Post by David A GourlayOn the subject of old Glasgow Termini, does anyone remember Buchanan Street?
No, it was before my time. However, I have a number of
good pictures of it now.
Post by David A GourlayDoes the tunnel to that former station still exist, or was it filled
in/destroyed?
The south portal is still there, although they are currently building houses
right in front of it. Good luck to anyone living there - the north portal
came out next to a chemical works and the tunnel itself is said to be
saturated with whatever nasty elements they were playing about with.
This must have leaked out at the south portal, as the tunnel was heading
downhill from Pinkston Road. Stand in Pinkston Road and take a deep
breath - rotten-egg-tastic....
The north portal was "landscaped" in the very early 1980's and filled in
up to street level in Pinkston Road. They built a little round, brick
building
with a door, which presumably leads down into the tunnel itself. The last
time I saw the south portal (1996?), it only had a wire mesh fence
preventing
access. Dont know the current state of play with it TBH.
As far as Im aware, they dont tend to "fill in" old tunnels for risk of
subsideance. Certainly, the Glasgow Central Railway tunnels
are all still in existence.
Post by David A GourlayDid the Buchanan St tunnel pass over or under the Queen St tunnel?
Over, by a not an insurmountable height difference, by the looks of it.
You can judge that when you're in Pinkston Road, where originally
both tunnels emerged. I know from photographic eveidence that Pinkston
Road past over the Buchanan St line at about the same road-to-railway
distance as it currently does over the Queen St line.
Some people have suggested creating a new branch inside the Queen
St tunnel and burrowing into the old Buchanan St tunnel to give direct
access to the Cumbernauld/Falkirk Grahamston line. Problem is,
the rest of the route between Pinkston Road and the former location
of Saint Rollox station has also been "landscaped." As a naive boy, I
visited the site of Saint Rollox in about 1986/87 and it was all still
there:
platforms and even the footpaths up to Springburn Road :). It was filled
in around 1991, IIRC. Springburn Road still 'sits' on the original bridge
though - they never converted it into a culvert.
Post by David A GourlayHow many platforms did St Enoch and Buchanan St have?
St Enoch had 12 platforms, see this:
http://www.arbt25.dsl.pipex.com/backg.html
It seems the platforms towards the south side of the station were
shorter than those under the original larger dome roof, due no doubt
to the proximity of Howard Street.
The passenger part of Buchanan Street had 6 platforms and, frankly,
it was a drab station. Think Blackpool North with less character.....
"Lost Lines: Scotland" by Nigel Welbourne is a good book
with some good pics, especially of Buchanan St. And "Memories
of Steam from Glasgow to Eberdeen" by Michael S Welch also
has good images of Buchanan St
http://www.glasgowtrainz.co.uk/
James H