got out in the day.

Men Employed. — How small this loss is permitted to be depends even more upon good management than upon the system employed ; and of equal importance is the skill of the driver and wheelman on the machine. From the nature of their duties it will be apparent that they must work well together ; and good sense and smartness are necessary for obtaining the best results.

When handy and suitable men are chosen, their training is soon accomplished ; indeed, by the time the excavating is in full working order, it will generally be found that the necessary dexterity has been acquired.

The driver takes the lead, and is usually paid so much extra for each wagon filled per day beyond a stipulated number. If he fills 230 wagons, for instance, he receives his day's pay ; but if 280 wagons, 1¼ day's pay ; it is thus to his interest to take care no time is lost. Besides these two there is a fireman to stoke and clean.

The rest of the help depends upon the cutting. As a rule there may be added one ganger and eight men, to act as plate-layers and lay the roads for the wagons and navvy, and to trim the slopes ; one man on the top to break down the loose earth, and either one or two horses with their drivers, or say a total of fifteen men and two horses.

Where the excavation is extra deep and of very hard material, another man may be required on the bank above, and perhaps extra help on the slopes. With these exceptions the labour remains fairly the same, whatever be the kind of stuff.

For dock work, where the slopes do not require finishing till the side is reached, the labour will be proportionately somewhat less than in a railway cutting, and nine to twelve men may be taken as the average. When blasting is necessary, extra help has of course to be reckoned for.