It 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.

[2] Furthermore, unemployment had risen in both Bendigo and Ballarat due to a decline in mining operations.

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.

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.

[11][12][13] Since 2009, the workshops had been leased to Southern Shorthaul Railroad, who use the site for locomotive and rollingstock maintenance for Aurizon, GrainCorp, Metro Trains Melbourne, Pacific National, Qube Holdings, Rail First Asset Management and V/Line.