Midland Railway Workshops

For over ninety years these sheds
Have raised the workers’ hopes
And for thousands of apprentice lads
It’s where they learned the ropes.

And through the generations
The skills were handed down
At the Midland Railway Workshops
At the east end of the town.

O’Connor had his vision
Of a shop so highly skilled
There was never a job so complex
That these tradesmen couldn’t build.

They’d cast it and machine it
And fit it snug and sound
At the Midland Railway Workshops
At the east end of the town.

Chorus:
At the Midland Railway Workshops
Where your grandad earned his quid
And now we’ve got a chance to know

Exactly what he did
We talk about our heritage it cannot be denied
It’s more than just the buildings
It’s what they did inside.

Platers Fitters Coppersmiths
Combined their enterprise
They made carriages and rolling stock
Of every shape and size.

Trolley buses trains and trams
They moved this State around
From the Midland Railway Workshops
At the east end of the town.

The women made munitions
For the wartime Army Corps
And every shell they made they hoped
Would put an end to war.

And many a social conscience
Developed in these grounds
At the Midland Railway Workshops
At the east end of the town.

Chorus

We save endangered species
And a good thing that we do
But we hardly give a thought for skills
That disappear from view.

And in this old environment
There’s a history to be found
At the Midland Railway Workshops
At the east end of the town.

Yes it’s more than just the buildings
Though impressive they may be
We need to see them working
And save our history.

We owe it to our children
To keep this hallowed ground
At the Midland Railway Workshops
At the east end of the town.

(© Bernard Carney) Music Score to add