Even in the 1960s the number of men who worked there was large enough to support nine public houses in the nearby Ogden Lane.HistoryThe original workshops of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway were in Newton near Hyde in Cheshire but were inconveniently situated, cramped and makeshift. In 1845 the railway asked their locomotive superintendent, Richard Peacock, to find a more suitable site for a locomotive and carriage and wagon works. The site selected was two and a half miles east of Manchester at the side of the railway line between the Manchester to Guide Bridge. Peacock was responsible for the planning and design of the works, which at the time of completion covered about 20acre, and eventually growing to 30acre. By the time the works were completed in 1848 the railway had become the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway.The original motive power depot at Gorton, in the form of a roundhouse was unique in that it had two roads instead of the customary one with a pillar in the centre supporting the glazed roof. It was later replaced by a larger facility but was converted to a smithy. The locomotive workshops were adjacent to the roundhouse on its Western side, with the carriage and wagon shops and a paint shop on the other side of the loco shops. A reservoir was constructed adjacent to the nearby Ashton Canal.
