Hutt Workshops

One recommendation of their report read: "In the North Island the shops at Napier, Whangārei, and East Town, so far as locomotive work is concerned, might be closed down, the necessary repairs being carried out at Petone and Newmarket."

A later report from the Minister of Railways in 1928 read, in part: "It was found possible by extension to the existing buildings at Hillside and Addington to carry out improvements that would suffice for many years to come, but the provision in the two main North Island shops was hopelessly inadequate, and consequently land had to be acquired at Lower Hutt and Otahuhu, and modern shops constructed thereon."

The original intention was for Otahuhu to assume responsibility for locomotive works, and for Hutt to be the car and wagon workshop.

At Petone, ventilation was a rather primitive affair, relying on windows and roof vents, as well as circular stoves placed at strategic locations around the buildings.

On 1 April 2002, Alstom took over the operation of the Hutt Workshops on a seven-year contract to maintain Tranz Rail's fleet of locomotives.

[3] Three years later, United Group announced on 16 September 2005 that it had completed the acquisition of Alstom's transport operations in New Zealand and Australia, including the Hutt Workshops.

For example, the workshops refurbished several KiwiRail EO class electric locomotives leased to the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

[7] These locomotives were used to haul consists of SE class carriages on the Wellington suburban rail network, a temporary measure before the arrival of new electric multiple units in 2010.