Midland Railway Workshops

The Midland Railway Workshops in Midland, Western Australia were the main workshops for the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) for over 80 years.HistoryThe first railway workshops in Western Australia were located at Fremantle 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.WorkforceGenerations 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.ClosureIn April 1993, and then Richard Court 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 4 March 1994, the remaining workers assembled at the traditional Workshops meeting area, the flagpole. Longtime 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.Coal damLocated 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.