FFF 43
Friday, Facts & Fotos, Friday, 19th May 2023
West Block (WB) Roads 10 & 11
WB roads 10 & 11 are shown on the original plan as Smithy shop with the southern end bricked off as a foundry. These two roads are also bricked off from the rest of WB and the specifications show that the floor was to be built as 1’ or 2 foot of ‘Smithy’s ash’
The low-roofed bays in WB, bays 1 & 2, and 9 & 10 have rows of single columns which support just the roof. As mentioned in FFF 41, in contrast, the columns in bays 3 to 8 (roads 4 – 9) in WB are designed to support the overhead travelling cranes as well as the roof trusses. These columns look like two H section girders bolted together, but are actually cast as one piece with connecting webs at the top, centre and bottom. They are positioned in rows between adjacent bays and each half supports a way beam and rail for the overhead rope-operated travelling cranes. This demonstrates that the building was specially designed for these cranes.
Road 10 still has lots of heavy forging and foundry equipment, but has also become a huge parts store for Steamrail. There are some historical machines there which still defy identification as to their use!
Road 11 has changed its function completely. Although previously part of the huge smithy’s shop, it now provides undercover storage for Steamrail carriages. Immediately inside the door the central track fans out left and right to give three tracks for carriage storage. Last year road 11 was also used for a few weeks by Film Victoria for film production. A wooden platform was built over the right-hand track, station signs in Hindi were put on the west wall, carriages and L1169 were ‘weathered’ and the whole station was transformed into a place in India.
This demonstrates the multipurpose use of the workshops a future ‘Railworks’ precinct can have. Not only did it provide a historical set for film production, but also employment for 200 film crew and extras. Even more importantly it provides a supporting income to develop the precinct both as an operational museum, and for multi-purpose community use.
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