ROLLING STOCK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22847, 30 September 1937, Page 14

ROLLING STOCK

RAILWAY PROGRAMME 2000 VEHICLES INVOLVED GREAT ACTIVITY AT OTAHUHU OTHER DEPARTMENTS' NEEDS A schedule of works involving the construction and reconditioning of. about 2000 goods and passenger vehicles is to be undertaken by the staff at the Otahuhu railway workshops during • the current year. The ■ complete pro- - gramme,"which was made available yesterday, is so large that the staff of fully 1400 men, which is the biggest in the workshops' history, and the accommodation at the sheds, are inadequate to cope with the time-table laid down for completion of the waggons and carriages. With the expansion of the rail services and the increasing demands for •waggons for the transportation of goods, the department's shops at Otahuhu have been manned by a steadily • increasing staff to keep abreast of the requirements in rolling stock. The demands from other State departments have also contributed to the pressure of work. The workshops recently completed the last of a number of buses ■which are to be used by the Ivlucation Department in conveying country children to and from school. The joinery ' staff is at present engaged in making the furnishings for the offices of the new station/ at Wellington. These include oak desks for executives*, and typists' tables and other office equipment, which are being made from the finest of rimu timber. Coaches and "Waggons The car-building staff is meantime working on 11 new second-class passenger coaches, and they, with four new first-class carriages, are due to be completed and in use before Christmas. In addition to the ordinary repair work--' on rolling stock which has depreciated in service, the staff is carrying out extensive reconstruction work on old-type passenger carriages. -After being stripped to the frame, the carriages are to be rebuilt and fitted with an improved type of seating of the most modern design. J.-,

The development of the chilled- beef industry has resulted in a growing demand for the special type of waggon designed for this trade. More than 30 of these are due to be constructed and delivered within the next few months. The new programme includes over 1800 goods and livestock waggons of all types, from the ordinary open make for the transport, of coal and such materials to specially constructed vehicles for the transport of horses. There are also to be constructed in the current work-year 24 first-class passenger coaches. 33 second-class coaches and six semi-sleeper coaches. i Extended Accommodation Proposals are already, in hand for the extension of several of the worksheds. The structural shop is to be extended 180 ft. and the building known as the trimming shop will be enlarged by the addition of another 240 ft. In some of the shops, particularly the machine and blacksmiths' ishop, two shifts are employed, and in."other partnients overtime is being worked almost daily by a number of the staff* There is the likelihood of additional employees being engaged from tflc fairly large waiting>lists at the department's disposal.

The most modern engineering and furnishing methods are to be employed in the construction of the new All bogies -will be equipped with bearing fittings, and the seats in tße first-class cars will be of the sine;le-imlt type, which revolve and tip in thief different postures. The interior finish' in several coaches will be in rexinß cloth, and with the leather lipholsterV of'the seats will resemble the modern motor-car in appearance and style.