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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 3 (June 1, 1939)

Improvement Works in Progress

Improvement Works in Progress.

To detail a complete list of the big improvement plans of the Home railways would occupy many pages of this magazine. Reconstruction of passenger and goods stations is proceeding all over the country; electrification progresses on the L. & N.E. Company between Manchester and Sheffield, and in the London suburban zone, on the G.W. London suburban tracks, and on various sections of the Southern system. One of the biggest works just completed is the £500,000 improvement scheme of the G.W. Company at Old Oak Common carriage depot, 3 ¼ miles from Paddington. This is now the largest passenger train marshalling yard in Britain. It covers, with its locomotive sheds, more than 100 acres, and handles daily, about 2,000 passenger coaches and 450 locomotives. The staff number approximately 1,700. The reconstruction has been proceeding for five years. Principal among the tasks performed at the depot is the handling of all empty coaches forming the incoming trains making use of Paddington, and their reforming for outward working. Actually, there are some 15 miles of sidings within the depot; 75 carriage roads, all page 26 page 27
Brunel's flat-arch brick bridge carrying G.W.R. main line across the Thames at Maidenhead. (Each arch has a span of 128 ft.).

Brunel's flat-arch brick bridge carrying G.W.R. main line across the Thames at Maidenhead. (Each arch has a span of 128 ft.).

perfectly straight to simplify shunting; 30 roads (1,000ft. in length) in the carriage sheds, which cover twice the area of Paddington terminus; 5 signal boxes; a 70ft. turntable; a loudspeaker system to expedite shunting operations; an automatic telephone exchange with seventy points through the depot; spacious carriage shops; flood-lighting equipment, with an alternative system for use during foggy weather; separate up and down carriage lines for empty stock working between Paddington and the depot, and up-to-date offices and mess-rooms for the staff.