steam navvy

English

steam navvy (plural steam navvies)

(historical) A steam-powered excavator used in making docks, canals, etc.
- 1940 July, “The Why and the Wherefore: Chevet Tunnel Demolition, L.M.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 430:
  Three steam navvies, 350 men, 5 locomotives, and 120 wagons, were employed to remove the one and a half million tons of debris.
- 1953 April, Colin G. Maggs, “The Hallatrow-Limpley Stoke Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 267:
  A steam navvy was very useful for filling wagons with material from a nearby colliery for a embankment at Camerton. […] Also in September, steam navvies were in use at Combe Hay and Dunkerton, and the foundations of Dunkerton Station were in a forward state.