Glasgow, Subway
Railway (19th Century)
Site Name Glasgow, Subway
Classification Railway (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Glasgow Subway System; 'clockwork Orange'; Glasgow, Underground Railway System
Canmore ID 278841
Site Number NS56NE 4915
NGR NS 58 65
NGR Description Centred NS 58 65
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/278841
- Council Glasgow, City Of
- Parish Glasgow (City Of Glasgow)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District City Of Glasgow
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS56NE 4915 centred 58 65
Extends onto map sheet NS56SE.
See also:
NS56NE 152 NS 55470 65680 Govan [Cross] Subway Station
NS56NE 231 NS 58937 65004 St Enoch Subway Station
NS56NE 1402 NS 56200 66602 Kelvin Hall [Partick Cross] Subway Station
NS56NE 3031 NS 58683 66192 Cowcaddens Subway Station
NS56NE 4890 NS 57493 66943 Kelvinbridge [Kelvin Bridge] Subway Station
NS56NE 4916 NS 58104 66557 St George's Cross Subway Station
NS56NE 4917 NS 59056 65549 Buchanan Street Subway Station
NS56NE 4918 NS 56639 67039 Hillhead Subway Station [Byres Road)
NS56SE 666 NS 56432 64510 Cessnock Subway Station
NS56SE 859 NS 58240 64154 West Street Subway Station
NS56SE 1230 NS 55823 64793 Copland Road [Ibrox] Subway Station
NS56SE 2174 NS 57621 64208 Shields Road Subway Station
NS56SE 2175 NS 58708 64367 Bridge Street Subway Station [Eglinton Street]
NS56SE 2176 NS 56860 64266 Kinning Park Subway Station [Cornwall Street]
NS56NE 2510 Centred NS 55512 65481 18-20 Broomloan Road, Subway Workshops
NS56SE 103 NS 57878 64106 187 Scotland Street, Subway Power Station
A specialised underground railway system for Glasgow was first proposed in 1887. It was to run from St Enoch Square to Partick along a route to the N of that later adopted. The track was to be interlaced within a 12ft (3.7m) diameter tunnel, opening out into crossing loops at stations set 700yds (640m) apart. The trains were to proceed at 1400yd (1280m) intervals, and permanently attached to a haulage cable. This scheme was defeated in parliament, and was superseded by a proposal for a circular route connecting both sides of the river. This was similarly defeated in 1888, this time on the grounds that tunnelling beneath the river at Yorkhill would preclude further river-deepening downstream of a proposed major dock development.
In 1889, the Glasgow Harbour Tunnel Company successfully gained an Act to build pedestrian and vehicular tunnels under the Clyde at Finnieston. A revised bill presented in 1890 was passed, against the opposition (on commercial grounds) of the Caledonian Rly.
The route lay through mixed strata, including areas of sand and clay where the use of a shield and compressed air was necessary. The tunnels were flooded beneath the Clyde on one occasion. For the most part, the tunnels were constructed by cut-and-cover beneath the streets, piling being sunk to form the sides of a trench wide enough to take the twin tunnels. The form of the tunnel roof was then cast in concrete, the earth inside removed, and the sides and base cast. Of the 11,338m of tunnel excavated, about two-thirds were brick- or concrete-lined, the remainder being lines with cast-iron sections (as used in London). The stations were all of the island-platform plan, and constructed mainly in wood, Hillhead and Copland Road (NS56SE 1230) having glazed roofs rather than being in tunnel. The gauge was 4ft (1.22m), and traction was derived from a cable drawn from a power station at Pinkston (NS56SE 103). This held two steam engines with their associated tension runs and drive pulleys; the cables weighed about 57 tons (57.9t) each and lasted between 90,000 and 180,000 miles (or one and two years). The cable system was preferred for its reliability and ability to cope with occasional flooding.
Termed the 'Glasgow District Subway', the system was completed in 1896 and opened on 14 December of that year. The opening day was marred by accidents, and services were suspended until resumption on 21 January 1897. The system prospered initially, but suffered from competition from electric trams, so that the operating company (the Glasgow District Subway Railway Company) slid into unprofitability after the First World War. The subway was itself electrified 1933-5, at a cost of £94,000. The power station (at Pinkston) was retained, and converted.
On 25 January 1974, it was announced that the system was to be comprehensively renovated.
C Johnston and J R Hume 1979.
The location, map sheet and administrative area (parish) assigned to this record are essentially arbitrary. The continuous ('circular') route passes under the River Clyde twice, into the parish of Govan. It also extends onto map sheet NS56SE.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 14 February 2006.
Construction (1891 - 1896)
Modification (1935)
Bought by Glasgow Corporation.
Electrified by Glasgow Corporation.
Modification (1977)
Modernised by Strathclyde Region.
Project (2007)
This project was undertaken to input site information listed in 'Civil engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' by R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Publication Account (2007)
‘The Subway’, as it was called from its inception, was an ambitious railway project for its time, extending six and a half miles below the city streets in twin tunnels 11 ft diameter side by side. The gauge is 4 ft and the work was completed in 1896. It was modernised in the 1970s by Sir William Halcrow & Partners. The original engineers were Simpson & Wilson of Glasgow.
When the subway opened in 1896 trains were hauled by an endless cable running in sheaves between the rails. The train drivers controlled a device called ‘the gripper’ which could grab or release the cable as required. This method of traction was unique for a suburban railway of this size.
In 1935 Glasgow Corporation acquired the subway and electrified it. It was fully modernised in 1977. In tunnelling under Glasgow, the engineers and contractors encountered a wide variety of material, from sandstone rock and coal measures, to soft clays and silts. Many problems had to be overcome, not least when tunnelling under the Clyde, which is crossed in two places, at Custom House Quay to the east and between Govan and Partick to the west. At the former site the river broke in and flooded the workings on ten occasions. The completion of the river crossing by grouting behind the iron-ringed lining made them remarkably watertight, so much so that the sections under the river are among the driest parts of the whole system.
There are 15 stations, each with 10 ft wide island platforms located on summits with 1 in 20 flanking gradients to assist braking and acceleration. There are no surface stations, and removal of the train cars for servicing to the surface was then a complicated business involving lifting them bodily via a special access pit. Twin rail tunnels 11 ft diameter lined with cast-iron segments cross the river between Govan and Partick. In the past, even with their 1 in 18 gradient approaches, these tunnels were often used in preference to the ferries.
The works were carried out from 1891–96 by several contractors, including Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons, and Charles Brand.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
