WORLD’S BIG JOBS

Shannon News, 21 September 1926, Page 4

WORLD’S BIG JOBS

WHAT BRITISH ENGINEERS DO. SIR W. ARROL AND CO.’S RECORD Imperial sentiments apart, it is interesting to note the standing and quality of British firms which New Zealand Government, contracts are big enough to attract. Huge Engineering' Undertakings. Few people have an idea of thi magnitude of the Petone workshops jcb, but it is merely one of the many similar contracts which Sir William Arrol and Co., Utd., have undertaken with a success readily understandable f when some of their bigger engineering works are mentioned. The Tay, Forth Sunderland, New Southwark, and Tower (London) bridges, Royal Albert Dock gates, Rhodesian railways (Including workshops), and hundreds of big plant erections of all kinds, though each had its engineering problems, are overshadowed by the mag nitude of the Welland Ship Canal, i project bigger in its way than Panama,, which the firm has now in hand. This canal will take the largest shipcfrom the sea to the great American lakes. Until the building of the Que. bee bridge over the St. Lawrence, ,witfc 1 its span of 1800 ft., the Forth Bridge ‘with its 1760 ft. span, was the world’a j biggest bridge, and it still remains one : of the world’s. engineering marvels. Local Locomotive Construction. I It is not surprising that the Ne I *- Zealand Government should have acc.e pted the tender of such a firm, be ) cause the new railways workshops at j I'etone will embody the very latest enj gmeering facilities for locomotive con. i struction and repairs. As a consequence most of the locomotive building will be done in the Dominion. In the past this has not been possible. No engineering plant in either this country or Australia will be quite so mod cm in its equipment, which will completely revolutionise many methods in use at present. .With the prospect o' new and modern plant, needed adu»- ' tions to the workshops plant have been put off, and the best use made of th 1 i existing machinery in the meantime, ! and of course the best work could i r.ot be expected in the circumstance.? A Giant Chess Board. An enormous improvement both in the quality of the work and in tin output will follow the completion of the new works. The locomotive erecting and repair shop has space for the rimultaneouas construction or repair of 27 locomotives, if this should become necessary, and the lay-out of the entire boiler plate, locomotive, ami machinery shops is such that the buildings can be extended at any time without interference with the existing plans. In both the boiler plate and j locomotive erecting shops are 100-too cierliead travelling cranes.* The shori lines on which locomotives are bui’i run across the long building, and when it is necessary to move a locomotive, whether completed and full of weight, or in pg'rts, from one posv t.on to another, the giant crane wm pass one over the other as a chess ptayer does his Pieces.

The machine shop will comprise th’ latest models of time-saving railway machinery, and special arrangement .‘or the comfort of the staff will make the Petone shops as modern in this respect as the largest of American o/ European concerns. The lavatory, washroom, and locker accommodation, with the dining room, will enable every member of the staff to wad; into and out of the shops in his street clothes, free of the grime of his occupation, an improvement that win doubtless be greatly appreciated.