Certainly the boiler making side of the business did not survive beyond the re-forming of the company in 1922. The skills of the boiler making department came in useful when Cafferata & Co. began using steam locomotives on their railways in the quarries. They bought their first in 1882 and ran them right into the middle of the twentieth century, buying their last in 1961. These engines would sometimes need modifying to |  Quarrymen with Steam Loco at Hawton |
In addition to selling boilers to other companies Cafferata and Co used them widely in the quarries and plaster works although at least some of them were bought in from outside firms, including Marshall’s of Gainsborough. Five stationary engines operated tramways on incline planes for transporting the gypsum from the quarries and steam power was used in the mill. This was a large undertaking; in 1867 alone, 3000 tons of coal was transported to Beacon Hill via the Great Northern Railway for use in the engines.
 Hubert Cafferata shows visitors around Hawton | As well as the boiler making side of the business, William’s 1862 investments included the original Beacon Hill Plaster Works, also known as The Great Northern Plaster Works. Beacon Hill forms an outcrop to an extensive deposit of gypsum and it was this outcrop which was worked. Although part of the
area bought by William Cafferata was un-mined, a quarry had already been
established. The top rocks, called the Cocks and |
Hens, were extracted by digging a hole about 15 ft. square, installing timbering, and digging out the rock, found in large layers, or “swells”. When one swell, which could be up to 15 ft. thick, was exhausted, the hole would be filled and the quarrymen would move to another swell. Reaching the lower rock was more precarious with the quarrymen adding rock climbing to their more traditional skills.
They would find a foothold and cling to the quarry face, then drill a hole with a chisel, put in a tot of blasting powder, tamp this down with clay, then blow it with a straw fuse. All the rock, together with the overburden, would be blown to the bottom of the quarry, where it was separated, the overburden being spread around the lower slopes of the quarry, the gypsum rock being carried by winches to the plant.
