An Electric “Navvy”

What is claimed to be the first electrically driven navvy in the world, for colliery work, at any rate, has been installed at Cadeby Main Colliery.

The machine is an Arrol – Whittaker Peyton, and has been specially built for the Denaby and Cadeby Main Colliery Co Ltd, by Sir William Arrol and Co Ltd of Glasgow.

The navvy has a four ton lift, and can be manipulated by one man, whereas a steam navvy of a similar capacity would require nine or 10 men in attendance.

It is being used for scooping coal from the stacks into wagons, and working at full pressure, could shift about a thousand tons in eight hours. The derrick has a caterpillar or “tank” undercarriage, and the “navvy” can be travel quite easily over rough and uneven ground.