AUCKLAND GOODS-SHED

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 109, 4 November 1926, Page 5

AUCKLAND GOODS-SHED

A £50,000 BUILDING

THE CONTRACT LET,

Including its extensive equipment and fittings, the new Auckland goods shed for the Railway Department will cost about £50,009. The contract for the building has been let to Mr. N. Cole, of Auckland. Plans of the new building show that the Department will make a very radical departure from the old-tjpe "tin" sheds which have hitherto done duty. The site of the new building fronts Breakwater road, at the ends of the passenger platforms, and will have an imposing front elevation of two stories. Breakwater road at this point is to be widened to 100 feet. The goods shed will take the whole space between Quay street and beach road, giving sufficient space for exactly doubling the proposed building when traffic requirements call for the extension. The frontage of the goods shed will be 164 feet, and the interior arrangements will enable about a hundred wagons to be dealt with under cover, while about the same number of motor-lorries will be accommodated on the spacious through roadways. The building is to be of steel and concrete construction, with steel window frames, and the main lighting of the sheds will ba from the three large, roof spans. On the Breakwater road frontage there will be two entrances of 24 feet width fitted with roller shutters. The remaining portion of the ground floor will be taken up with offices for the staff required for goods shed work. On the second floor will be the goods agent's office, 'and a number of staff offices, including a correspondence room, 48ft by 33ft, and a staff lunchroom. The entrance roads will be taken through the whole length of the shed, and covered with bitumen. On the roadside nearest the cuter walls, lorries will be able to load direct into railway wagons, and on the other sides of each road will be platforms, 12ft wide, for the storage and sorting of packages. The large extent of the shed will be gauged from the fact that it is to be 164 feet wide, and 400 feet long. Spanning the space between the two platforms will be an overhead gantry, carrying two 30cwt cranes, capable of travelling the whole length of the building. There are to be three spans in the roof, the two outer ones 58ft, and the inner span 44ft. These are to be supported on steel pillars at 33ft distances. The outer walls are to be of concrete, reinforced with steel. Some heavy girders have to be used in the building, owing to the width of the entrances. This involves the use, 'of steel plate girders of- 48ft span.