John Geeee Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 A good friend of mine who lives in Scotland (Thanks Wayne T) sometimes sends me railway related goodies that he comes across in a local weekly auction. He has sent me some old black and white photos which on investigation seem to include some old snaps of the last days of St Enoch station in Glasgow which was closed on 27 June 1966 as part of the Beeching report. I thought I would share them and see if anyone had any interesting historical comments about them. They all scanned fairly well so there are 29 pictures in all which look like someones day outs on the Scottish Railways in the 1960's. I hope you like them and find them of some interest. Cheers John Geeee Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forest2807 Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Wow. Makes me appreciate even more just how much of this country's once amazing railway system I was unlucky to have missed out on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Blandford1969 Posted September 1, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 1, 2012 What a lovely set of photos with Pricess Street, Callander and Killin all included. Thanks for sharing them with us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 There are also shots of Glasgow Buchanan Street, Carlisle Citadel and Glasgow Central in there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard of the Moor Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Awesome! Thanks for scanning and psoting these gems. The rakes of NPCS are very nice indeed. A Parkside Dundas bashers delight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Max Stafford Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Lord Faringdon at Aberdeen, probably in the last couple of weeks of A4 service. There's gold in that there collection! Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted September 2, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 2, 2012 Excellent. Thanks for posting. I'm just old enough to remember St Enochs and my parents tell me I used to prefer the St Enochs train to the Central one when faced with a choice at Paisley Gilmour Street. I can only remember long Maroon trains that I wanted to go on, but mine was always a green one (dmu) I think from one of the end platforms. How I'd love if the railway infrastructure we had in Glasow then was still around today. I've never seen pics of the inside before, so thanks or that.As others have pointed out there's also pics of Buchanan Street and Central there too. I remember there used to be a model of St Enoch on the Sottish circuit back in the late 70s. I think it connected to Elderslie and possibly Princess Pier layouts, although I never did see them together. That must have been some about to operate! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim49 Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 The Elderslie, Princess Pier and St Enoch's layouts you mention were built & operated by Renfrewshire MRC whose current clubroom is only a few hundred yards from the site of the real Elderslie Station. I have no clear memory of seeing either layout on the exhibition circuit although some members have cine film of them in operation. I have been told that two layouts went out together and were operated as one layout at least once but was such an exhausting undertaking that it was never repeated. Barham of this parish, being older than me, will remember it more clearly. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted September 2, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 2, 2012 Cheers Jim Elderslie was a staple of the Paisley MRE from early 70s onwards. I remember Chrysler Container trains pulled by the then new Hornby 47! St Enochs must have been early 80s on reflection because agan I remember Lima Green dmus in use. From memory it was only one span of the station that was modelled. Don't remember much about Princess Pier . I think I saw it, although may just have heard of it. As time goes on the memory plays tricks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bahram Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 I remember this layout well, being one of the builders. The whole was in fact 3 layouts each could be exhibited separately. Elderslie was 30ft by 15ft?. St Enoch was 'J' shaped taking the layout up to about 45ft. The whole layout was operated to a diagram controlled by several numerical counters, it was a common shout at a show 'to stop the clock', you then knew that someone on one of the 11 controllers was in a mess and that the required move was wrong. Elderslie itself had 5 controllers, Bridge of Weir had one, Elderslie yard had an operator. It was not uncommon during 'mad half hour' that anything could happen. For example Princes Pier siding could take 13 wagons, 14 could be sent out. Double heading was common, sometimes with the second loco having no motor, try and shunt that at St Enoch! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bahram Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 I should add that St Enoch still exists in a barn, Princes Pier was scrapped and Elderslie was partly dismantled with the station boards being donated to Paisley Museum. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Western Scottish Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 I remember Elderslie too. We must have gone to the same exhibitions! It will be forgotten now, but back then there really was a limited choice of rolling stock, so I remember Hornby/Dublo Wrenn 2-6-4ts were much in evidence and Hornby 9Fs were shunting the yard at Elderslie. At the time shunting on my railway at home was very rudimentary with a lot of finger poking. Watching the shunting at Elderslie was a revelation, being so smooth. I remember asking my parents for a 9F for Christmas that year, helped by the fact there was one sitting in the shop window of the Variety Stores in Paisley for the princely sum of £9.95. Elderslie was an inspiration and my shunting also became super smooth! Is the model on display in Paisley Museum? Would love to see pics of these layouts if anyone still has them. This was, of course, before the digital age. Thanks also to John for posting the original pics of St Enoch. I was too late to travel there by train but I remember seeing the trainsheds then converted to a car park from the back of Lewis's. I remember thinking that it must have been a really grand terminus. Since then I've researched it a little, looking at books such as "Glasgows Railways" and the Railways of Scotland video series. These show the station and the lines outside it , past Cumberland St, but I've never actually seen pictures of the interior. Thomas Middlemas's book about spotting back in the 1920s and 30s says the interior furnishings were quite church like, and I think you can see that from some of the pics shown. It looks almost Gothic. Thanks for posting these pics Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim49 Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochinvar Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Thanks for sharing these with us. The few that I was stuck on have now been identified (elsewhere) as Stranraer,Paisley GS and Cardross (the burnt-out box). I particularly liked the shot of Princes St,with the destination board "Carstairs and Lanark" and the large SB just visible in the distance.The turntable was immediately to the S of the box,and it was here that most locos were turned - Dalry Rd.shed (64C) not being equipped with such a refinement. However,anything larger than a 4-6-0 had to use the Slateford/Coltness/Dalry triangle. DR Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted September 3, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 3, 2012 Which one is Paisley Gilmour Street DR. I dont recognise it from the pics Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bahram Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 About Paisley Museum I have no idea what they have done with it. Back to these excellent pics, what station is in night shot? My thanks to all for the fine compliments about Elderslie, yes the imagination had to be stretch to see some of the locos that ran on the layout back in those days, it would be easy now, but as much fun, many were known as Araldite specials, some looked like a Royal Scot, but would not stand up to close examination. My good friend Mike Fleck built many Caley locos using a Triang B12 as a starting point! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rannoch Moor Posted September 3, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 3, 2012 Super phots, real atmosphere! Thanks for taking the time to scan and post them. I'm glad someone had the foresight to photograph the infrastructure (and capture the atmosphere to boot) rather than just focussing on the trains. Whilst I agree with Dave's comments re Lord Faringdon, I think the real gold is the St Enoch stuff. Is the 23rd one (the night shot after the Callander Camping Coaches) Dumbarton Central by any chance - it's certainly the right style for the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire if I have assessed it correctly....? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rannoch Moor Posted September 3, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 3, 2012 Dumbarton Central might also make sense given the burnt out SB has been id'ed as Cardross.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Max Stafford Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I wasn't diminishing the value of the other shots by mentioning 60034 Gus, purely mentioned at random. I can remember St Enochs as a car park about 1971-2 and clearly in my mind's eye picturing it with trains in. About the only major structural change made post closure was track removal and bay infill. Otherwise it still looked like a railway station There's a whole glorious thread devoted to this most glorious of Glasgow's Railway Age Cathedrals. Such a shame it didn't survive into a more enlightened era - how well those canopies would have scrubbed up! http://urbanglasgow.co.uk/about399.html&highlight=st+enochs Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Geeee Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 Thanks everyone. You added some great interest and insight into what was some simple B&W pics that I knew nothing about but seemed to show the atmosphere of railways in the 60's on old Kodak paper. They seemed more real than just flicking through pages in a book. I am very glad that they raised such interest and discussion Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JohnR Posted September 4, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 4, 2012 There's a whole glorious thread devoted to this most glorious of Glasgow's Railway Age Cathedrals. Such a shame it didn't survive into a more enlightened era - how well those canopies would have scrubbed up! http://urbanglasgow....light=st enochs Dave. Thanks for the link - some atmospheric stuff posted on that thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rannoch Moor Posted September 4, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 4, 2012 I wasn't diminishing the value of the other shots by mentioning 60034 Gus, purely mentioned at random. Dave. Oops - didn't mean it to sound that way Dave . Agree with the Urban Glasgow site though - I think I found it a while ago via one of your earlier links to it on another post and my Father In Law loves it too. All - any thoughts on the night one being Dumbarton Central? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteScR Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Thank you for sharing, some real nostalgia there. I always remember the huge G&SWR mosaic in the floor of the enquiries office at St Enoch and a model of a steam loco that sat in the window. I too remember the choice we had to go to Glasgow, either Hillington East or Crookston as we lived mid way between both. I liked going in via the canal line as we passed Corkerhill depot, but sometimes got the "express" train from Paisley to St Enoch's too. I can recall being at the auction sale during the final days of St Enoch's, but unfortunately my pocket money only stretched to a book on the new Blue Trains. If only I could go back in time. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flubrush Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 All - any thoughts on the night one being Dumbarton Central? I would agree that it's Dumbarton Central on the UP side and looking towards Dalreoch. I stood on that platform often enough. Jim. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rannoch Moor Posted September 5, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 5, 2012 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! Gus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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