Port Pirie Heritage Railway Station Restoration 2024

Restoration & repair of pressed metal & metalwork, cladding, roofing & flashings

National Trust Heritage Asset Conservation / Builder - Stone Ideas / Architect - Swanbury Penglase

Port Pirie South Australia

Adelaide Pressed Metal & National Pressed Metal were contracted to be a part of the extensive restoration & repair to the  Heritage listed Port Pirie Railway Station. Formerly the Ellen Street Railway Station circa 1902 this unique Railway Station has many similar features to a much grander Railway Station - Flinders Street Station in Melbourne. Adelaide Pressed Metal also had a huge part in the restoration & repair of all Flinders Street Station metalworks working with Melbourne Pressed Metal and were able to draw on their extensive experience & expertise from working on Flinders Street to apply to Port Pirie Railway Station. Adelaide Pressed Metal was approached by the National Trust and worked closely with Stone Ideas Heritage Asset Conservation & Swanbury Penglase Architects. Teams from Adelaide Pressed Metal worked in stages with other trades to complete the repairs & restoration works. Works included were;  PRESSED METAL VERANDAH CEILING CLADDING ; Cleaning out & removal of debris in verandah ceiling. Repair & restoration of pressed metal ceiling panels in original design of Candy Stripe Ripple which seamlessly replaced all damaged panels. Replacement & restoration of damaged Federation cornice achieved by custom folding to the original profile & replacing like for like. The verandah was a combination of wrought iron, steel & timber. Structural repairs were carried out to original imperial measurements & the original structure was carefully unpicked to perform structural repairs of the timber framing for the verandah & facade. METALWORK CLADDING & ROOFING ; Repair, restore & replacement of all metalwork, exterior cladding & roofing including all corroded ridge caps & roofing screws, steelwork, lead & other flashings. All zinc flashings were checked, scraped & patched and approximately 86 metres of zinc & lead flashings were supplied.  VERANDAH FASCIA ; The original soft zinc facade was restored & original details of wainscotting style boxes were reinstated like for like with metal O/O OG Battens. The original pressed metal lettering on the fascia which was rusted out was cleaned, repaired, restored & reinstated on the building. REPAIRS TO DOMES & TOWERS ; Repair & replace all damaged Fishscale Shingle Tiles on Domes & Towers which required fabricating a new die of the shingle tile & hand cutting & folding approximately 100  new tiles to replace the rusted & damaged tiles. The modern equivalent of the original soft zinc material was sourced from Germany to keep the authenticity of the original tiles. Repair metal moldings under gutters. Repair cornice capital to tower. Repair window reveals, new flashings installed for Arched window & repairs to  Ocular window. CHALLENGES; The age & position of the Port Pirie Railway Station posed several unique issues. Proximity to metal smelting works meant strict safety measures were required when working on site as a build up of over 100 years of lead dust was evident in and around the buildings. As the heritage station is timber framed, scaffolding & hording had to be engineered to the highest safety methods as the proximity to the coast & strong winds meant that the building had a high risk of being blown over if not securely scaffolded.