End of line for railway workshops at East Town

Press, 17 October 1986, Page 4

End of line for railway workshops at East Town

PA Wanganui Wanganui’s East Town railway workshops reached the end of the line yesterday — but there is the possibility of a new industry moving in. . The closing of the workshops after more than 100 years as one of Wanganui’s major industries is something of an anticlimax after months of speculation on the future of the workshops. The Railways Corporation announced last month that the workshops would officially close yesterday, but most staff were sent home last Friday on “passive leave.” Meantime, although the

workshops will be officially closed, some activity will continue there. The workshops manager, Mr Jack Morris, said about 40 staff would remain for an indefinite time. Among them was a decommissioning team, 12 tarpaulin-shop staff, and some apprentices. “We do not know the full extent of the decommissioning yet — I think it depends on who moves in here,” he said. “We have started to move out several machines which are going to other workshops, but we do not know what else has to be done.” The tarpaulin shop is to remain at East Town, at

least for the time being. The corporation announced last month that the tarpaulin shop would remain in Wanganui as part of the “Wanganui workshops” based on the Aramoho plant zone. If the entire East Town site was taken over by a private company, the tarpaulin shop would be relocated at another site in Wanganui, the corporation said. The apprentices will be able to finish their time, either with the Railways in Wanganui or elsewhere, or with another employer, because they are under contract to the corporation.