Great Ventilating Shaft – Kilsby Tunnel

Lithograph, view of the London and Birmingham Railway when in course of construction by J. C. Bourne, published 1839. ‘Great Ventilating Shaft – Kilsby Tunnel’. Two railway tracks move from the front of the image into the distance, underneath a large ventilation shaft and beyond into a darker tunnel. A bright light can be seen on the left track in the dark tunnel. To the sides of the track below the ventilation shaft men are gathered perhaps studying a plan to the left and a cart and timber are strewn around the open ground to the right. Some clouds of smoke/ dust are visible by the walls of the ventilation shaft on the left. Two men on a platform attached to pulleys are scaling the wall of the ventilation shaft.