The various Bathurst newspapers carried stories of the workshops weekly as on Saturday morning September 3, 1887, when the Hon. W. Clarke, Minister for Justice for New South Wales, arrived in Bathurst, accompanied by Mr. Harold McLean, Comptroller General of Prisons. The chief object of his visit was to inspect the new gaol on the Orange Road which was rapidly approaching completion as well as inspecting certain land with a view to deciding whether it should be resumed by the Government for further extensions when needed.

Shortly after ten o’clock the Minister and Mr. McLean, accompanied by Hon. K. Webb, M.L.C., Messrs J.E. Tonkin and F.J. Smith, M.L.A’s, and other gentlemen proceeded to the gaol and afterwards the railway workshops were also inspected showing Mr. Clarke that work could be done in Bathurst instead of being taken to Sydney.

The various horsedrawn carriages travelled to the railway where the Mayor thanked Mr. Clarke for the careful attention he had given to the question of the gaol and the next matter he wished to bring under his notice was the Railway Workshops. The Bathurst Mayor understood that there was some mismanagement in this railway department and that a number of men had been thrown out of employment, while the work was being sent elsewhere and then returned to the district. Originally 400 men had been engaged a short time before and now there were less than 100. The principal work which had been taken away was the making of signals.

During the inspection Mr. Paul pointed out that some years ago a Commission was appointed to inspect and report upon the condition of the railway bridges at Kelso and Wellington. With regard to the former, it was ten years since it had been painted and it was now actually rusting away, while the bolts, etc, were becoming loosened. One of the inspectors had informed him that there was enough work in the district to keep all those who had been dismissed, employed for eighteen months, yet they were not permitted to put the men on. They had also some excellent machinery and it had been proved, after a test, that things could be made cheaper in Bathurst than in Sydney, Newcastle or Goulburn. Mr. Clarke made notes for future reference concluding that the workshops were of special importance to the district of Bathurst.

Some years later the funerals of the two victims of a sad railway fatality, which occurred at the eastern end of the Bathurst locomotive sheds, was held on Tuesday afternoon 12th February, 1918, taking place the day after. Ever since the shocking accident had become known, expressions of keen sorrow had been expressed on all sides. The unmistakable evidences of deep sympathy were manifestly apparent with flags flown at half-mast all day around Bathurst. The two men who had been killed were Mr. W. Hochkins and Mr. Charles Bradley.

Then on Friday, February 24, 1933, there was a fire at the Railway Workshops which comprised 18,000 square feet of floor space with serious damage estimated at £12,000. When the alarm was given the building was well alight and the heat from the flames was terrific. The local brigades could make little headway and it was over an hour before they started to get the blaze under control, and three hours before, the fire was extinguished with much valuable machinery ruined. The cause of the outbreak was not known, but incendiarism wasn’t suspected. Over 200 men were employed in the workshops. The workshops carried out all carpentering and repair work throughout the whole of the western railway system.