When the workshops were established most of the rolling stock had a wooden chassis, so the separation of services was not a major impediment to production.

At the time of the development of the railway workshops, Darlington School was also built, as were other municipal buildings since demolished for the university.

Work also commenced on the replacement of the steam engines at the south end of the workshops by powerful electric motors.

In 1916, James Fraser, Acting Chief Commissioner, addressed workers at Eveleigh on the introduction of the Taylor card system.

[1] As a result of World War II (1939–45), bays 5-6 were cleared of machinery in 1940 and plans drawn up for the installation of equipment supplied by the Department of Defence for the manufacture of 25lb field gun-shells.

Buildings containing old equipment, machinery which had become progressively inappropriate to a modern transport era, and a changing work culture, has seen the yards decline gradually in the late 20th century until its closure in 1988.

Eveleigh is now only used to stable Oscar sets for Interurban services to Springwood, Newcastle, Port Kembla & Kiama and sector 2 trains throughout the day.

In 2017, the volunteer group 3801 Limited (or East Coast Heritage Rail), which takes its name from the 3801 locomotive steam train, who have for a 30-year period used the Limited Large Erecting Shed at Eveleigh to restore and maintain heritage diesel carriages and locomotives that take tourists and enthusiasts on rail adventures, was locked out of its workshop.

Transport for NSW took over the shed after a review determined the 3801 group must clear out to share the space with other heritage operators.

[8] The Eveleigh Precinct is located approximately four kilometres (two miles) south of the Sydney GPO and is bounded by the inner city suburbs of Darlington, Redfern, Alexandria Park, Erskinville and Newtown.

Eveleigh Railway Workshops consisted 15 Bays featuring: The external walls are of sandstock brickwork laid in English bond with arched window and door openings picked out in white bricks.

[1] Inside the building is a grid of round, hollow cast iron columns moulded in a classical style supported on footings.

It provides an environment of unique creativity and innovation; a new home for physical theatre, spoken word, music, dance, visual and hybrid arts.

This has been resolved by the simple gesture of creating a small plaza at street level and celebrating it with a new public marker made of recycled trusses from the building.

The project is essentially an exercise in adaptive reuse: the design reveals and celebrates the industrial heritage of the site.

The strength of the design comes from the directness of its response to the old buildings, respecting their structural grid as an ordering device and inserting simple strong new forms as a counterpoint to the intricacies of the old.

Located in the Redfern-Waterloo precinct, CarriageWorks sets a precedent for the remaining development of the site, for heritage values to be respected and to inform the design of new interventions.

This landmark site has been given new life without forsaking the old - its 1888 industrial heritage clearly evident through the retention of nearly all the significant fabric and equipment extant at the time of adaptation.

While sections of the building have been altered, these are minor in terms of the scale of the overall conservation exercise and accessibility this project brings.

Here at Eveleigh the evidence is concrete.The workshops, at one stage, the largest enterprise in Australia employed local, Indigenous and European migrants throughout its history.

The value of the place is increased by the fact that it consists of assemblages, collections and operational systems rather than individual items.

[1][21] Eveleigh Railway Workshops was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place was seen initially as a positive instrument of state socialism and in later periods as the site of important labour actions and of restrictive work practices.

[1][22] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

The entire complex has a strong industrial character generated by the rail network itself, by the large horizontal scale of the buildings, the consistent use of brick and corrugated iron, the repetitive shapes of roof elements and of details such as doors and windows and because of the uniform grey colours.

The simple, strong functional forms of the buildings have landmark quality, not only as important townscape elements in the Redfern/Eveleigh area, but as part of the visual train journey of thousands of commuters, marking arrival in the city centre.

It was and is an important source of pride and in demonstrating the capacity of Australian industry and workers and a high level of craft skills.

[1][23] The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

This potential is enhanced by the extent of archival material available and because the relatively recent closure means that there are many former workshop workers who are still alive and who know how the place operated.

[1][24] The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.