A belated response to the previous thread re Henry Jones, Team Owner. Sent because readers expressed appreciation for the content thus far. I've received the following from Stewart Squires who knows much more about this sort of thing than me. *I believe that the contractors owned large numbers of skilled horses for work such as that outlined on page 69 of Building a Railway. [Building a Railway: Bourne to Saxby, Stewart Squires & Ken Hollamby (eds), Lincoln Record Society, 2009]. There would not be the same need for training of horses for general haulage so they would be hired locally. Horses owned would be a drain on resources between jobs but were worth retaining. Navvies with the specialized operational skills would be numerous, I expect, and as usual hired per contract. So you can expect the workforce to include itinerant navvies plus a mix of locally hired men and horses who would just work for as long as the contract needed.* >From Page 69: [A photograph shows the building of an embankment] << The operation of tipping was rather alarming by present day standards. Usually, the wagons would be propelled by the locomotive to a point about 200 feet short of the end of the line. Here the wagons were detached individually and a horse attached to the first one. The driver would put him to a gallop, running alongside, and holding him by the head. When about ten yards away from the tipping place, the driver would loosen the horse from the wagon and horse and driver would jump to one side. At the same time the tail board at the front of the wagon would be dropped by a second man jerking up a securing hook. A wooden sprag about three feet long and pointed at both ends would be thrust between the spokes of the rear wheels. The wagon would be brought to a sudden stop, the body would tip up from the wheels and the load discharged. Timing was the key but it was not uncommon for the wagon to drop down the embankment along with its contents. After each tip the ground would be levelled by navvies using spades. >> Very hairy! And no Health and Safety. Navvies - Respect! Ruth