Inverurie’s modern development followed the opening of the Aberdeen Canal, in 1806, the arrival of the railway, in 1845, and particularly the Loco Works built by the Great North of Scotland Railway in 1898–1905. Ten locomotives were built at the Inverurie Loco Works before it switched to repairs and maintenance. The works closed in 1969. The only surviving example of a GNSR locomotive is the Gordon Highlander, now on display at the Scottish Railway Museum.