RAILWAY WORKSHOPS

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 108, 3 November 1926, Page 8

RAILWAY WORKSHOPS

THE OTAHUHU CONTRACT

LET TO MESSRS. DORMER, LONG, AND CO.

PRICE APPROXIMATELY £150,000.

The Government has accepted the tender of Messrs. Hansford and Mills, Ltd., on behalf of Messrs. Dormer, Long and Co., Middlesborough, for the erection of the central car and wagon workshops at Otahuhu, Auckland —part of the new railways development programme. It is understood that the price is approximately £150,000. Seven firms tendered for the work, including three alternative tenders for the supply of special materials. All the tenders were analysed, and adjustments were made in relation to British preferential and other duties. The final selection of three tenders received very careful consideration by Cabinet, and the Minister made the announcement following a meeting of Cabinet this afternoon. It is of interest to note that Messrs. Dormer, Long and Go. are the contrae- ! tors for the big harbour bridge at Sydney. CONCENTRATION SCHEME. The erection of the extensive workshops at Otahuhu is in accordance with the plan of concentrating all car and wagon work at that point, while the locomotive work of the North Island railways will be' centred on the new shops now being erected on a 60-acrc site in the Hutt Valley, the buildings covering eight acres. The Otahuhu workshops will be on an equally extensive plan. In one block will be the new wagon repair shop, 640 feet long and 82 feet wide. Alongside it will be another immense shop, measuring 540 feet by 132 feet, containing the different workshops; the wood mill, 200 feet by 264 feet; light plate and structural steel shop, 240 feet by 82 feet; and the trimmers and upholstererß*shop, 100 feet by 50 feet. Intersecting the site is a spacious mid-way, which serves as the circulating area for the whole plan. On its northern side will be placed the steel wagon shop, 200 feet by 125 feet; the wood wagon and repair shop, 300 feet by 150 feet; machine shop, 200 feet by 82 feet; blacksmith's shop, 200 feet by 100 feet; main store, 160 feet by 82 feet; power-house,' depots for waste material, and other smaller buildings. The steel-work involved in the contract amounts to about 2300 tons, and the glazing to. 75,000 square feet for side windows, and about 87,000 square feet for the extensive roof lights. The roofing is to be composed of layers of felt and bitumen, and will cover 230,----000 square foot.