St Enoch railway station

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox station St Enoch station was a mainline railway station in the city of Glasgow, Scotland between 1876 and 1966. The hotel was the first building in Glasgow to be fitted out with electric lighting. The station was demolished in 1977.

History

The glass St Enoch Centre on the site of the old St Enoch mainline station in 2005, with the former St Enoch Subway station (now converted into a café) on the right

Located on St Enoch Square in the city centre, it was opened by the City of Glasgow Union Railway in 1876.<ref name="butt103">Butt (1995), page 103</ref><ref name="JohnThomas">Thomas (1971)</ref> The first passenger train stopped there on 1 May 1876 and the official opening took place on 17 October 1876.<ref name=JohnThomas />

In 1883 it was taken over by the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) and it became their headquarters.<ref name=JohnThomas /> Services ran to most parts of the G&SWR system, including Template:Stnlnk, Template:Stnlnk, Template:Stnlnk, Template:Stnlnk and Template:Stnlnk. In partnership with the Midland Railway, through services also ran to England, using the Settle and Carlisle Railway from Carlisle to Template:Stnlnk, Template:Stnlnk, Template:Stnlnk and Template:Stnlnk; the so-called Thames-Clyde route.

It was the site of a rail crash in 1903 in which 16 passengers were killed and 64 injured when a train overran the buffers. In the 1923 grouping it was taken over and then operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway. After the nationalisation of the United Kingdom rail network, the station was run by British Railways.

The suburban service to East Kilbride was diverted to St Enoch in 1959, when all but three services were dieselised. The diversion was said to be necessary to reduce the numbers of trains at Glasgow Central.<ref>Railway Magazine October 1959 p. 728</ref>

Model of the station at the former Glasgow Museum of Transport at the Kelvin Hall

The former St Enoch Station Clock at the Antonine Centre in Cumbernauld.

It was a large station with 12 platforms and two impressive semi-cylindrical glass/iron roofed train sheds. The station was closed on 27 June 1966<ref name="butt103"/> as part of the rationalisation of the railway system undertaken by the British Railways Board chairman Dr. Richard Beeching; upon closure its 250 trains and 23,000 passengers a day were diverted to Central.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The roofs of the structure were demolished, despite protests, in 1977.<ref name="GlasgowGuide">Williams (1999)</ref> The clock that was suspended from the roof of the station was saved from destruction and is now on display in Cumbernauld Town Centre.<ref>Seen in the 1981 film Gregory's Girl</ref>

The St Enoch Hotel which fronted the station was also demolished in 1977.<ref name="GlasgowGuide" />

Current site

The site of the station is now occupied by another glass structure, the St Enoch Centre, a large shopping centre. The remains of the station and hotel were used to help fill in the Queen's Dock, today the home of the SEC Centre, the SEC Armadillo and the OVO Hydro.<ref name="GlasgowGuide" />

Though the mainline station is gone, parts of the arcaded approach embankments (now containing shops and restaurants) can be seen to the east of the shopping centre's car park on Osborne Street.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Although the short remaining section which once led into the station now goes nowhere, the southern section remains as a freight line along the route of the Glasgow City Union Railway, crossing the Clydebridge Viaduct of 1899 which spans the River Clyde.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The red sandstone ticket hall which stands in St Enoch Square immediately west of the shopping centre is not part of the former rail station, but is the former ticket hall for the adjacent St Enoch subway station on the Glasgow Subway.

Dunlop Street railway station

St Enoch station replaced another nearby station, Glasgow Dunlop Street, which was opened by the City of Glasgow Union Railway on 12 December 1870.<ref name="butt103"/> It was closed by the Glasgow and South Western Railway the same day St Enoch opened.<ref name="butt103"/>

Services

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References

Sources

• Template:Butt-Stations
• Template:Johnston-Glasgow
• Template:Jowett-Atlas
• Template:Thomas-History-VI
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Urban Glasgow Discussion Forum topic about the station, including pictures