RAILWAY MACHINERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 133, 7 June 1926, Page 15

RAILWAY MACHINERY.

THE WORKSHOPS PROGRAMME.

CONTRACTS lET FOR £150,000.

NEARLY ALL TO BRITISH MAKERS.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Minister of Railways (Hon. J. G. Coates) has approved of the recommendations of the Tenders Committee for approximately £150,000 worth of machinery for railway workshops. This is the first year's programme, which has as its objective bringing the railway shops equipment up-to-date in three years. The list of successful tenderers is lengthy, as so many machines are needed. Hundreds of specifications had to be prepared to indicate clearly what was needed by railway engineers, and the big task of considering the tenders was undertaken by a special committee, comprising Mr. C. S. Lynde (chief mechanical engineer), E. T. .Spidy (production engineer), R. P. Angus (locomotive engineer, who recently completed a tour of railways abroad, when he paid special attention to modern workshops machinery), and A. E. P. Walworth (workshops manager, Petone). Electrical equipment in connection with this machinery was dealt with by an electrical advisory committee: Messrs. F. Kißsell (chief electrical engineer, Public Works), G. A. Gavey (electrical engineer), and G. W. Wyles (assistant signal engineer, railways).

Imperial Preference and British Conservatism. Imperial preference constituted a principle on which the selection committee worked, the preference rate being added to non-British tenders. Only a small proportion of the machinery will be ordered outside Britain, some few lines, going to United States manufacturers and to Canada. A considerable proportion of foreign machinery offered was submitted through British firms. The committee reported to the Minister that it had considerable difficulty in many cases in finding British firms willing to meet the specifications. "There was a marked tendency to offer us what they made regularly, instead of what we wanted, _ though what was specified was in line with railway workshop practice in most parts of the world."

Machinery for Immediate Use. ln reporting on machinery requirements to make the equipment up to modern standards, the production engineer, Mr. E. T. Spidy, divided the machinery into three groups. In the first group, which has now been ordered, are the* machines required for economic reasons to replace obsolete machinery, and also additional equipment required for modern shop practice. In view of the extra output which will thus be obtained, these machines are to be installed in existing shops at Auckland, Petone, Addington, Hillside and Eastown, tho latter workshop being converted into a manufacturing centre for all points and crossings needed by the railways. The new machines can be transferred to the new workshops when these are built at Penrose and Petone. .Most of them do not require special foundations, and they, are independently driven by motor, so' that installation expense will be limited to electrical connections. The second year's programme will c~v*r a similar range of machinery tf that now being ordered, but the third year's allotment will include the heavier machinery which is to be set up in the new workshops. Machinery comprised in the present tenders will begin to come to hand within four months, and the complete supply furnished by January next. There are 127 separate tenders, all of which are placed with British firms, with the exception of ten contracts to the United States and one to a Canadian firm. The heaviest machinery is all being manufactured in Britain.