NEW STATION BUILDING

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 182, 4 August 1938, Page 4

NEW STATION BUILDING

Woodlands Road Public Works Extension MODERN BUILDING AND GEAR TO BE INSTALLED The erection of a new substation building and lilter press store at the Woodlands Road Public Works hydro- , electric switching station near Wood- i ville marks the beginning of the work planned by the Department to effect additional surely of supply iu the districts south of Wood ville to Wellington It is planned to duplicate the 110,000 volt line from Napier to Woodville and from hero southwards to tho next station at Wellington. There is already a double lino from Woodlands road to Bunnythorpo on the other side of tho range and the completion of this aditional lino is planned to coincide with the increased output from the Waikaremoana generators in both tho projected and old stations there. These alterations to the national network will involve the doubling of tho gear at Woodlands road, for tho croetion of which the present switching station will have to be removed. Hence the erection of tho new buildings. When completed, these will have tho added facility of a lilter press at Woodlands road for all time, whereas hitherto the press, when it has been required for the half-yearly purilication of tho transformer oil, has had to be borrowed. Tho new switching station, now in the course of erection, is made of reinforced concrete, and when completed it will present a handsome parapetted frontage plastered and finished in colours. The interior of tho control room is to be smartly covered with accoustic boarding all divided into a tile pattern with chormium-plated angle pieces and dado strips. The floor is to be of rubber and all cables to the switching gear aro to enter via tho ground. Provision is also being made for future extensions.

The same building is also providing a workshop, while the filter press will be housed in a smaller building beside it and will bo topped by two large oil storage tanks. The oil used for tho transformers is what is known as " first run" oil—that is, it is the first oil to be distilled from the crude petroleum after kerosene. It is a light oil ot clear golden colour and is considerably less viscous thau ordinary motor oil. Among the mysterious and intricate gear of relays and switches within the new station will bo some very modern control switches made by the famous Asea Company in Sweden, and designed to meet the requirements of the British grid system. These double-line controls are capable of isolating a fault on one line and maintaining the supply on the other. They trip either mstantaeousiy, after one and a-half seconds, on three soconds, according to the distance of the fault. The wiring maze behind such a panel, leading to and from the orderly array of coils seen through the glass front, would more than give the average contractor who is obliged to work out patiently a plan for an unusual switchboard "a pain in the neck." A number of 52ft. ironbark poles for the erection of the additional line are already on hand.