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St Enochs Glasgow and other assorted pics


John Geeee

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Cheers Jim, despite living in the Burgh I've been stuck at work here in Fareham for the last couple of weeks so hadn't passed through for a while. The architecture and the window glass made me pretty certain but thought some corroboration would help John Geeee confirm location if he needed to. I'll see it 0700 Monday on the run into Glasgow en route to the airport!

 

I've been away from Dumbarton for over thirty years so my memories go a bit futher back to actual blue trains and V1/V3 tanks :)

 

[Edit] Just had a second thought and had another look at the picture and I think I got the platform wrong - it's more likely the Down platform looking towards Dumbarton East. I don't think the ramps on the Dalreoch side of the station would be so well lit. Brain fade after thirty years. :)]

Jim.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thought I would just post one of Dumbarton Central as of yesterday - it's not precisely the same spot but close enough I hope...!

 

What's the purpose of the white/light grey shuttering around the staircase on the UP platform?

 

Jim.

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What's the purpose of the white/light grey shuttering around the staircase on the UP platform?

 

Jim.

 

This shuttering covers a staircase which was the original entrance to the station, there was stairs on both platforms leading to church street if I remember right the ticket office was at this entrance.

 

post-6643-0-23840800-1347895998_thumb.jpg

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This shuttering covers a staircase which was the original entrance to the station, there was stairs on both platforms leading to church street if I remember right the ticket office was at this entrance.

 

I wondered where the entrance is nowadays and I've just had a poke around on Google Streetview and see it is using what was the old carriage entrances onto the platforms at the north west end of the station.

 

The old ticket office was accessed from Station Road under the railway bridge. It was an island design with a narrow single passageway on each side, so quite an effective bottleneck on busy times.

 

Jim.

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Leaving the handiwork of the miscreants of Renfrewshire MRC to the side for the moment, (I'm a former member so I know what they're like) has anyone any idea of the origin of the Camping Coach seen in the bay at Callander? Could it be ex Caledonian and, if so, similar to one of the coaches regularly hauled by 123 on her travels around Scotland in the 1960s?

 

Jim

 

Sorry for the extreme lateness in replying Jim.

 

The Camping Coach at Callander is indeed ex-Caledonian Railway, but not one of the two coaches hauled behind the Caley Single 123. The Camping Coach shown, No.SC35, is in fact a CR 57ft Lavatory Brake Composite of Diagram 115A (in the so-called 'Large Diagrams Book'), built for the Caley by R.Y.Pickering in 1922 and converted to a Camping Coach by British Railways Scottish Region after its withdrawal from service in 1956, and based at Callander until at least 1965.

 

12 coaches were built to Dia.115A, 7 of which were converted to such Camping Coaches - obviously these coaches were considered very suitable for conversion, maybe due to their internal 'semi-corridor' layout allowing the new 'bedrooms' to be linked to the central lavatories. It would be very interesting to see an interior picture of one of these conversions. Has anybody here ever spent (suffered?) a holiday in a Camping Coach? - I would be interested to know how people were accommodated and collectively made use of toilets/washrooms and kitchens etc. I can imagine it was probably offered as a similar experience to YHA youth hostel holidays - dormitory-style with communal kitchen, with the emphasis on "fun", "simple living", "togetherness" and the like!

 

All of the above prototype info is provided by Jim Smellie on his Caley Coaches website www.caleycoaches.co.uk , as he produces a 4mm scale etched brass kit of this exact diagram in its 2 chassis variants. The semi-corridor kits page is here and the comprehensive prototype data here . Better mention that I'm not connected with Caley Coaches, but have had much help from Jim Smellie in the past. Indeed, Jim49, I often wondered whether you were he in disguise - No.49 being the gorgeous first Caley 4-6-0 and all that! Apparently not, then.

 

By the way, the two ex-Caley coaches to be seen in the 60's in full Caledonian livery were (and thankfully still are - both now preserved by the SRPS at Bo'ness) 57ft Corridor coaches, a Dia.124 Third and Dia.111A Brake Composite. It must have been wonderful to see those out on the mainline behind 123 in contrast to all the dirt. Though I might've been a bit frightened in mi' pram back then.

 

Beautiful pictures Mr. Geeee (now there's an unusual name), thanks ever so much for posting them.

 

Neil

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Barry and thanks for your reply with info on the coach. I hadn't realised it was a semi corridor and had assumed it to be full corridor but with

corridor connections removed and plated over.

 

I've never stayed in or even seen inside any of the Camping Coaches but believed that the practice was 1 coach per family group. Facilities would

have been simple with just a kitchen, toilet with washbasin but no bath or shower, a couple of bedrooms and a living area.

With a coach built to Dia 115A, this would have made life a bit awkward as the 2 toilet compartments were side by side and effectively split the coach

into 2 separate sections. Movement from one end to the other would involve going outside the vehicle, slightly inconvenient at the best of times and

decidedly unpleasant if it was raining. I suppose that one of the toilet compartments could have been removed to allow a full length corridor.

 

Finally, the 49 part of my name is just the year I was born in so I am not the Jim Smellie you were thinking about, although after I have been out for a

curry........

 

Thanks again for the information,

 

Jim

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi John,

Only just browsed the above and what a memory jerk!

My local station was Mosspark West, next stop Corkerhill and then into St.Enoch untl they diverted to Central. I always loved the station but the traffic was poor in relation to the other 3 stations, not enough for a young spotter and St.Enoch was always a COLD hole to visit even in summer!

I recall seeing D163 for the first time there ex: Thames-Clyde

 

Brilliant photo's many thanks for sharing.

Mike

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