Going Round In Circles
In public transport, there are very few true "circular" services, by which we mean that the vehicles keep going round and round. There may be a short break at least once but there is no terminus. London's CIRCLE line used to be one, but it is no more. It does not circle.
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It starts at Edgware Road, then does run right round the circle to Edgware Road, continuing to Hammersmith. It is therefore NOT a true circle because, for example, you could not board at Westminster and travel all the way round to Westminster - you would have to change at Edgware Road.
But Glasgow's Subway, renamed Underground and re-renamed Subway, does circle, it can do no other. It opened in December 1896 and was rope worked. Here is the mechanism that hauled the ropes.
A typical rope hauled train is being cleaned for service ...
... and similar as presented in the old museum.
The black and white picture car looks far too long for Glasgow. But it must be right - Wikipedia says so!
But the planners of the circle did not seem keen to provide for interchange with Glasgow's Railway Stations. Buchanan was close, as was Queen Street; Central was not too far away. Even St Enoch which was next door to a like-named Subway station, had no physical link.
A geographcal map does not really provide any extra information, the circles are so simple.
Buchanan Street was just a rebuilt shop front on Buchanan Street ...
... whilst St Enoch was right outside the long-since closed railway station of the same name.
The palatial building was the HQ of the system and appropriately grand. Electrification came in 1935, but the stock remained the same with electric power and electric doors replacing the iron gates. A red livery was adopted.
This was the Subway as explored by fbb as he was a-courting the future Mrs fbb in the early 1970s.
The system remained little changed until the mid 1970s when a complete closure was decided upon. Stations were either rebuilt or at least cleaned and repainted; new stock was provided for reopening and under the PTE the nickname became the Electric Orange.
The 1977 trains are now gone with one car a museum piece at The Riverside!
The recent development has included further upgrades to several stations and brand new trains.
So when Lochs and Glens deposited the fbbs in Central Glasgow, fbb negotiated an extension to his Queen Street station exploration - to ride on the new trains.
He travelled one whole stop from Buchanan Street to St Enoch and back at a fairly pricey £3.50. The Subway has a flat fare system.
Some time ago a proper pedestrian link was created between Queen Street big-train station and Buchanan Street Subway.
Now we have a "travolator" moving walkway!
The Buchanan Street entrance is now much more welcoming, quite impressive, indeed.
The subterranean ticketing area is bright, cheery and spacious. And the ticketing system is fully electronic with barriers ...
... with tap-on ticket checking.
And there is the Puzzle Picture.
St Enoch became firstly an enquiry office, one of the best on The UK; then a coffee shop. Access to the trains was via external escalators ...
... later enhanced with a posh lid!
Very impressive. At St Enoch there is lift ...
... or escalator ...
... down to platform level, depending which side you wish to access. At Buchanan you have escalators down to a mezzanine floor but the last descent is a stairway.
The trains are still small - obviously ...
... but four car instead of their predecessors' orange three.
It is a far cry from the gloom, the noise and the smell of the "good old days".
Next Variety blog : Fri 21 Mar
And don't forget that the red trains were only painted on the platform-facing side. The opposite side, that was never seen, against the tunnel walls, was just pink primer.
ReplyDeleteErm . . . my recollection of the Clockwork Orange is that there are island platforms as well as side-on platforms. That would mean, surely, that both sides of the trains could be seen at some point on the circle?
DeleteAn urban myth, perhaps?
Yes - the smell of the old system! And the shoogling around! And (if travelling in the front car) exiting through the cab and handing one's ticket to the driver! Incidentally, the black-and-white car isn't "too long" - at some point two original car bodies were mounted together on bogie underframes.
ReplyDelete