Performing railyards

I did a reconnaissance of Carriageworks today. Our first play in Belvoir Street Theatre's 2012 season will be staged there later in the month. Carriageworks is the former Eveleigh Workshops which for about 100 years from the 1880s built and maintained locomotives and train carriages.

For many years before retirement I traveled to and from work by train passing the workshops daily and whilst I knew of it's location as viewed from a carriage I did not know precisely how to get there from 'land side', so to speak.

We were to have attended a performance from the Sydney Theatre Company's 2009 season at Carriageworks but the Company changed the venue shortly ahead of opening night. At the time we imagined that the STC's largely older and more conservative audience - compared with that of Belvoir St Theatre - forced the change.

I rather like that many features from the old workshops have been incorporated in the renovated facility.

Main entrance

Old rail tracks still in place

The external walls of the workshops remain largely in place. Trains continue to run on the adjacent tracks and a new industrial site has been constructed on the other side of the tracks. All these features can be seen in the next photograph.

Sydney train passes in front of Channel 7's new HQ, far left

The roomy and sun filled foyer

The various performance areas carry Bay and Track numbers as their names. My guess is the names reflect the bay and track numbers that formerly were located in the same positions.

Two of the Bays

Talent in abundance