PORT OF LONDON

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 October 1929, Page 5

PORT OF LONDON

A THREE MILLION SCHEME. With the improvements made by the Port of London Authority at Tilbury and officially opened in August, London possesses the most up-to-date docks system in the world. Built at a cost of £3,000,000, the improvements include: An entrance lock with a rolling lift bridge over it for road and rail traffic; a dry dock 750 ft. long by 110 ft. wide; a passenger landing stage 1142 ft. long; and an imposing baggage hall designed by Sir Edwin Cooper. The work of building the dock and entrance lock has involved many remarkable feats of engineering, and every modern device for speeding up the docking and overhaul of ships has been installed. At the river end of the lock timber jetties form a bell-mouth entrance for vessels, and before a ship may pass through three sets of gates must be opened. A remarkable machine was used to construct these jetties, without any temporary staging. Consisting of a 10-ton steam travelling crane with long jib, and framed with overhung cantilever, carrying boilers and piling frames, it drove simultaneously the three piles of which each frame of the jetty consists. The dry dock is now ready to accommodate the largest vessels requiring overhaul. Looking like a gigantic swimming bath, it has been built .with an eye to the future, for although 750 feet long now it can, if necessary, be extended to over 1000 ft. Mechanical bilge blocks, devised to 1

obviate the use of the usual wooden shores, are a feature of the equipment of the .dock. They are brought into position under the keel of the ship by hydraulic power, while it is docking. Another engineering marvel is a lead-ing-in girder which ensures the centralising of the vessel when floating in. Four huge pumps will empty the dock when the ship is inside. The passenger landing stage at the other side of the dock is supported by no fewer than 63 large pontoons. Five bridges are provided to the shore for pedestrains, vehicles and baggage, and passengers will be within 20 yards of thoir train when disembarking. Old Tilbury station has been demolished, and the new station wil be in use early next year.