Railway station restoration 'once-in-a lifetime job'

When a "once in a lifetime" project needed a magic touch, contractors did not need to look far to find those up for the challenge.

The finishing touches to Dunedin Railway Station are being made as the restoration nears completion.

The shining spire of the railway station was constructed courtesy of Allan’s Sheetmetal and Engineering Services, located a stone’s throw away across the road.

Contract Manager Tony Oaten said the team of two-to-three contractors really enjoyed working on the structure.

"It’s a once-in-our lifetime sort of thing," he said.

"It’s something they haven’t done and probably won’t get to do again."

The main dome and two smaller cupolas were constructed from copper coil with fish scale sheets underneath, requiring more than two tons of copper in total.

The old dome was made from a combination of zinc, aluminium and other materials on hand used to repair it over the years.

Mr Oaten said this material needed to be completely replaced.

The problem had not lain with the material itself breaking down, but with weather erosion, especially down south.

There had only been slight erosion on some of the better areas, but they had been all going to go sooner or later, so it had made sense to replace the whole lot, he said.

Copper was the optimal material to use, as it oxidised itself.

While the project had been testing at times, it was made easier by the fact they had a model to work from, Mr Oaten said.

They had taken the old panels off and replaced them as they went, so they had not been "starting from fresh air".

The crew had marvelled at the craftsmanship of the original builders, which had not been substantially replaced since the station’s original construction in 1906, he said.

"You’ve got to take your hat off to some of that stuff. We really had to think about how we were going to do it with all our modern technology.

"They did it by heating it up and doing it by hand, so they were pretty bloody good."

Contractor Greg Pritchard said it was challenging but enjoyable to work on the railway station.

"It was a bit of a privilege, to be honest," he said.

"It’s such an iconic building and to be able to do all that copper work, it was good to be a part of it."

The nearly 120 year-old structure had pushed him to expand his skills.

It was good to see the railway station come back to life and be restored to its former glory, Mr Pritchard said.

"You never get to work on something like this."

"There’s a lot of iconic buildings around Dunedin, but they don’t often come up for refurbishing."