Description

When first nationalized, the railways followed the pattern of having the various locomotive, carriage and wagon works under the control of the appropriate Regional Chief Mechanical Engineer, and the Regional Public Relations Office arranged regular guided tours for visitors, sometimes on a designated afternoon each week, sometimes only for parties by special arrangement.  In 1954 during the modernisation of British Railways the works was enlarged, but in 1962 the BR Workshops Division was formed taking over responsibility for visits but rationalisation took place and the works was run down, closing in 1966.

The part of the site adjacent to North Road is now a supermarket but the huge clock overhanging the pavement, and visible from a considerable distance in both directions, has been restored although the hordes of workmen whom it once hurried to their toil have long vanished.