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Eveleigh Railway Workshops

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Eveleigh Railway Workshops

The Eveleigh Railway Workshops was the main railway workshop for the New South Wales Government Railways and considered to have world heritage significance by curators of the Smithsonian Institution.

Contents

History

The workshops were conceived by Engineer-in-Charge John Whitton to build and maintain the infrastructure for the railway system, eventually becoming the largest railway workshops in the southern hemisphere and operated for over 100 years.

  • 1875 64.5 acre site at Eveleigh selected
  • 1878 site resumed, Eveleigh station had been opened
  • 1880 £100,000 compensation price settled
  • 1880's Engine Running Shed, locomotive workshop, carriage shed, CME Office completed
  • 1899 Large Erecting Shop added to the site
  • 1901 Ultimo Power Station electric power to the workshops
  • 1901 By this year the new foundry and laundry had been constructed
  • 1902 Cranes converted to electric drives, new copper and tinsmiths shop erected
  • 1906 Eveleigh station renamed Redfern
  • 1907 The New Locomotive Shop designed and constructed, new compressor house constructed
  • 1914 Electrification of machinery completed, new Locomotive Shop extended to the south
  • 1917 General Strike began with the 3.000 workers and spread across Australia
  • 1920's Several new buildings completed, leading to a rearrangement of the workshops
  • 1925 North bay of Running Shed demolished
  • 1965 Southern and middle bay of Running Shed demolished to make way for ACDEP carriage depot
  • 1970's Workshops rearranged internally to update the works and the Spring Shop was removed
  • 1986 Large Erecting Shop leased to 3801 Limited to house 3801 and rollingstock
  • 2006 3801 leaves the Large Erecting Shop for the last time, returning her to the NSW Rail Transport Museum
  • 2008 Eveleigh Carriage Workshops building adapted for use as an performance space and art gallery and renamed Carriageworks
  • 2009 Redeveloped as Australian Technology Park and Seven Network Sydney headquarters.

    • Locomotive Workshops

    From 1884-1986 the workshops overhauled, repaired, modified and built new locomotives for New South Wales Government Railways. Classes of successful locomotives from the small C30 Class through the C38 Class and D58 Classes and assembly of the largest AD60 Class locomotives.

    Eveleigh Railway Workshops consisted 15 Bays featuring:

  • Bays 1 and 2 - Blacksmith's Shop, 1500T Davy Press, 40cwt double-arch steam drop hammer, a 20cwt heavy steam hammer plus numerous small hammers.
  • Bays 3, 4 and 4A - Boilermaker's's Shop, with Bay 3 featuring the Heat Treatment Room
  • Bay 5 - Canteen and Fitting Shop (part)
  • Bay 6 - Millwright's Shop
  • Bays 7 and 8 - Fitting Shop
  • Bay 9 - Axles and Wheels
  • Bays 10, 11 and 12 - Machine Shop
  • Bays 13 and 14 - Tool and Instrument Room

    • Carriage Workshops

    Built between 1884-1887 were originally designed for maintenance and repair of wagons and carriages. Later new carriages were designed and manufactured. Bays in the Carriage Workshops were numbered 16-25 over 20,000 square metres. A separate building housed the paint shop.

    ACDEP

    On 3 May 1968, the Air-Conditioned Depot (ACDEP) opened as the home depot for all long distance HUB, RUB and stainless steel sleeping carriages taking over the function from Flemington Maintenance Depot. It also serviced carriages off the Spirit of Progress and Indian Pacific. From March 1971, it took over the maintenance on the DEB railcar sets.

    Closure

    The locomotive workshop was closed in 1988 and the main rail workshops were moved to Enfield. From 1988 part of the workshop was used as the Tangara commissioning centre before being rebuilt as the Xplorer-Endeavour Service Centre in 1994. In 2002 the former ACDEP site was redeveloped as Eveleigh Maintenance Centre, which today is operated by Downer EDi Rail and serves both Sydney Trains's Millennium and Oscar sets.

    In 2009 the Locomotive Workshops were redeveloped as Australian Technology Park and Seven Network Sydney headquarters.

    Personnel

    The workshops, at one stage, the largest enterprise in Australia employed local, Indigenous and European migrants throughout its history.

    Notable people who worked at Eveleigh included:

  • James McGowen - Boilermaker and later State Premier 1910-13
  • William McKell - Boilermaker, State Premier 1951-44, Governor-General 1947-53
  • Joseph Cahill - State Premier 1952-59
  • Scott Haydon - Technician and Two Times BMX Front Wheelie Under 11's State Champion

    • References

    Eveleigh Railway Workshops Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA