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View Full Version : Inverurie Locomotive Works, Aberdeen, Report, 29/06/08 ARCHIVED



Shepy
01-09-2008, 12:57 AM
The Inverurie locomotive works opened in 1903 after being built by Great North of Scotland Railyway as a replacement for their site at Kittybrewster, which was bursting at the seams and running over capacity. The decision was made to relocate the entire operation to a new purpose built site at Inverurie, which boasted 5 separate blocks of buildings which were: Office Building, Locomotive Works Building, Carriage and Wagon Building, Paint Building and finally Smithy and Forge Building.

The site, and many of its supporting houses which were built to accommodate the workers, was powered by electricity generated within the works itself and employed 580 people, which at the time was over 10% of Inveruirie's population. The site was originally intended to be the production site of new locomotives, though only 10 locomotives of the LNER Class D40 were built at the site between 1909 and 1921, the rest of the work at the site being carried out in repairs on existing locomotives and carriages, and later diesel engines. The site was refurbished with all new equipment in 1964, and it was expected to become the premier site for repairs in Northern Scotland for British Railways.

Despite the lower costs at Inverurie for repairing rolling stock, reluctance to take that rolling stock up to Aberdeen caused ongoing problems for the site, this work instead being carried out at more expensive but closer workshops to avoid the use of the congested railway network to get the rolling stock to the site.

The works was capable of producing any British Railways components at low cost. It could take on virtually anything in engineering—machining, smithy work, cyanide hardening, welding, plate work and general fitting, not to mention carpentry, upholstery and electrical work of all types, including battery charging and repair.

The black cloud of closure that hung over the site for so long even shelved the development of a £250,000 housing scheme in the late sixties due to fears that the town would not have the population to fill the scheme were the site to close.

In 1969 the site closed after many of the lines in the area operated by Great North of Scotland Railways. The site was sold to the local council for a paltry £25,000 and remained mostly intact until 1982 when the stores were demolished, followed by several other buildings in 1995, leaving only the larger Carriage & Wagon shop and the Electricians shop. The site operated for various other companies until 2003 when complete closure and dereliction came, but thankfully a listed building status was given to the remaining buildings so they should be around for a while yet.

The site is all ground floors and designed to hold trains, so needless to say the floors are sturdy enough! Safety isn’t really an issue here; it all seems sturdy enough though the roof is missing in a lot of places, so the pigeons have firmly taken hold!

On with the pics:

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~Shepy

Shepy
01-09-2008, 12:57 AM
And HDR as usual:

http://www.shepy.co.uk/urbex_pics/inverurie_locos/hdr1.jpg

http://www.shepy.co.uk/urbex_pics/inverurie_locos/hdr2.jpg

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http://www.shepy.co.uk/urbex_pics/inverurie_locos/hdr4.jpg

http://www.shepy.co.uk/urbex_pics/inverurie_locos/hdr5.jpg

~Shepy