In 1881 the Randwick Tramway Workshops were established on the corner of Darley Road and King Street, Randwick as the main workshops for the Sydney tram network. It also had a depot attached.[1][2] In 1902 the workshops were renamed the Randwick Tramway Workshops.[3]
The workshops grew rapidly to become one of Sydney's largest engineering establishments peaking in the 1920s.[4] and performed all heavy maintenance on the fleet, Randwick Workshops were also instrumental for the construction of the L and LP classes that were completely rebuilt from the F class. O/P class, The PR and 2 of the PR1 classes were all converted by Randwick workshops out of trams that had been involved either in accidents or required major overhaul.
During World War I and World War II workers from the Tramways Workshops were diverted to manufacturing armaments and artillery. The 1917 General Strike began with the 3,000 workers from Eveleigh Railway and Randwick Tramways Workshops and spread across Australia to become one of the largest strikes in Australian history.
With the gradual closure of the Sydney tram network in the late 1950s, the need for the workshops declined and they closed in 1960. It then became a storage place for withdrawn trams prior to them either being used as outdoor buildings or being burnt on "Burning Hill". Tram 1979 was the last tram to leave Randwick Workshops in 1971, 10 years after the final closure of the Sydney system and is restored and running at the Sydney Tramway Museum.
^MacGowan, Ian (1990). The Tramways of New South Wales. Oakleigh: Ian MacGowan. p. 7. ISBN0-949600-25-3.
^Randwick Municipal Council (1985). Randwick, a social history. New South Wales University Press, Kensington, New South Wales. p. 244.
^Dorling, Carl (1988). "Out of sight out of mind: tram maintenance as a neglected part of Sydney's tram history". Historic Environment. 6 (4): 19–24. ISSN0726-6715.
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