The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 1 (May 1st, 1926)
Workshops Reorganised — New Petone Locomotive Workshops At Lower Hutt
Workshops Reorganised
New Petone Locomotive Workshops At Lower Hutt
From the plan it will be seen that the layout of the new shops differs so much from the arrangement existing at any of those now in New Zealand that a description of the methods to be employed in operating them and of the principles involved will interest everyone.
Minimum handling of material.
Adequate facilities to do the work.
Provision for future extensions.
These are three important factors considered in the design. The layout is centered about a Midway, which is served by an overhead travelling crane throughout its length. All the main shops border on this Midway at one end, thus providing direct access from and to all other main shops and stores. Heavy material will be transported from wagons on tracks that intersect the Midway, and from shops to stores by means of the overhead crane. Lighter material will be transported inter-departmentally by electric trucks.
The main repair and building shops are located on one side of the Midway and the supply departments, namely, the Stores, Black-smithy and Foundry, are located on the opposite side of it, the minimum distance away, as these are the places where the heaviest traffic will be.
Further extension of any shop is provided for by extending away from the Midway.
Included in the plan is a wagon repair shop, it being necessary to provide facilities to handle heavy wagon repairs such as accumulate at each large terminal yard.
The locomotive shops themselves are designed with transverse pits. There are two shops that are served by a power traverser so that engines may be put into and taken from any pit without disturbing any other section of the work. One locomotive shop will handle engines for straight, heavy, medium or light repairs, and this shop has the Machine Shops behind it. The locomotive shop on the opposite side of the traverser will handle heavy boiler-work jobs and tenders, and the Boiler Shop is in the shop adjoining it.
In operation, engines will come direct from the yard on to the traverser. They will then be transported to, and put into the central bays of, the shops where the cleaning vats are located. There they will be stripped and all parts cleaned. The overhead crane will then lift the engine off its wheels and carry it over the other standing engines to its repair bay. Wheels will be cleaned and rolled back right into wheel gang where all repairs will be done. From the stripping and cleaning department all material will be distributed to the different specialised departments and will be returned to the engine pit for re-erection. Wheeling will be done by the crane on this job, after which the engine will be taken by traverser to the steaming test pit for final trimming and test prior to delivery into service.