Inverurie, Harlaw Road, Great North Of Scotland Locomotive Works, Works Building With Smithy, Furnace And Foundry

NJ72SE 121.01 77347 22020

Single storey, rectangular plan M-gabled building with some small later additions. Steel framed construction; predominantly Aberdeen-bond granite cladding; coursed / snecked squared rubble to S elevation; corrugated metal cladding to E end of N elevation. Eaves cornice; raking cornices to gables

The Inverurie Locomotive and Carriage Works played a significant part in the development and history of Inverurie and the wider industrial and economic history of the North East. The works retain a high value within the industrial and railway history of Scotland, especially as it is one of only three locomotive works sites in Scotland which remain appreciably intact. Within the context of the United Kingdom as a whole, the buildings of Inverurie Locomotive Works make a valuable contribution to railway architectural heritage, and are particularly representative of the later generation of locomotive works. During the earlier part of the nineteenth century, railway locomotives throughout both England and Scotland tended to be supplied by private engineering manufacturers.

The works at Inverurie were, for their time, advanced in terms of layout and equipment and included a 60 ton electric travelling crane for easy movement of locomotives over each other in the erecting shop, and a very wide use of electricity for lighting and powering various machines (electricity, taken from the works' current, was also supplied to the workers' homes, an unusual luxury for houses of this class at the turn of the century). (Historic Scotland)