West Block Southern Extension. Part 4

Friday, Facts and Fotos 49 Friday 30th June 2023

West Block Southern Extension. Part 4

West Block (WB) contains some of the rarest examples of early 20th century industrial machinery. There are early lathes, shaping machines, mills and some so rare that their use even defies archaeologists. So I am not even going to attempt to identify any of these photos. Doring reports in 1988 many of these are extremely rare examples of the huge industry Newport was over 100 years ago.

There are grinders, borers, planners and sheet metal working machines of all kinds. Then there are machines with names of processes most of us have never heard of. Like a tyre lip rolling machine, a nut ‘frazing’ machine, a post drilling and taping machine, a twin head screw cutting machine, a nut blanking & piercing machine, a continuous heading machine. There are drop hammers and all sorts of equipment used in the forging process. Sewing machines for making tarps, and for sewing upholstery. There are over 200 pages in the Doring report describing many of these machines and the processes they were used for. There were also some even they could not identify.

In 2021 VicTrack was trying to ‘tidy up’ by sending this stuff to the scrap yard! Fortunately, intervention by wiser minds halted the process. They ordered that Lot 100 was to be ‘clear felled’ and the buildings removed. Not only does this area contain unique examples of Victoria’s industrial heritage, but tens of thousands of dollars worth of spare parts for Steamrail, 707, Elecrail and DERMPAV. It may be junk to those who only see it as old, worn or useless, but to those who care about our states history, it is a gold mine. That is what the current submission to Heritage Victoria is all about – to list all these items and add them to H1000, Victoria’s state heritage register of the Newport workshops.

The Newport Railway Workshops Preservation Group (NRWPG) believe that all this machinery that remains must be preserved, cleaned up and displayed in the machine shop extension of the building for the public to view and appreciate.

Enjoy these photos of some of this history that still exists in Lot 100 behind West Block.