For anyone who is familiar with Carriageworks, the Eveleigh Paint Shop is that familiar sawtoothed building opposite. Designed in the 1880s by George Cowdery, then Engineer-in-Chief for Existing Lines, the Paint Shop's brick main wing was completed in 1887. A metal-clad extension was added in 1912.
The sawtooth south-light roof, characteristic of nineteenth-century industrial design, gives consistent north-facing light into the eight rail roads where carriages were finished. The Paint Shop served the Carriage Works side of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops, which at peak manufactured over three thousand locomotives and employed over three thousand people by 1908.
You might have noticed this building yourself when making your way into the city on the train. It can be seen on your left (city bound) just before arriving at Redfern Station.
Inside the brick wing, a team of dedicated volunteers contribute their time to the restoration of some of NSW's past rolling stock. Some of the trains, such as the iconic "Red Rattler", hail from the recent past. Others date back over a century. The team volunteering here painstakingly restore these examples of railway history back to their former glory.
They also build detailed scale models of former NSW rail sites, like the old Punchbowl Maintenance Depot pictured below.
Seeing the vast changes in the design of public transport over the years, particularly the interiors, was an eye opener. When you can get close enough to see the hand-carved and hand-turned pieces of wood of the armrests, decorative carving in the chair frames, and the wooden shutter blinds, it gives you an appreciation for the level of craftsmanship that's long since been lost in the design of modern public transport.
The carriage pictured above was a hundred and three years old when I photographed it in 2016.
Pictured below is the workshop where the team overseeing the restorations tinker away, bringing the rail cars back to their former glory.
The shoot was created over two initial visits for photography, then about three more visits for research by talking to some of the restoration crew.
The Suburban Car Workshops in the 1912 extension closed in 1989, the last of the Carriage Works to shut down. All railway operations at Eveleigh ceased in 1990. The building has been listed on the NSW State Heritage Register since 1999, graded Exceptional Significance, the highest grading in the North Eveleigh precinct.
Special thanks to Dave Fox (above) and Geoff Moss, who took the time to teach me about the train cars and carriages, and the site itself. This gallery wouldn't have been possible without them. Dave and Geoff are part of Historic Electric Traction, the group managing the preservation of the railway's suburban and interurban carriage collection.
