Tenders for Station

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 318, 31 March 1928, Page 8

Tenders for Station

Early Announcement Expected Progress with Railway Works A LOFTY water tower raised at the Otahuhu railway workshops seems to symbolise the remarkable progress made on all the railway works in the vicinity of Auckland. The tower seemed to appear almost in a night, and commands a view of the new car-and-wagon shops, which cover a large area of ground.

r JVHE Otahuhu plant occupies a site that a year ago was bare paddocks. After extensive excavation and filling the site was ready for the erection of the shops, and the lay-out is now approaching completion. When the buildings are finished a great deal of machinery will have to be installed. Therefore, though the contractors for the main buildings, Messrs. Hansford and Mills, will have this section completed in May, much more will remain to be done before the plant is turning out cars and wagons. It is estimated that the main buildings are 90 per cent, fin-

ished; the dining-rooms for the workers are finished, and the social hall is well advanced. Few amenities for the comfort of employees have been omitted, and the whole plan gives evidence of careful study, and attention to the latest principles. The steel for the big job was supplied, right through, by the famous English firm of Dorman, Long and Company, and in this respect presents a contrast with the steel put info the Auckland goods shed, for which the material was supplied by about eight different concerns. At Otahuhu the preliminaries for the installation of the machinery, much of which will necessarily be cumbersome and heavy, have been started, and the electrical gear, also, is in process of installation. An energetic policy has resulted in rapid development in nearly all phases of the undertaking; it Is a good deal further advanced than corresponding works

in other parts of the Dominion, and is likely to be actually operating before the end of this year. FROM THE TOWER From the newly-erected watertower the entire lay-out is spread like a map. Though the tower is 100 feet high, and seemingly of only light construction, it is so firmly braced that even in a high wind the water in the tank, which will supply a 30-pounds pressure to the works, is not ruffled by a ripple or a tremor. While the Otahuhu job is taking shape, parallel progress is being made on the Auckland station yards job, which involves intricate re-shaping of the big city marshalling yards, along with the erection of new goods sheds, and as a crowning achievement the erection of a very large and imposing station building. The last part of the proposition is still on paper, but a definite move should be announced in a day or two. Tenders closed a fortnight ago, on March 19, and it was promised that the name of the successful tenderer should be made known by the end of a fortnight. All the tenderers were New Zealand firms, and as the cost of the job will run into big figures, the announcement from Wellington, due any t ime will be awaited with interest. The yards are at present in a state of transition. But for a small rearrangement of the goods yards the present lay-out is permanent; but it has to be supplemented by new wharf approaches, involving the re-laying of the sidings to Hellaby’s, Craig’s, the Farmers' Freezing Company and other waterfront concerns, and by the addition of permanent connections to the new inward and outward goods sheds, and the station building, when those structures are completed. WORST PART OVER Rapid progress has been made with the new outward goods shed, facing Breakwater Road, and only the interior now remains to be completed. Meanwhile the plans for the inward shed, which will be built end-on to Beach Road, are being prepared. This will be a single-storey building, with ample storage capacity to allow for the tardiness often shown by consignees in taking delivery of their goc*s. Estimating progress to date on the work in the yards, the engineer in charge of local construction works, Mr. J. Dow, said to-day that about 70 per cent, of the platelaying was completed. The worst part of this phase was over. The general public, of course, will gauge progress more by the station building than by the less conspicuous but indispensable changes wrought in the yards. When the towering walls of the new station start to rise above Beach Road, then, at last, the man in tbjp street will concede that the day improved facilities is at hand.