THE RAILWAY YARD

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 117, 13 November 1935, Page 12

THE RAILWAY YARD

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM SUB-STATIONS AND THEIR WORK The main sub-station for the electric services of the new railway yard, which is nearing completion, is an example of the latest type of plant. As is the case with all railway electric installations, every precaution is taken to obviate the interruption of any of the services, which in this case include the automatic signalling and interlocking devices for the Tawa Flat and Upper Hutt lines, and the railway yard, also lighting and power for cranes', etc., The supply will be taken from the City Council at 11,000 volts, from two feeders, one from Waterloo Quay and one from Cornwell Street, the idea being that if one should fail the other will be available. These feeders are joined by switches to a ring main, which is controlled by a bank of switches, which in turn feed the auxiliary sub-stations throughout the railway yard. One sub-station takes care of the lighting, heating, cooking, and lifts in the station building, another, located at the goods shed, serves the lighting and the shed cranes, and the third is for the, new locomotive depot, which will be used not only for steam locomotives, but also for the electric locomotives' for the Paekakariki electrification, and this sub-station drives all the repair machinery, besides attending to lighting The main sub-station will feed the automatic signalling and interlocking on the Upper Hutt, Tawa Flat, and the main Wellington yard. A standby Diesel, generating set of the latest pattern has been provided in. case of the breakdown of the City Council supply, and this set is so designed as to feed current to the | automatic signalling areas. It is the I Department's policy always to provide lor a certainty of supply by a standby plant, otherwise a complete dislocation af traffic, due to trains being held up by the signalling system, might occur. Tne main sub-station supplies the signalling cabin, and also an auxiliary cabin in the foreman's office Included in the main sub-station ■ which measures 80ft by 30ft and has a girder roof of special construction, are a workshop and supervisor's room. Later on there will be five sub-sta-tions on the Wellirigton-Paekakariki line, which will take their current ■ from Khandallah, to supply power for ■ the multiple unit electric trains The mam one of these stations will be at ■ Kaiwarra. and the remainder will be located between that and Paekakariki. The multiple unit system used will be on the lines of coupled tramears, and as trains of four units can be put on at rush hours, the peak load problem, as well as the single unit daytime service, will be solved » The plant in the main yard sub-sta- , lion is standard equipment made by j well-known British firms, and it is de- _ signed to be completely foolproof It . is "iron-clad" and entirely automatic . m operation. Should a fault occur , on any particular feeder it would be . isolated by circuit breaker control . Though of a slightly later design the , plant is similar to that of the Public r Works Department at Khandallah. It ■ r is complete with transformers for both [ city and standby current, reducing the o voltage to 3300 volts for the electric signalling system.