Midland Railway Workshops - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Midland Railway Workshops in Midland, Western Australia

Midland, Western Australia

Midland is a suburb in the Perth, Western Australia metropolitan area, as well as the regional centre for the City of Swan local government area that covers the Swan Valley and parts of the Darling Scarp to the east. It is situated at the intersection of Great Eastern Highway and Great Northern...

were the main workshops for the Western Australian Government Railways

Western Australian Government Railways

Western Australian Government Railways was most common name of the Western Australian government rail transport authority from 1890 to 1976. It is, in its current form, known as the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia....

(WAGR) for over 80 years.

History

The first railway workshops in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

were located at Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

and shifted to Midland in 1904

The Midland railway workshops were involved with all WAGR rolling stock and engine construction and maintenance.
Steam engines continued to operate on mainline service until 1971, and the workshops were where all major maintenance occurred.

Workforce

Generations of workers at the workshops had considerable numbers of European migrants who arrived in Australia with limited English language, and there were significant groups of Italian migrants in the workforce.

The workforce of the workshops had a rich history and, since closing, there have been projects to record oral history and collect information about the place and people involved.

Closure

In April 1993, and then Richard Court

Richard Court

Richard Fairfax Court AC , was a Western Australian politician, representing the seat of Nedlands in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party of Australia from 1982 to 2001. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001.Court was born into an old political...

Liberal State Government announced that the Workshops would be eventually closed. Despite a number of protests and rallies to save the Workshops, the call to save the Workshops was completely ignored by the Government. On Friday 4 March 1994, the remaining workers assembled at the traditional Workshops meeting area, the flagpole. Long time employee and timekeeper, Kevin Mountain was given the task of lowering the Australian flag for the last time ending not only his career but 90 years of Western Australian railway history.
Kelvin O'Neill worked there for almost 15 years, he was employed as a Car and Wagon Builder his time clock number was (2001) Service number (72117)

Coal Dam

Located at the far western end of the Workshops site is a 200 m by 50 m dam. Initially created as a storage dam for water supplies in the late 1890s, it was increased in size in 1947 for coal storage. A treatment plant built on the site in 1974 used the dam to discharge wastewater.

Development of the Woodbridge Lakes housing estate near the site prompted environmental studies of the heavy metals and sludge within the dam. The dam has been retained for its heritage value as a water feature, with some of the area comprising public open space.

Memorial to Fallen Soldiers

At the courtyard entrance to the Workshops is a Memorial to Fallen Soldiers. The memorial commemorates the 70 railway workers who enlisted from the workshops and died in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. A further 25 men who lost their lives in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

were later added to the memorial. The figure of Peace atop the memorial was the work of Pietro Porcelli

Pietro Porcelli

Pietro Giacomo Porcelli was an Italian-born sculptor responsible for many statues in Western Australia, including the Explorers' Monument, and those of C. Y. O'Connor and Alexander Forrest....

.

The memorial reads "In enduring commemoration of the loyalty devotion and sacrifice of workshop comrades who fell in the Great War 1914-1918. These our glorious dead. Erected by their fellow employees."

Changes

Recent years saw use of the workshops for a very limited space of time - narrow gauge access to the workshops from the main railway line was re-instated in mid-2004, and effectively ceased in late 2007. The Midland Redevelopment Authority appears to have removed the workshops from any significant working rail heritage status by an abiding interest in residential purposes above other interests.

Until late 2007 the Australian Railway Historical Society

Rail Heritage WA

Rail Heritage WA is the local trading name of the Australian Railway Historical Society Inc.It is the owner and manager of the Bassendean based Western Australia Rail Transport Museum....

had performed restoration work and house part of their collection in the workshops.

South Spur Rail Services

South Spur Rail Services

South Spur Rail Services is a Western Australian owned railway company that provides terminal operations and short haul rail services to the rail transport industry. It is a family owned and operated business formed in 1997 whose shareholders come from a Westrail background.South Spur Rail have a...

used to occupy several roads, in part due to their association with the Spirit of the West restaurant train

Spirit of the West (train)

The Spirit of the West was a restaurant train that operated out of Perth, Western Australia. It was the brainchild of South Spur Rail Services and began using four restored coaches hired from the Australian Railway Historical Society and a power car purchased from the ARHS and restored to running...

that was stabled in the workshops, they have since moved to an area closer to Bellevue and the Roe Highway overpass.

Transwa

Transwa

Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 275 destinations within Western Australia, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south to Esperance in the east along with the regional centres of Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Northam, Geraldton and Albany.Transwa is...

used the workshops for storage of the new Prospector

Transwa Prospector

The Transwa Prospector is a standard-gauge passenger train operated by Transwa that runs between Perth, Western Australia, and the Goldfields town of Kalgoorlie.-History:...

and Avonlink

Transwa Avonlink

The AvonLink is a standard gauge passenger train operated by Transwa that operates between Perth, Western Australia and the Avon Valley. It provides one service in each direction every weekday, to and from the regional town of Northam, and since 2004, has provided three extended services a week to...

railcars during their trials. Transperth

Transperth

Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system in Perth, Western Australia. It is operated by the Public Transport Authority.-History:...

used the workshops for storage of the new B series railcars

Transperth B-series train

The Transperth B-series trains are the newest model of electric trains that run on the Transperth metropolitan transit system in Perth, Western Australia.The new trains run in configurations of 3 or 6 carriages...

upon delivery from Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, until bogie exchange

Bogie exchange

Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the chassis containing the wheels and axles of the car, and installing a new chassis with...

s from standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

to narrow gauge could take place, then the cars were moved to either the Claisebrook

Claisebrook railway depot, Perth

Claisebrook Depot is a Transperth Trains depot next to Claisebrook station, at 122 Kensington Street, East Perth. When trains leave this depot, they connect with the Midland/Fremantle, Armadale, or Clarkson lines...

or Nowergup

Nowergup railway depot, Perth

Nowergup Depot is a Transperth Trains depot in the suburb of Nowergup, Western Australia. When trains leave this depot, they connect with the Joondalup Line.-History:...

depots.

Despite its disinterest in supporting working rail heritage to continue at the workshops, the MRA has produced an undated pamphlet that gives an excellent but brief overview of the workshops history - which is derived from various sources including the Midland Railway Workshops Site Conservation Policy of 1994 produced by Heritage and Conservation Professionals

The eastern end of the Workshops site has already been developed in a bulky goods retail area and the Western Australian Police Operations Centre which has incorporated the former Flanging Shop into their centre. While a new major government hospital will also be constructed in the future.

The section of the workshop area to the east of the main railway buildings has been demolished to make way for projects which the Midland Redevelopment Authority has earmarked for further development. The main buildings in the middle of the workshop area remain.

Personnel

George Alfred Julius, inventor of the automatic totalisator

Automatic totalisator

An automatic totalisator is a device to add up the bets in a pari-mutuel betting system. The whole of the pot is divided pro-rata to the stakes placed on the winning competitor and those tickets are paid out....

was a premium

Premium

Premium may refer to:* Premium , a promotional item that can be received for a small fee when redeeming proofs of purchase that come with or on retail products....

apprentice here in the early years of the C20

C20

C20 or C-20 may be:* C20 , a mix of concrete that has a compressive strength of 20 newtons per square millimeter* HMS C20, a 1910 British C class submarine* Sauber C20, a 2001 racing car* C-20, a series designation for military aircraft:...

, before removing to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

and co-founding his own engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

partnership.