CLYDE QUAY WHARF

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 41, 12 November 1937, Page 2

CLYDE QUAY WHARF

Demolition Of Elevated Crane Track

For some months now men have Open at work at intervals on the Clyde Quay Wharf, Wellington, demolishing the never-used elevated concrete track which was erected for a crane which was never provided. Provision was made for the crane when it was thought that this wharf might be used for the unloading of colliers from Newcastle and West Coast ports, but owing to the lack of railway facilities —the railways once ran to Clyde Quay—and the abandonment of the dry dock site, the idea was abandoned and, beyond the erection of the stout reinforced concrete structure to carry one side of the movable crane, the job was never completed.

Early this year it was decided by the Wellington Harbour Board that an unobstructed deck to the wharf would be of greater use than a deck divided into two halves by a series of concrete arches connected overhead. As this' structure was a very solid job, the task of removing it called for explosives, which could be used only when the wharf was free of shipping. This task has at length been accomplished. The whole of the concrete standards .were shattered by some hundreds of charges of gelignite and cut off level with the deck.

The decking, which was of woodblocks, has been .removed, and is being replaced with bitumen pavement.

An effort is being made to complete the job by November 18, when H.M.S. Achilles is to berth at Clyde Quay, but the gang may not easily manage to complete the task by then.