MORE WORKSHOPS. MAIN TRUNK BENEFITS PETONE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 25, 31 January 1911, Page 3

MORE WORKSHOPS. MAIN TRUNK BENEFITS PETONE.

£20,000 ON EXTENSIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS. The opening of the Main Trunk railway to Auckland has had a far-reaching effect all 'over the North Island. How far it reaches, or in the future will reach, it is impossible to sav^ just now, with the line only open a couple of years. But one piace that has directly benefited by the new through route, strange to say, is Petone. The enormous development in traffic over the extended railway system has demanded an equal expansion ir locomotive and rolling stock. The taking over of the Manawatu .railway and its workshops has also contributed to the main effect— which is to make the Petone Railway Workshops one of the busiest places in New Zealand for the past three years. What with new engines, new carriages, new trucks, and ■<, multitude of repairs, it has been found extremely difficult with the present equipment for Petone to do full service. Iherefore, a large scheme of extension and improvement is being carried out at the- suburban works. Over £20,000 is being spent m extending and enlarging the different shops there and installing new machinery. So it may well be imagined that Petone workshops are a genuine hive of industry at the present time. The new buildings are partly erected, but & great deal remains to be done, and it will be some months before the works have been, completely reorganised under the new plan. FEATURES OF THE NEW SHOPS. Passengers in the suburban trains will, doubtless, nay» noticed in casual glance through the windows of their train the main features of the extensions. Several new sheds- have gone up in continuation of others, and there are one or two new structures. A Post reporter out at the works yesterday- afternoon was very courteously shown over the shops. The erecting s*hop is to be extended 300 ft on its 'present lines, and the machine shop, parallel to it. an equal distance. A new blacksmithing and , boilerma-king shop has already been built, of 240 ft length; the moulding shop has been ex tended 20ft, with the addition, of coredrying ovens. There is also a new pattern store of 40ft length. What derisive suburban travellers have termed a contraption of old iron 'is the rebuilt tarpaulin store. The, old corrugated iron has been used over again in its reerection, and, with a fresh coat of paint, will, no doubt, excite nothing but admiration from critics. Louvres have been fitted to the sides of the roof, which has been raised 7ft. Tha lean-to at one side is to be used for the hydraulic shop, where tires are squeezed on to wheels by many tons hydraulic pressure. NEW MACHINERY. A considerable quantity of new machinery is to be installed, including the following: — Two B^in centres Dean, Smith, Grace lathes,~ two Pridmcre moulding machines, pne cabinet turret lathe, two new milling machines, one circular saw, three Imperial motor hoists, one large punching and shearing machine, one capstan lathe, one 12in slotting machine, one high-speed planer, one Sellar's tool-grinding, machine, one ,66in tire-boring mill, new set of rolling mill for boiler work, and others. An important change is the installation of three set 3, 75 horse-power each, Crosby suction gas-engines. The large cranes will be electrified .by a separate genevating plant.