The Hidden Glasgow Forums

Before the Glasgow- Edinburgh railway came into operation, 1842-1846, it was easier to get to Liverpool and Irish cities than it was to get to either of the Scottish or English capitals. This was the situation in 1845, three years before the cross-border railway service from Glasgow was introduced. ...

In 1846 the Gorbals Gravitation Company was formed to supply water to the districts on the south side of the Clyde. A few years later, in 1853, they teamed up with the Glasgow Waterworks Company with a proposal to supply the city with water from Loch Lubnaig. It appears that the Town Council didn't ...

Bridie wrote:Is there any details or lists of all the Lodging houses from 1800's to around early 1900's anywhere?

Here is a list of the model lodging houses owned & managed by Glasgow Corporation c.1899.

Been having a look at Glasgow's water supply back in 1816, shortly after the advances of technology created by the steam engine allowed the efficient mechanical pumping of water. By 1816, the Glasgow Waterworks Company had 17 miles of water mains and the Cranstonhill Waterworks Company had 9 ½ miles...

Stumbled upon a few snippets about the source and course of St Enoch's Burn while I was researching something totally unrelated. http://www.scotcities.com/railways/stenoch_burn.gif The source seems to be marked by the line of trees just west of the “Road to Keppochhill and Possil” at “St. Rollocks” ...

Found this potted history of the horse-drawn omnibuses in use before the tramways were established in Glasgow.



One man operated buses go back a long way in Glasgow!

Uncovered this notice of 8 February 1848 advising that the new Caledonian Railway service to Carlisle would come into operation a week later, on 15 February, replacing the old mail-coaches. http://www.scotcities.com/railways/caledonian_notice08021848.gif Here is the very first timetable for the long...

Besides the unpleasant (but necessary) duty of shooting people, the mail guards had to keep the coaches running on time. Their clocks were regulated to run fast or slow depending on the direction the coach was travelling. Exactly how this was technically possible is a mystery to me. http://www.scotc...

It was one of those amazing coincidences that the expansion of the railways and the development of the electronic telegraph occurred around the same time, at the very start of the Victorian age. Technologies converged a bit like they did in the digital revolution we didn't see coming. All of a sudde...

While researching the names of the old stage-coaches I was perplexed to find the “Royal Telegraph” coach travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow as far back as June 1800, long long before the electric telegraph was introduced in 1837. This early “telegraph”, from which the coach got is name, dates ...

Tracked down some of Icecubes's stage-coaches which were in use in 1826. There were a few others in service between Glasgow and Edinburgh at the time, with different stopping places. They were privately operated coaches based in Edinburgh. The Champion, the Prince Regent and the Royal Telegraph trav...

Thanks for your contributions! Could see how the route suggested by Alycidon via Ardrossan and Heysham in the first decade of the rudimentary railway network would have been a better alternative for London travel than using the roads, which were by all accounts pretty awful. The Glasgow “powers that...

http://www.scotcities.com/railways/roadvrail.jpg The last coach carrying the London mail arrived in Glasgow on 14th February 1848. The extension of the Caledonian Railway from Beattock to Glasgow came into operation the following day. The railway is described here as “the enemy”. http://www.scotcit...

Moonbeam's ancestor may well have been hanging around with lots of undesirables! The coachmen with their whiplashes and the guards with their blunderbusses got a lot of bad press. http://www.scotcities.com/railways/mailguards_behaviour.gif I love the old-fashioned language in these reports. There is...

Cheers guys. Still sifting through all the bits and pieces I've discovered. The 1830's were the peak time for the horse drawn coaches. Moonbeam's relative would be looking for another job pretty soon afterwards. New steam-powered technology in manufacturing and transportation was changing the world ...