FFF 44 Friday, Facts & Fotos, Friday 26th May
West Block Road 12 Spring Shop Extension.
Known as the Spring Shop Extension, or just the Spring Shop, this building is basically a timber framed corrugated iron-clad extension which was added to the original brick-walled west Block (WB) in 1905. However, some attempt was made to blend the extension by construction the north wall of brick, and by moving and re-using the 1888 west wall windows. If you carefully examine the north wall brickwork, the join where the spring shop extension was added can easily be seen.
The window openings in the original western wall were then extended down to floor level to act as a series of large doorways interconnecting the original smithy shop with the spring shop extension. The red panels behind the machines in the photos are the original windows of 11 road which were extended down to the floor but have now been panelled in.
The spring shop still houses machinery for the heating and forming of spring steel, and especially to make large coil or leaf springs used in the suspension of rolling stock. In 1990’s Steamrail were given use of this building and have moved in a large number of modern machinery, lathes, milling machines and welders etc. It is now in regular used to manufacture all kinds of metal parts, large and small, for the maintenance of the Steamrail locomotive and carriage fleet.
This section of WB is a museum in itself as it contains a collection of historical machinery over 100 years old right up to modern CNC machinery.
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