Railway workshops began in the north of England as small engineering concerns building the engines that powered early railways such as the Stockton and Darlington.

Once the railway companies had become firmly established, they began to set up their own engineering workshops to build and maintain not only locomotives but also carriages, wagons and all manner of other equipment. Locations such as Crewe, Derby, Doncaster, Eastleigh and Swindon soon became famous as 'railway towns', with new communities growing up alongside the extensive railway workshops to house the thousands of workers and their families.

In this illustrated introduction, Tim Bryan explores the development, heyday and decline of British railway workshops, and examines their legacy today.