[Fig. 429] shows a type of umbrella roof sometimes erected over a narrow loading-bank outside of a goods-shed. It is simple and economical in construction, and provides good accommodation for loading and unloading under cover packages and goods of secondary importance.
The above sketches illustrate some of the many arrangements for goods-sheds, and can be modified and extended in several ways. The leading dimensions, widths of loading-banks, cartways, and gauge of lines, will have to be adjusted to suit circumstances.
Looking at a goods-shed merely as a medium for the convenient transfer of merchandise between the railway and the roadway, the inference is soon drawn that the removal of the goods into trucks or carts should be effected as speedily as possible, otherwise a large extent of shed-room will be required for carrying on a moderate amount of work. Every effort should be made to clear the goods from the loading-bank as soon as they have been properly unloaded and checked. Any laxity in this respect will cause an outcry for increased accommodation, which a little more energy and careful organization would have prevented.
Timber plank floors are generally preferred for inside loading-banks. Inside cartways should be formed either of granite setts or wooden-block paving; the latter is better, being less noisy, and, if occasionally sprinkled with sand, will afford a good foothold for the horses. A macadamized roadway under cover is never satisfactory, as it is always dry, and never binds together into a compact even surface. Sliding or rolling doors are the best for goods-sheds, as they are more out of the way, and under better control during high winds.
Cranes of appropriate strengths, and worked by hand or other motive-power, should be distributed in suitable positions throughout the shed. They should be placed so that they can, when required, lift direct out of a railway truck on the one side, and deposit into a cart or dray on the opposite side of the loading-bank.
Goods-sheds may be built of stone, brick, iron, or timber, or a combination of all of them. Where the requirements are well proved, and the traffic certain, it is better to build a substantial permanent structure. Iron sheds, with sides and roofs of galvanized corrugated iron sheets, will last for many years if not made of too light materials. There are many cases where it is more prudent to put up a goods-shed in timber than to incur the cost of one of more permanent character. Where the traffic is uncertain, or the foundations bad, or out in undeveloped districts abroad, a building of timber will serve the purpose for a number of years, or until the period of probation has passed, and the actual requirements are accurately ascertained. In a timber-built shed, the decay usually commences about the ground line, but if the nature of the soil will permit of the construction of a small dwarf foundation wall of masonry or concrete up to about nine inches above the ground line, the life of the building will be prolonged for several years.
The best method of admitting daylight into a goods-shed is from the roof, and a liberal extent of roof-glazing should be provided for the full length of the building, and so distributed as to be well over the loading-banks. In tropical countries the amount of roof light must be reduced, on account of the great glare from the sunlight.
An ample supply of artificial light will be necessary when working after dark or during the night. In some instances the goods-sheds in large and important business centres have one or more upper storys, in which goods are warehoused pending the owners’ instructions, the goods being transferred between the loading-banks and upper floors by lifts or cranes.
A proper supply of weighing machines for carts, drays, railway trucks, and packages on the loading-banks will be necessary to facilitate the checking of the goods.
There is always a large proportion of traffic which can be dealt with outside the goods-sheds, either on loading-banks or cartways alongside the sidings. Outside loading-banks should be of good width, with approach roads of easy gradient. In tropical countries a light shed, open on all sides, is frequently erected over a portion of these outside banks, to protect the goods and workmen from the heat of the sun. Fixed cranes or travelling cranes will be required for lifting the large packages, heavy castings, and logs of timber. Where there is a large cattle traffic,