Lost
Railways of Glasgow (Part 2). This page continues Chris Jennings'
survey of Glasgow's many lost suburban railways, focussing on the
west side of the city. Some useful links, e.g. to network maps, will
be found in the introduction to the previous gallery, no.
130. |
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Above:
Botanic Gardens station on the Caledonian Railway's closed
line from Kirklee to Finnieston (now Stobcross), built by the earlier
Glasgow Central Railway. The photographer writes: 'View north-west
on Great Western Road. This had been the ornate surface building
of a station below ground, closed to passengers back on 6th February
1939. It was on the ex-Caledonian Stobcross-Maryhill loop, which
survived until 5th October 1964. (In fact, when I took this photograph
the building was still smouldering from a serious fire that engulfed
it the night before!)' 23rd March 1970. (Ben Brooksbank, used under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 licence) |
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Left:
Looking down from the surface to trackbed level
at Botanic Gardens station. For further details, see the
caption to the photograph below. 14th July 2016. (Chris
Jennings) |
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Above:
Botanic Gardens station is remembered by this sign at street
level, which reads as follows: 'Before you are the ventilation shafts
for Botanic gardens station. Plans were passed on the 10 August
1888 for Glasgow Central Railway which would link Strathclyde Junction
on the Dalmarnock branch with Stobcross in the west. The railway
opened on 10 August 1896. The line entered The Gardens close by
the Main Gates and exited at Kirklee Station by Kirklee Gate. Botanic
Gardens Station was the first on the line to be closed on 6 February
1939 followed by Kirklee Station on 1 May 1939. The entire line
was finally closed on 5 October 1964 after just 68 years.' 14th
July 2016. (Chris Jennings) |
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Above:
The north portal of the tunnel that carried the line under
Botanic Gardens. For a trackbed level view of many of the sites depicted
in these photographs, click here.
14th July 2016. (Chris Jennings) |
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Above:
The extant platforms at Kirklee station, at the north end
of Glasgow's Botanic Gardens; north of here, lines fanned out to Kelvinside,
Maryhill and Dawsholm. The stations at Kirklee and the Botanic Gardens
were unusually close, and it takes only a few minutes to walk between
them. 14th July 2016. (Chris Jennings) |
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Above:
Beyond Kirklee station , the line ran on to an underbridge,
but all that has changed: the underbridge has been removed and a brick
wall erected across the trackbed. No doubt at some future date, the
station site will be developed for accommodation, as has happened
beyond the missing bridge. 14th July 2016. (Chris Jennings) |
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Above:
Adjacent to Kirklee station was a substantial underbridge
on Ford Road, the abutments of which still survive. The faced stone
evident in this photograph, and many others in this section, indicates
how much money the Glasgow Central Railway spent on the construction
of this line. 14th July 2016. (Chris Jennings) |
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Above:
The next bridge north along the line was this substantial
overbridge, which takes Kirklee Road over the old trackbed; note the
fine balustrade. The engineer's line reference, painted in the white
panel on the abutment on the right, reads 'GCL-11', i.e. Glasgow Central
Line, Bridge 11. The bridge is so wide because it is just north of
the railway junction, so had to accommodate separate lines heading
north-east to Maryhill, and north-west to Dawsholm or Kelvinside,
depending on the route taken at the next junction. Passenger services
on these lines were killed off by Glasgow's trams. 20th October 2016.
(Chris Jennings) |