Description
East Town Railway Workshops – More than a Century of Service. Author: Laraine Sole.
The East Town Railway Workshops were a major manufacturing, maintenance and repair facility of the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) located by the Marton – New Plymouth Line in the city of Wanganui in New Zealand’s North Island. Output included not only rolling stock but also tools, equipment, huts, furniture and tarpaulins. It was a prodigious facility, and one of the larger employers in the city.
East Town was commissioned in August 1880, and was the second North Island railway workshops established as part of Julius Vogel’s Great Public Works policy. East Town closed on 17 October 1986 as the result of an effort by the New Zealand Railways Corporation to rationalise its workshop facilities around the country. At the time it closed, it was the employer of over 450 local residents.
The book describes how the workshop came about, its history up to the time of its closure, and personal histories of people who worked for or were associated with the workshops. It is dedicated to those who spent their years helping East Town build its reputation for excellence and brotherhood.
