The local industry was centuries old, but has disappeared almost without trace, and so excites little interest among 'industrial archaeologists'.
Claire Barratt (born 1974) is an industrial archaeologist, steam engineer and television presenter from the UK.
British industrial archaeologists meanwhile mainly focused on the recording of the technical aspects of sites and artifacts.
Others, like Thomas R. Flagg, an industrial archaeologist, lament seeing the buildings of a bygone era demolished.
Some society members make their livings as industrial archaeologists, researching and documenting historic structures.
The clean-up had, perhaps, been a little too comprehensive; now the industrial archaeologists were happily mining the mountain for the lost treasures of the past.
The recognition of what were once mine workings, foundries, steep 'tram' tracks and level railway lines provided plenty of interest for the industrial archaeologist.
Abandoned sites are also popular among historians, preservationists, architects, archaeologists, industrial archaeologists, and ghost hunters.
French's design "swept the field," says Thomas F. Flagg, an industrial archaeologist who has studied and written about transfer bridges for three decades.
In its heyday "it was called the lifeline of the city," said Thomas R. Flagg, an industrial archaeologist who was a consultant to the locomotive project.