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Dear List, I have recently excavated the portal of a tunnel which carried the lower part of the inclined plane of the Devon Great Consols railway at Morwellham in West Devon. About 15 feet inside the tunnel is a wider chamber, with two massive granite blocks, 4ft x 2ft wide and 7ft high, angled outwards on either side. These had vertical posts bolted to them, and possibly had heavy timbers across them. It has been suggested that these supported, and formed ground anchors to counteract, a large diameter horizontal pulley in the roof of the tunnel, round which a 'continuous' haulage cable was run. The suggestion is that the steam winch at the top of the incline hauled cable from one parallel drum to another, via the whole length of the incline; the counterbalance pulley being the one at the bottom. The wagons could have used a 'mane and tail' system with separate wire or hemp ropes, bolted or clamped to the main cable (which was 4in thick) at one end of the incline and unfastened at the top. Has anyone seen/had experience of this system? And where can I read descriptions of examples and their operation? Also, where was it first used? This operation on the DGC incline seems to be a later modification, perhaps of the late 1860s or 1870s, to a conventional incline, first opened in 1859. Incidentally, anyone wishing to look at the excavations are welcome - they are still open, and there is an explanatory board alongside. Robert Waterhouse