Thread: Preston Bandsaw

Rumour has it the 18" grinder didn't sell. The draw saw, buzzer, and lathe went. I don't know about the drill presses. The building is now in the hands of the demolition company.

And the bandsaw? Yup, I won it .

In the early 1900s the New Zealand Government Railways had a workshop in the Wellington region at Petone (~ 10.5km from Wellington CBD). A Royal Commission established in 1924 to examine the issue of railway workshop facilities around the country reported that much of Petone's machinery was out of date or obsolete, and that there were serious congestion problems owing to the lack of space for expansion. This resulted in the construction of a completely new complex 4.5km away across the Hutt Valley near Woburn Station, opened in 1929.

This new Hutt Railway Workshops complex was intended primarily as a steam locomotive building and overhaul plant, with a large number of buildings, including a Foundry and a Pattern Shop. Amoung the new machinery the Pattern Shop was equipped with was this 30" Preston bandsaw - Machine No.1710.

P1710.jpg Machinery Record card - 1710.

It was purchased new by New Zealand Government Railways, and installed in the Pattern Shop in Feb. 1929. Net cost £117 17s 11d; Electrical charges £5 16s 8d; Installation expense £10 10s 2d; giving a grand total of £134 4s 9d. There are no costs detailed on the motor Machinery Record (it has it own card), so I assume it's cost is included in the saw cost - most likely in the 'Nett cost' rather than the 'Electrical charges'.When the Pattern Shop (and Foundry) were closed in the late 1980s it was moved to the Maintenance Shop (formerly the Coppersmiths Shop).

It is fitted with a Westinghouse type CS induction motor (3 hp; 50 cycle; 3 phase; 400v; 480rpm full load; style 53C54; serial 4718701). Made by Westinghouse at their East Pittsburgh Works (USA). Machine No.1711.

P1710a.jpg Machinery Record card - 1711.

W3.jpg Machine 1711.

I'm delighted to have such detailed information on the origins of my new toy .

And just of possible interest: the old Petone workshops were demolished to clear the site when the new shops opened - with the exception of the newest building, the Paint Shop, which had been built in 1912. It was demolished in 2012 in conjunction with the re-alignment of State Highway No.2 through Petone.

Cheers, Vann.

Nice story Vann; I have never seen or heard of a machine by B R Rowland, that grinder is a fine thing, I do hope it finds the right home. By silent auction do you mean sealed bids? Called an auction by tender in the uk I think. I've never bid in one of those, it would bring a whole new dimension to deciding what to bid. Some super bargains can be got that way, there's a well known story locally of a church that was sold a few years ago some miles from here for £1!
Heres a link to a picture of it:
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/219215

Sorry to deviate, it won't happen again. You've bought a lovely saw, and from the sort of place I would delight in being allowed to poke around for a few hours and just see what still remains.

Originally Posted by sion.dovey

By silent auction do you mean sealed bids? Called an auction by tender in the uk I think. I've never bid in one of those, it would bring a whole new dimension to deciding what to bid.

I don't know the definition of a 'silent auction' either (house sales over here are sometimes done by 'open' [unsealed] or 'closed' [sealed] tender).

I was given two double sided sheets of paper with pictures about 20 items (mostly 1960ish slave clocks!). I had to write my bid, name, and contact details and leave it (unsealed) with the office. I don't work at the plant anymore (though I'm still with the same company), so I don't know if others got the opportunity to see my bid and bid against me, or not. It was certainly hard to put in a bid and walk away last Friday (I had to go to work).

Chees, Vann.

My apologises to those who regulary check the Canadian forum, as some of this material has already been posted there. For those of you who don't, read on...

Initially I had some difficulty identifying this machine. Guards covered everything . There were just the letters "PRES" on the arm that supports the upper wheel.

I searched vintagemachinery.org and found the "Preston Woodworking Machinery Co. Ltd" of Canada. There were four bandsaws listed in the Photo Index, but none bore any obvious resemblance to this machine. However, in their Images index I found a 1916 image of a 36" bandsaw (mine having been made ~1928 for it to have been shipped and installed by Feb. 1929). The wheel hub on the upper wheel caught my eye as being a match. So when I was stripping down the saw on Monday I posed this photo

Pposter.jpg Pposer.jpg Without a doubt, that's a match

Removal of the guards revealed more...

Preston.jpg The whole of "PRESTON" revealed.

Plogo2.jpg Someone repainted the upper portion, but painted around this transfer.

Pclassic.jpg Removing the motor cover revealed this lettering, and the classic curves disguised by the boxy cabinet.

The bottom of the casting has been altered to add sides, to form a cabinet enclosing the lower wheel. The doors of the cabinet are also cast iron - I nearly did myself an injury removing the first one as I thought it would be lightweight aluminium (it weighs a ton - well, over a cwt anyway).

Note the Machine No. - 1710 - painted on the back.

Cheers, Vann.

Very nice bandsaw Vann, and the Machinery Record cards are a real treat. Well done on getting them with the machine

Regards
John

Vann,

I really love the back story, and the information you have gathered on the machine is a big plus.

Originally Posted by Vann

There were a few little 14" machines at the workshops (Otahuhu Railway Workshops, in Auckland), but I hated the way the blades wobbled around - I never desired a small one.

Some machines really benefit from there mass, and IMO, the bandsaw is one of them. I don't think your going to have an issue of with vibration with this one.

cheers,

Camo

I Googled the Pattern Shop and found this photograph

PatternShop.jpg

http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=...Results=20&p=0

PatternShopSaw.jpg I wonder if this is my bandsaw?

It appears to have the box cabinet base, and no connection to the overhead line-shaft (i.e. its own motor).

Cheers, Vann.

From The New Zealand Railways Magazine (vol.3, issue 1) dated 1 May 1928, is this article on the construction of the pattern shop

PatternShop3.jpg

The article is incorrect, in that the Pattern Shop was being constructed 4.5km away at Woburn, to replace an existing facility at Petone.

A year or so later it's kitted out and in use.

PatternShop.jpg National Library collection photograph.

From records I've been able to peruse I find that in addition to the Preston bandsaw, other brand new machinery in the new shop included:

#1698
Circular Saw Bench
Thos. Robinson & Son – Rochdale, England – type LS, ø16inch
Net cost: £158 0s 6d; in service Feb 1929.
Fitted with fast & loose pulleys,
Fitted with 3hp, 1425rpm, electric motor (#1698A) in 1950.

#1703
Lathe - Double Head Pattern Makers
Thos. Robinson & Son – Rochdale, England
4 speed; 18’ bed; 13” & 10” centres.
Net cost: £242 13s 1d; in service Jan. 1929.
Fitted with fast & loose pulleys,
Later fitted with 2hp, 950rpm electric motor (#4203).

#1707
Disc & Bobbin Sander – JT 141
Wadkin & Co. – Leicester, England
30” disc; 2”, 3” & 4” bobbins.
Net cost: £160 1s 0d; in service Jan. 1929.
Fitted with 5hp 950rpm Crompton Parkinson electric motor (#1708) No.L4A.

There is information on a few other bits and pieces, such as blowers and motors.

In later years other bits of machinery are added, such as a drill press, and for the Wadkin fans, this item.

#1721
Combined Surfacing & Thicknessing Machine – RMA 839
Wadkin & Co. – Leicester, England
30” disc; 2”, 3” & 4” bobbins.
Net cost: £350 0s 0d; in service March, 1944.
Fitted with 4hp 2860rpm English Electric electric motor (#1722) No.5N. 10125/6 - for planning head; & 1hp 930rpm English Electric electric motor (#1723) No.5N. 10128/16 - for feed rollers.

I've not yet determined the exact date of closure of the Foundry and Pattern Shop (there was a mid-1986 proposal to close the Foundry, but no confirmation of when it actually closed). However, the building itself is standing today.

PatternShop2.jpg now Warehouse No.8.

Cheers, Vann.

This has come to light.

Preston132_3t.jpg

It's a dead ringer for my Preston bandsaw. It comes from this brouchure.

Preston132_3s.jpg I think I'll have to call my bandsaw "Earnest" ("Earnie" for short)

Although the machine shown is a 36" model, a number of components on my 30" saw have the numbers "132" cast into them. So I conclude that mine is a 30" version of the No.132.

The images above, show that the machine could be ordered with mesh guards over the upper wheel, with the wheel hub exposed. Looking closely at mine, I see that the mesh over the wheel hub, and over the upper blade guide, are a coarser weave.

PrestonGuards2.jpg top half of my bandsaw

This leads me to believe that the mesh over the hub and blade guide, are a later addition, while the mesh over the majority of the wheel is the original Preston guard.

Looking back at the ~1929 photo of the interior of the Pattern Shop, you can see the original mesh - without the addition of the hub guard.

PatternShopSaw.jpg excuse me mate, you're blocking my view!

That saw is, almost without doubt, my saw . Cool !!

Cheers, Vann.

That is great you found an old factory pic of it. I had a big jointer that I was told came from the factories of historic local department store Boans. I spent ages digging through archives hoping to find a pic of it in the factory but all pics of the factory I found were from the outside.

- Jayeson

That is a great photo of the Patternshop with all the workers and patterns and core boxes.
In the lower foreground there a pile of loose teeth for the double helical gear patterns.
Also the jig for holding the rough cut teeth as they were planed to shape.
I have a text book some where with a lot of info on laying out and shaping gear patterns.
You have done a great job chasing up this background info on your saw.
H.

Originally Posted by jayeson

That is great you found an old factory pic of it..

Originally Posted by clear out

You have done a great job chasing up this background info on your saw.

Thanks guys. I'm lucky, I live in the city that houses New Zealand's National Archives and the National Library. The National Archives holds the New Zealand Railways photograph collection. I spent a few hours looking through this collection for photographs of the Pattern Shop. While there were probably over 100 photos of the Foundry (mostly stuff like sand conveyors, but many interesting shots as well), there were just three taken inside the Pattern Shop. One was something being turned on a lathe. The other two were patternmakers using handtools.
New Zealand Railways also had a foundry in Dunedin (Hillside Railway Workshops). Again many photos of their Foundry, but zilch on their Pattern Shop. Incidently, the Hillside Foundry and Pattern Shop was sold to Bradken as a going concern, two years ago, and the remainder of the complex closed.

I need to spend some time looking through the National Library photograph collections - I found the Pattern Shop photo online. The bloke who took that photo, Percy Godber, was a (now famous) early photographer, who worked at the Petone Railway Workshops, and then the Hutt Railway workshops. There may be more Pattern Shop photos in his collection of glass plate photographs.

Cheers, Vann.

Earlier in this thread I posted this picture of the former Coppersmith Shop - later Maintenance Shop - where my bandsaw resided from 1987 until I purchased it in 2015. The building was due for demolition.

P8150013L.jpg Friday, 11th September, 2015.
The building a few days before the last machinery was removed.

Coppers 25Sept15bL.jpg Friday, 25th September, 2015.
Going...

Coppers Weds 7 Oct 15dL.jpg Wednesday, 7th October, 2015.
Going...

Coppers Fri 9Oct15bL.jpg Friday, 9th October, 2015.
Gone. The bandsaw was located directly in front of the yellow digger, immediately to the left of the big grey bin.

A sad end. Fortunately most of the old machinery went to good homes.

Cheers, Vann.

Not easy to watch Vann
I've seen many beautiful old work shops, buildings get pulled down,
Especially when the land is worth more for residential development.
If a building has character and has some age to it I get very emotional as I feel saving our heritage is very important.
Whilst I'm all for change, I believe keeping what we can from the past is still equally important, its always good to see where we have been and what we have achieved.
Well done for saving that band saw Vann, its your piece of history now .
You are the custodian, and what a wonderful responsibility !!

Melbourne Matty.