Bendigo Workshops

Bendigo Workshops is a railway workshop located in the provincial city of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. They are located in the north of the city and occupies 10.3 hectare of land beside the junction of the Piangil and Deniliquin lines.

The workshops were opened in November 1917 by the main rail operator in Victoria, the Victorian Railways. They were opened in response to political pressures from provincial groups for decentralisation, with the Victorian Railways preferring the cheaper option of expanding the existing Newport Workshops in suburban Melbourne. Furthermore, unemployment had risen in both Bendigo and Ballarat due to a decline in mining operations. The main work carried out was repairs and maintenance of existing wagons and locomotives, however during 1919-22 thirteen new steam locomotives were also built - eight Dd class (Dd 1033 - 1037, 1047 - 1049) and five A2 class (A2 1078 - 1082). From the 1950s onwards, numerous steam locomotives were scrapped at the workshops. During the years immediately following nominal dieselisation in 1968, they were, at times, cutting up locomotives at the rate of one every two to three weeks.

The workshops were also the site of the first VR brass foundry, which was transferred to Newport by the 1960s. Also throughout 1965 VLX louvred vans were constructed at the workshops, at a rate of one a week. Other tasks included spring manufacture, construction of stainless steel footwarmers, and assembly of pantographs for electric trains, with a staff of 720 employed during 1966. By the 1980s refurbishment work was also being carried out on Melbourne suburban electric multiple units.

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