2-847-781 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

A view of the construction of the Birmingham to Preston Motorway (M6), showing a 110 Ruston Bucyrus diesel/electric excavator carrying out the excavation of a mixture of marl and sandstone in the Keele cutting. In the album, the typed caption below the photograph reads 'Excavating a mixture of marl and sandstone in the Keele cutting. A 110 Ruston Bucyrus diesel/electric excavator. This machine weighs 153 tons and has a bucket capacity of 4 1/2 cubic yards and is capable of excavating up to 300 cubic yards per hour. Two 4" Halco Stenwick drills can be seen drilling shot holes for the provision of blasting charges to prepare the excavation for the 110 R.B.' The Keele cutting extended from the Market Drayton Railway Line to Springpool Wood. Excavation of the site had to be roughly 25 feet in depth and structures to be built on this section of the motorway included three culverts, Structure 352, a cattle creep and Structure 354, a single underbridge at the A531.