Islington Railway Workshops

[1] In 1839, John Bentham Neales decided to develop his land into a new village, inspired by Colonel Light's design for Adelaide.

An advertisement published on 13 April 1839 promoted the village's proximity to the parklands and the high road to Gawler, encouraging early applications from emigrants for the limited number of plots.

The workshops grew significantly, with various additions and improvements made to handle the increasing demands of the South Australian Railways.

To address this issue, the Chief Mechanical Engineer at Islington Workshops suggested a project to carry out chemical treatment of water from the Bundaleer reservoir.

[6] After World War II, the layout of the shops was remodeled to facilitate workshop output and mass production methods for the construction of engines, freight wagons, and passenger cars.

Despite the demolition of some original buildings, many of the new modern shops and facilities established during the Webb era continue to carry a heritage rating.

With a history of defense manufacturing, Islington Workshops and other firms collaborated to meet the demands starting from December 1940.

Islington workshops, where large numbers of locomotives and rolling stock were designed and built from 1883. Photo taken between 1915 and 1927, before the encroachment of Adelaide's suburbs.
Buildings and track layout at Islington Workshops, about 1930. The many processes involved in rolling stock and steam locomotive design, construction, maintenance and repair are reflected in the names of the buildings.
A larger erecting shop was built in 1902. This building was where the South Australian Railways assembled locomotives and rolling stock.
A fuel tank car of which many were built from 1929
A 620 class locomotive, which went into service in 1936, was a light passenger locomotive. It was one of several classes of steam engines designed and built at Islington Workshops.