The locomotive workshop was built as the ‘Königliche Eisenbahnhauptwerkstatt Salbke’ in 1893. It went into operation after 2 years of construction in 1895 and had about 100 workers in the beginning. The first expansion took place in 1899 and created 300 more jobs. It even produced its own power in the boiler house for the whole building complex. In 1910 the track switch workshop was built in the south of the area. In the year 1912 over 800 people worked in the workshop. During the first world war, it constructed wagons for military transports. It got closed down in 1920 because it was declared as unprofitable but reopened with 600 workers a month later. The focus was now set on the repairing of freight wagons.
In july of 1931 a fire broke out in the wood workshop which burned down completely, however all other buildings were left unharmed. The one and only deadly workplace accident happened as a worker crossed a track and got killed by an oncoming machine in the 1930s. In 1938 the workshop was expanded by a forge and turning shop. In 1944 the rail network of the workshop was about 35 kilometers long and had 35 separate tracks. During the second world war, the whole workshop got 80% destroyed by an airstrike. During the strike, the two boilers were in damaged and in danger to explode. Boiler operator Paul Kelle risked his life while removing the burning coal from the boilers and prevented the explosion.
In April 1945 the cleanup and reconstruction of the area started and was back in operation in May 1945. All buildings were fully rebuilt in 1947 while the whole reconstruction cost about 3.385 million DM. In the year 1954 the 100.00 freight wagon was repaired in workshop. In 1957 the workshop received a new oxygen system which provided all workplaces with the gas. The acetylene gas system got replaced with a newer one in 1975 which remained in operation till the closure of the workshop.
After the GDR a lot of workers were dismissed, although it was still invested in the workshop and a new building was constructed in the area in 1990. In 1994, the workshop was incorporated in the Deutsche Bahn AG and the jobs got reduced from 1262 to 150 in the following years. It was finally closed down in 1998 and is left to decay since then.
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