I know with the Launceston closure it was a big deal. Launceston is only about 100,000 people and about that time there were a few closures in this type of manufacturing affecting car and agricultural stuff . The trickle down affect of our car industry ceasing is not just the car factories but the whole supply chain .
It's tens of thousands of jobs in reality . Some businesses diversify for other arms of manufacture , some can't because there is no market or not a big enough market .
In the mid 1990's Tasrail closed down the old Railway workshops from the 1870's and modernised on a different site for the newer stuff . The original Inveresk workshops were made redundant and some jobs were lost . Over time there has been a major re development of the site involving the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and UTAS .. and now people are employed to run an interactive place that is great to visit when in Launceston . The tramway is part of that and these old trams from early in the city's history have been restored and made to be enjoyed again .
In the 1950's our locomotives and rolling stock were built from the ground up in the original railway workshops , not just maintained as they are now .
http://www.greatrailexperiencestasma...13439941406250 . A little bit on this that keeps getting bigger and better as time moves on .