RAILWAY WORKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16025, 17 September 1915, Page 5

RAILWAY WORKS.

AUCKLAND IMPROVEMENTS.

ERECTING NEW BUILDINGS.

THE WATERFRONT SCHEME.

Several important works in connection with th* Auckland railways are now being undertaken, including a new car and wag-gon-erecting shop at Newmarket, estimated to cost £15,000, and new enginesheds on the Quay Street extension, for which £50,000 has been allocated. In connection with the latter building, nine miles of sidings will be constructed. When a start was made several years ago in the filling.in of an area of land some three chains from the Newmarket railway station, it was intended to erect there the engine sheds now being built on the Mechanics' Bay reclamation. The car and -erecting shop, which is now to be built at Ne-vmarket, will replace a similar building at the Newmarket workshops. The reason for the erection of this building is that extra space is required at the workshops before the work of constructing locomotives can be undertaken there. The new building at Newmarket will be constructed almost entirely of wood, with steel trusses, and the material is now being placed on the ground preparatory to making a start with its erection. "The dimensions of the building are 198 ft bv 200 ft.

The construction of engine sheds on the Mechanics' Bay reclamatipn is the first step taken by the Railway Department in connection with the waterfront railway scheme. The sheds, which are being erected in the north-eastern corner of the reclamation, will take nearly twelve months to complete. Their dimensions are 240 ft by 165 ft, and as in the case of the Newmarket structure, timber will be mainly used. In the erection of the roof, glass is extensively used, and considerable difficulty lias been experienced in obtaining the quantity required. As soon as sufficient progress has been, made with the erection of the enginesheds, the present buildings at Breakwater Road will be demolished and a connection will thus be secured between Quay Street and the Quay Street extension. The next move will be the erection of a brick goodsshed fronting on Breakwater Road and Quay Street, and occupying the greater portion of the site upon which the old engine-sheds now stand. The nine miles of sidings required to link up the railway system with the new sheds are «Tily a small part of the general scheme. The Railway Department has already stated that it requires the whole of the Mechanics' Bay reclamation for station purposes, and this area, together with St. George's Bay, will eventually be occupied by a network of lines and "sidings, whose total mileage runs into three figures.