Tale of a goods shed

The goods shed at Horsham is one of a few long sheds in Victoria. The only unmodified long shed is at Port Fairy. No rail line there, as it was closed in 1977.

These were a Victorian Railways standard 20 ft wide design, timber framed and clad in corrugated iron, constructed throughout Victoria during the period of rapid expansion of the railway system, between 1876 and 1907.

At Horsham, the shed is also not original, as it was burnt down in 1890. As the Melbourne Telegraph newspaper report of July 16 stated. "The railway goods-sheds at Horsham were destroyed by fire last night. A quantity of gunpowder stored there exploded, and none of the contents were saved."

 The new shed has been modified over time with an addition at the western end to allow drive in fork lift access, while an office was built in the eastern end.

When building models from a guesstimate drawing, one is always going to have problems. The width of the model was taken from a card model, when translated to paper, some how became wider. So when I read that these shed were 20' wide I checked and found that the model was 25' wide. This actually related to an extra line of stumps underneath. Their distance apart came from a goods platform drawing.

Main structure of shed completed

I then had to decide if to leave it or to modify back to 20' wide.

 Starting with the addition section, I removed this from the main building and made the cuts to reduce its width. Next was to start on the main structure.

Walls removed and floor ready to be cut down. I will have to build a new eastern wall, as I think the windows were wrong any way.

Horsham station 2

Further history to the station. The station was extensively repaired in 1939.

The plan call for the construction of  new additions under the existing buildings and  the sinking of 125 new piles driven 29 feet onto the soil under the existing foundation, with all the walls being set on new re-enforced rail foundations. This was because the unstable nature of the earth had allowed the building to sink.

The whole layout was changed to isolated the main block from the goods shed and other building.

The booking, parcels and station master's  offices all under went extensive alterations, and  the men's waiting room was shifted to the middle of the building, plus new general waiting room and new women's waiting room; while the refreshment room was refitted to an improved standard.

The existing main entrance was closed and moved to the new booking office entrance built so it was no longer required to enter via the platform. The cantilever veranda was estended to go around the sides of the building. This brought the station in line with the railway's standard construction. It was estimated that about 16 Horsham workers were  kept occupied for six months on the job. Approximately £1800 was spent in labour costs alone. 

The plans, followed on from the new truck yards. The work was completed in 1940 including painting of the building.