Buchanan Street Station (Not Subway)

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Buchanan Street Station (Not Subway)

Postby james73 » Thu Jan 29, 2004 5:57 pm

Following on from the thread about St Enoch Station, I found some
interesting stuff at the Virtual Mitchell about Glasgow's least know
and least (visually & architecurally) impressive rail terminus.

The drab entrance
Image


Kiosks inside the station
Image

Image


A train emerges from the tunnel into the station. This tunnel portal
remains in situ, although the area in the foreground has been converted
into flats. The retaining wall held back the Monkland Canal, now buried
in a pipe below the M8 motorway.

Image


High level view of the area, with Queen Street Station at the right. circa 1971-75
Image


More central view, with Parlimentary Road cutting a path straight
through Townhead. That part of the road is now a footpath. Note: none of
the Townhead masionettes have been built yet. circa 1971-75

Image


The area of the station and goods yard. Note the Caledonian Uni
(nee Glasgow College of Technology) appearing rather isolated as
Cowcaddens Road hasn't been built yet. The building in the bottom
centre of the picture survived until the late 1990's and the main entrance
to Buchanan St Bus Station was immediately next to it. The new hotel
building built on it's site curiously kept to the same misalignment.
The Buchanan St Railway Station main building was to the middle left
in the area now occupied by parked cars. The influence cars were beginning
to have on the city centre is clear to see in these images.

Scotrail House (later Railtrack House) is to the left of the University
buildings and is wrongly quoted as having been built on the site of the
Railway Station. This is not true, as pictures available in many books
clearly show. ­Note also the dark, hole in the ground to the upper right
of the muddy field - this is an air vent for the Queen St Station tunnel
and the new east part of Cowcaddens Road now passes to the immediate
north of it. circa 1971-75

Image


The old building next to the new Bus Station. Note the multi storey
eyesore, er, carpark behind it. The famous Apollo Thearte Building is
in the background. circa 1976

Image


High level view of the area. Parlimentary Road has been cut off at the
new section of North Hanover St (although a part survived in use up at
the Castle St end until the early 1980's). The new Bus Station is complete
as is Cowcaddens Road east. Re-alignment of "Killermont St" (nee
Parlimentary Road) has yet to take place. It wasnt complete until the early
1980's - not a very welcoming site for visitors to the city, was it? The
Cunningham St bridge over Queen St Station and the demolished remnants of the old
Bus Station survived in situ as a surface car park until the hideous
Buchanan Galleries were built. circa 1976

Image



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Last edited by james73 on Mon Dec 25, 2006 5:34 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Postby james73 » Fri Jan 30, 2004 7:31 pm

A4 No. 60034 leaves for Aberdeen. Scotrail House is under construction in the background. Picture taken from the tunnel retaining wall.
Image


B1 4-6-0s No. 61244 'Strang Steel' and A4 No. 60026 'Miles Beevor' wait to depart August 1965. The wooden walkway between the tracks was apparently for the convience of the staff.
Image


An overview of the station from the Dobbies Loan roadbridge. The 'grottyness' of the station is plain to see in this shot - kind of like Blackpool North with less character... The platform canopies were apparently taken from the closed Ardrossan Harbour station. :roll:
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A2 No. 60528 'Tudor Minstrel' enters the station May 1966. The roadbridge in the background is Dobbies Loan. Unlike St Enoch, Buchanan Street never lost it's semaphore signalling.
Image


The familar sight of the Sauchiehall St office block in the background.
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Enthusiasts watch A4 No. 60031 'Golden Plover' leave for Dundee, April 1965.
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A2 No. 60532 'Blue Peter' departs towards the tunnel July 1966.
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A4 No. 60034 '' departs for Aberdeen July 1966. Scotrail House is under construction in the background, but is barely visible thanks to the plume of steam.
Image


V2 2-6-2 No. 60816 climbs uphill towards St Rollox station. The area of this photo has now been filled in totally. The bridge behind carried a freight rail line into the Pinkston works. Behind that (hard to see) is a road bridge which carried Pinkston Road over the railway as it appeared from the tunnel. The entire area, to this day, stinks to high heaven thanks to the chemical factory that was nearby. The muddy ground next to the track was said to be saturated with waste from the plant.
Image



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Last edited by james73 on Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby partickular » Tue Feb 03, 2004 11:35 pm

These are all excellent pictures. It is quite astonishing how much the area around the bus station and Queen St Stn has changed since these pictures were taken. The last picture in your first posting (the one with the new bus stn complete) shows in the foreground that isolated pub (Mathew Reid I think it says). Behind this is the site of the old Dundas St bus stn. On the cream coloured wall behind the pub you can just make out an oval shape, which is the remnants of a large 'Bluebird' logo that once flew proudly on this wall. This of course was the logo of Alexander's 'Bluebird' buses/coaches.

On the subject of that pub, I recall an isolated old spit'n'sawdust pub surrounded by ad-hoc car parks that existed on these sites around that time. I think it was called Bar 82, and always seemed to be popular howf. It remained in use until the mid 80s before the concert hall was built. Was this the same one as in the picture, or was it another? If you walked straight south from the new bus station, across the car parks where Parliamentary road was previously, heading straight down Dundas St heading for Queen St Stn, you'd pass it on your left. I was never in it (I was a teenager at the time), but it always looked a real old fashioned joint. Anyone else remember it?
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Postby james73 » Wed Feb 04, 2004 10:59 am

partickular wrote:On the subject of that pub, I recall an isolated old spit'n'sawdust pub surrounded by ad-hoc car parks that existed on these sites around that time. I think it was called Bar 82, and always seemed to be popular howf. It remained in use until the mid 80s before the concert hall was built. Was this the same one as in the picture, or was it another? If you walked straight south from the new bus station, across the car parks where Parliamentary road was previously, heading straight down Dundas St heading for Queen St Stn, you'd pass it on your left. I was never in it (I was a teenager at the time), but it always looked a real old fashioned joint. Anyone else remember it?




I recall, in that area, that there was that pub shown, but also another pub to the
right hand side of it, on the other corner with Cunningham St. Next to it
was a fruit & veg shop (I think). Both the pub and shop were indeed open
for some considerable time after the decimation of the entire area. Also,
the wall seperating the old Bus Station from Parlimentary Road was still
there until they built the Buchanan Galleries. It's quite shocking that it
took the best part of 30 years to complete this project.

I think I may be right in saying that it wasn't until about 1990 that they
threw up a big wooden fence around the whole area, added in a few
gates, and called it a car park. Whether or not the shop and pub were
still open up until then I cant say. I do remember walking over the
Cunningham St bridge, and down the wasteland hill at the other side in
the late 1980's. At that time there was nothing to stop you doing this.

Killermont St was relaligned in the early 80's and I think the Concert hall
was opened in 1990 - that's why I'm thinking that this was the time that
they put up the fence around the perimeter.





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Postby partickular » Wed Feb 04, 2004 6:02 pm

Another ace pic James, with (I think) a nice Ford Consul Capri in the foreground. I remember that fruit and veg shop too now you mention it. Funny how it survived being out on a limb like that. I think the area in question was used as a car park before the fence you mentioned was put up, as you could use it (and many did) as a thoroughfare between the bus stn and Queen St station. I seem to recall it was edged (at least on the Killermont St side) with those metal bollards around 4 feet high with black and white stripes on them. The details are all a bit hazy now though.
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Postby james73 » Wed Feb 04, 2004 6:44 pm

Yes, the area was used as a car park before the fence went up. What I
meant to say was "I think I may be right in saying that it wasn't until
about 1990 that they threw up a big wooden fence around the whole area,
added in a few gates, called it a car park and started charging car
owners for the privillege of parking their car on a piece of shitty,
unsecured wasteground...
" :)

Many times in 1990 I walked up Dundas Street and straight past that old
pub on my way to the Bus Station. I recall in my first year at Uni (1992-93)
also walking across there with a lad from Northern Ireland, who couldn't
believe the mess of the place. He also point-blank refused to believe me
when I informed him that it had been like that since at least the mid-1970's... :?



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Postby partickular » Wed Feb 04, 2004 11:11 pm

Yes indeed it was a disgrace. What tourists must think of the mess and litter on the streets of Glasgow even today is an embarrassment. :(
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Postby partickular » Wed Feb 04, 2004 11:21 pm

By the way James, how do you attach pictures in the way you have been on your posts as I might like to put some pics on at some point? (sorry I'm a bit ham fisted when it comes to computers!) :oops:
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Postby james73 » Thu Feb 05, 2004 10:05 am

When you're creating a message, you click on the 'Img' button. The
'Img' button will change to 'Img*' and it will place a piece of text
in the body of your message like this: [ img ] (without the spaces).

After that, you type (or copy and paste) the full internet address of the
picture, then click the 'Img' button again to close it. For example,

[ img ]http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/vm/images/g244/g024437x.jpg[ /img ]

If I removed the spaces in the 'img' brackets, that picture would show up
in this message. If you want to put your own pictures in a message, you'll
need to upload them to some kind of webspace. Usually, your ISP will
give you some free webspace as part of your account with them.


You create a link to another page in the same way, except this time you use
the 'URL' button, like this

[ url ]http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/vm/images/g244/g024437x.jpg[ /url ]

Again, if I removed the spaces in the 'url' brackets, that link would show
up in this message and would be clickable.


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Postby partickular » Thu Feb 05, 2004 9:27 pm

Jings! Thanks for explaining it. I'll give it a go sometime. :)
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Postby crusty_bint » Fri Feb 06, 2004 4:36 am

yeah James, cheers for the info :D
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Buchanan Street Tunnel

Postby Pgcc93 » Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:42 pm

Heres a map showing the tunnel from Buchanan Street Station. It's now been filled in at the Eastern end but note the Air Shaft is that still extant in some shape or form I wonder :?:

Image

http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/rail/BuchananTunnel.htm
Image

The stone arch on the lower left of the picture is where Queen Street High Level tunnel runs directly underneath the entrance to Buchanan St. tunnel.
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Postby james73 » Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:56 pm

Not sure what that air shaft is referring to - the tunnel was fairly short
in any event. The northern portal was at Pinkston Road. I took the pictures
below at the site of where it used be. My earliest memory of this road is
that there was a big fence around the entire area - they appeared to be
'landscaping' it. The area in the pictures below was also 'constructed' at
this time.

Wide shot, left hand side
Image

Wide shot, right hand side
Image

Closer view - this part of Pinkston Road used to be a bridge, but it
appears that it was removed, and there's evidence of some local subsidence.

Image

Close up view - I've no doubt this structure hosts a staircase down to the tunnel - wonder how you could get in?...
Image



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He's over there...
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Postby crusty_bint » Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:13 pm

james73 wrote:Close up view - I've no doubt this structure hosts a staircase down to the tunnel - wonder how you could get in?...
Image


Could that not be the air shaft shown on the map?
here i go, it's coming for me through the trees
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Postby james73 » Sun Aug 29, 2004 8:02 pm

Could be, but the tunnel always ended there and I very much doubt they
constucted a new tunnel along the formation of the line through the
east part of Sighthill. I remember exploring the sight of Saint Rollox
station aroung 1986/7 and the road bridge, shown below, was filled in
up to the height of the underside of the bridge. It was completely filled
in on the other side of Springburn Road next to the Cawder Bar.







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