RAILWAY WORKSHOPS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 257, 28 July 1939, Page 6

RAILWAY WORKSHOPS

Inspection By Members Of Parliament ROTARY FURNACE PLANT Upward of 50 members of Parliament, some accompanied by their wives, visited the Government Railway Workshops at Lower Hutt yesterday at the invitation of the Minister of Railways, Mr. Sullivan. Particular interest centred in the new rotary furnace plant, the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, for the utilization of steel scraps, which is expected to revolutionize foundry practice as well as effect a considerable saving in costs. At the workshops the Minister, who was accompanied by Mr. G. H. MackLev, General Manager of Railways, was met by Mr. W. D. Burton, workshops manager, Mr. R. Lindrum, acting-work-shops superintendent, and Mr. R. Bruce, metallurgist in charge of the foundry. Also present were Mr. P. Fawsotte (Belgium) and Mr. N. Lillycrop (Sydney), engineers in charge of the new furnace plant. In welcoming the members Mr. Sullivan said they would doubtless find ample of interest in the workshops, which were not only the best equipped of their kind in the country but which had also received warm praise from overseas engineers. At the request of the Minister the activities of the workshops were outlined by Mr. Mackley. The new rotary furnace plant, which consisted of two furnaces each 3J tons, would revolutionize foundry practice, he said, and would effect a substantial saving in costs. In the past it had not been practicable to use the waste steel in production, and it was not always possible to find readily a market for it. Imported pig iron had been used. This position would now be entirely reversed, the pig iron imports being replaced by the steel waste. Furthermore, fuel costs would be reduced to an almost infinitesimal figure by the use of pulverized coal instead of electric power. An additional value in the furnace lay in the fact that it could reverse the process of making steel from iron by making iron from steel. Subsequently the party, which was divided into groups, was taken over the workshops and the various phases of each department explained.

(Picture on page 7.)