Cabinet-making Section of the Lisbon General Workshops

The General and Mechanical Transport Workshops (OGTM) were the 2nd Section of the Directorate of Industrial Services (DST) of the General Administration of the Post, Telegraph and Telephone (AGCCT). They were opened in 1927 and operated out of buildings in the Tapada das Necessidades. In 1934, on a piece of land beside the Cruz da Pedra stop, a new workshop was set up to repair travelling post office carriages. The OGTM had the following specialised departments: telecommunications materials; metalwork; electroplating and galvanising; foundry; cabinet-making and carpentry; painting; printing; typewriter and general machinery repair. It was responsible for countless jobs and was a valuable aid to the other CTT services, in particular the Technical Service Dept. (DST) and Buildings and Furnishings Dept (SEM) for which it made and repaired telegraph and telephone apparatus, material for lines, mail installations, electricians’ and linesmen’s tools, furniture, sound deadened and listening booths; made transporters, with goods lifts, rolling tape systems, etc.; repaired mechanical vehicles and travelling post offices, typewriters, mechanical numerators, day markings, etc.; and made postal and telegraph orders and various printed material.