East Block FFF-17 18th November 2022
On the 1885 plan, at the south end of 2 – 7 roads is the trimming shop. This is where the upholsterers would make the seats, arm rests and padded fixtures needed for carriages and vans. All these would be fitted after the painting was complete. The upholsterers got relocated as the east block annex was added and the paint shop expanded.
The timber store and machining areas were a major part of east block. Remember that the very early carriages and wagons had timber frames as well as timber bodies. Even when carriages started getting steel frames, the major work of carriage building was timber and this was carried out right across 8 to 22 roads.
In bay 8, 23 road, this is where a lot of timber machining was done. It still has it’s original wooden floor which is clearly defined because underneath there is a 290 foot x 46 foot sub floor which contained huge fly wheels and belt drives for the machines above. This is accessed from an outside stairway next to the east wall and some of that machinery is still in situ.(see photo) Although most of the wood working machinery is gone there are still some machines which could be set up to give an idea of how it was set up. Bay 8 still has much of the dust extraction ducting attached to the underside of the roof. This sawdust and timber off cuts was fed into the furnace outside which produced the steam to power all this machinery. The single track through road 23 is supported by steel beams on cast steel columns which can be seen in the basement below.
An external lean to shed has been added to the northeast corner of east block. It shelters two powerful circular saws. Most of the boiler house and chimney behind this shed have unfortunately been removed, but some remains. Does anyone have photos of this area of east block during the decades it was in production?
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