West Block Steamrail – roads 4, 5, & 6 (Bays 3, 4, & 5)

Friday Facts & Fotos! FFF 36

Friday 31 March ‘23

West Block Steamrail – roads 4, 5, & 6 (Bays 3, 4, & 5)

These tracks now occupied by Steamrail have probably seen more variety of activity than any other section of the workshops. Originally intended to provide for locomotive and rolling stock maintenance, with the explosive expansion of the state railway system in 1890’s, Newport rapidly forgot the original plans and became involved in new locomotive and rolling stock production.

Little 0-6-0 ‘Polly’ Z526 rolled out the door in 1893 and was the first of 534 locomotives steam, electric, and a few diesels produced by the workshops over six decades. This section of WB saw the production of 15Na ‘Puffing Billy’ locos, mainline freight and passenger type locos including A2, K, N, X and S class locos, electric locos, ASG 3’6” gauge locos, plus over 1500 Bren gun carriers, munitions boats, and other military vehicles during the war.

The whole of WB is single-storey bays that are 91m long. Bays 3 – 8, and are higher than the rest with cast iron twin columns supporting the roof trusses, overhead travelling cranes, and formerly line shafting. Each bay had a central track and a dead-end track either side which made the operation of overhead travelling cranes a vital part of the heavy metal construction that was carried out there. The roof was originally half-clad with slate and half-glazed with skylights and had large louvered ventilation along the ridges.

So the Steamrail use of this section of the workshops is very largely the same heavy locomotive and carriage maintenance function as has been carried out here for 130 years.