The cast iron pump house (R52) is significant as an unusual example of a special-purpose structure built by a local manufacturer. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. The workshops have a strong association for the people of Ipswich with the development of their community. For most of its 130 years, the North Ipswich Railway Workshops have employed more than 1,500 people at any one time, with a maximum of more than 3,000 just after the Second World War. As one of the largest places of employment in Ipswich, the workshops had a continuing and major impact on the lifestyles of thousands of families who resided in the city. As a result of its inner city location, the daily routine of workshops life was noticeable to people in other walks of life. Ipswich people took pride in the achievements of the workshops, as evidenced by numerous newspaper articles and features in commemorative magazines over a very long period of time. In particular the workshops have a strong association for former employees. The workshops also created a community within itself, together with its own workplace culture. At various times the workshops community had its own co-operative ventures and interacted with the outside community through its own sporting and service clubs. Workmen took pride in their workplace and created their own gardens and outdoor lunch areas, personalising their industrial environment. The Power House (R10) is an icon of the Ipswich Railway Workshops and a landmark of Ipswich. The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history. The North Ipswich Railway Workshops are significant for their strong association with the important early figures in Queensland's railway history in including Henry Horniblow. The buildings on the site are part of a tradition of railway architecture and design in Queensland, and are significant for their association with the work of several important architects, engineers and railway planners including Henry Stanley, Henry Plew, William Pagan, Henrick Hansen, William Nisbet, Francis Jones, Vincent Price and Charles Da Costa. In the Bogie and Brake Shop (R8), the old timber lockers with random messages and chalked notices are evidence of the strong association with former employees. The Power House (R10) was part of the grand vision conceived by Chief Mechanical Engineer, William Nisbet, who, with his extensive railways experience overseas, influenced the major planning decisions at the Ipswich Railway Workshops at the turn of the century.