Wellington's New Station

(By A. S. Wansbrough , M.Inst.C.E., Designing Engineer.)

AS long ago as 1907, in anticipation of the completion of the Wellington-Hutt duplication and of the Wellington-Auckland main line, proposals were formulated for a new station (fronting Bunny Street) at Wellington. The increased traffic to be handled at the more distant Thorndon station, on the acquisition of the Manawatu Railway, added to the inconvenience of having two separate stations. A plan was prepared, therefore, for a passenger station covering the whole area of the existing Lambton yard, the goods yard being left a matter for future consideration. The perspective view of the then suggested station reveals certain striking resemblances to the lay-out of the station now in course of construction.

The following year the Wellington Harbour Board outlined a scheme for new wharves, with railway access, involving extensive reclamation to provide for both railway and harbour requirements. After years of negotiation a contract was let for the Thorndon sea-wall, a work involving the laying of large concrete blocks in 30 feet of water. On its completion the work of reclamation was begun by pumping silt dredged from the harbour into the area behind the wall. Many years elapsed before the reclamation was sufficiently consolidated to allow of the laying of sidings or the construction of buildings. In 1930 the goods shed, 500 feet long, of steel and concrete construction, was erected on the older part of the reclamation and brought into use early the following year. Hardwood piles under every stanchion keep the heavy loading off the still-shrinking reclamation.

In 1929 plans were prepared by Messrs. Gray, Young, Morton and Young, Architects, for a new station building with Head Office and District Office accommodation on the upper floors. This scheme was described in an article by Mr. W. R. Davidson, M.Inst.C.E., in this magazine exactly five years ago. Owing to financial stringency the scheme was held over for four years and then reduced to proportions more in keeping with immediate needs. Work has now been in hand for one year, the contractors being The Fletcher Construction Company Limited. The steelwork, already erected, together with the illustrations now published, will enable anyone with a little imagination to visualise the finished work, the progress of which will be advanced a step further by the laying of the foundation stone during the present month by His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. The object of this article is to describe the station at present under construction as it will be when completed in two years' time.

Access to the station is given from the city by Stout Street, Featherston Street, and Waterloo Quay, and also from Lambton Quay by way of Bunny Street, which from its junction with Stout and Featherston Streets, is being swung into a new position at right angles to Waterloo Quay. The station frontage is set back from Bunny Street, leaving a space for lawn and shubbery, with 66 feet width immediately in front of the main entrance for an access road for pedestrians, motors and trams, leaving Bunny Street unobstructed by station traffic.

The main passenger entrance is on the centre of the Bunny Street frontage. The colonnade, 123 feet in length, with its eight columns each 5 feet in diameter and 42 feet from base to capital, projects 16 feet from the building line. The height to the parapet top is 77 feet. Towards the two ends of this frontage, which extends all the way from Featherston Street to Waterloo Quay, a distance of 316 feet, are the entrances to the offices on the upper floors.

Along Featherston Street the building extends 142 feet at its full height, terminating in the main suburban entrance surmounted by the tower-block reaching a maximum height of 88 feet above street level. A wing, one story high, extends a further 120 feet northwards with foundations designed to carry future additions to the full height of the main structure. Beyond this is the access to the suburban mail dock.

The building extends 212 feet along Waterloo Quay, where six double doors give vehicular access to the floor of the luggage and parcels offices, which occupy the whole of that frontage. Immediately beyond the building on this side is the taxi entrance to the arrival platform.

(Continued on page 49.)

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