- Hello, we're in Glasgow.
It's raining.
We're outside St. Enochs,
it's time to do the 15 stops on the Glasgow subway system.
So I'll be taking an anti-clockwise trip
on the Glasgow Subway,
but before we start some quick background
and history on the system.
As Glasgow's population grew hugely
throughout the 19th century,
schemes to build an underground railway were first proposed
in 1887, but it wasn't until 1896
that the Glasgow District Subway opened up a circular route
throughout the city with 15 stations.
The 15 stops were all originally built with Island platforms
in a loop just over 10 kilometers long,
running under the River Clyde twice
and it was originally cable hold.
Electrification didn't occur until 1935.
The system also completely closed for three years,
between 1977 and 1980 for much needed modernisation,
something that were referred to again later.
Nowadays services are known as running as Outer orange
on the official map
and Inner that's grey on the official map
and run seven days a week,
but services stop early on a Sunday
at around 6:00 PM to allow time for maintenance.
So here are some things you may not have spotted
or may not know at all,
if you've never travelled on Glasgow's Subway System.
And by starting here,
we have to point out
that what is now a high street chain coffee shop
This beautiful building was the original building,
the headquarters of the Glasgow district subway
in 1977 to 1980,
it was totally dug up, reconstructed
and is now one of only two stations on the network
to have step-free access.
To get around, I'm using this a way smart card ticket,
which always works out cheaper than buying a paper ticket
whether you're buying a single, return or a daily
or season ticket.
They're three pounds to buy from a ticket office or free
if you order them online,
there's basically no reason not to use a smart card.
And so on to the trains,
noting that the smaller than standard gauge,
I mean, smaller trains as well to what you might use to.
So if you're a six foot three like me,
then please mind your head.
Buchanan Street Station is in the shopping district
of Glasgow and it's the busiest station on the network
and as the nearest to Glasgow Queen Street Station,
where there's an entrance exit with a travelator
to take you to the station,
the station, which is currently being rebuilt,
meaning you can now see the 1842 glass canopy,
which has been hidden away for years.
There's nothing really that exciting
to see at Cowcaddens Station,
but it is the perfect example
of how all stations retained here were all originally built
with Island platforms.
And then onto St. George's Cross with an apostrophe,
which is controversial because over the years,
the signage hasn't always had them.
The modern day signs do now,
but if you look closely enough,
so the signage at platform level
has now been fixed just outside the station,
there's another clue on the street
that maybe, just maybe there was some,
a lack of apostrophes.
And onto Kelvinbridge,
our next stop so-called because it's named
after the River Kelvin outside
and there was a bridge over through the Kelvin
and because the river is here,
this is the deepest station on the network.
Not only is is the deepest, but this island platform
is the widest.
And outside, evidence
of the former Kelvin bridge railway station,
which closed here in 1952 with this old cast iron staircase.
And this innocuous grey door,
which is now an emergency exit was the original entrance
to the subway station.
Oh, and yes, here's the actual bridge going
over the River Kelvin.
At Hillhead you'll find this
another one of the stations has been upgraded
by turning its original island platform
into a platform for trains in one direction
whilst a new platform has been installed
to service the other.
There's also a lovely mural by Alistair Grey here
that depicts the local area and the subway history.
Next up, what might just be my favourite stop
on the subway.
At Kelvin Hall, where it's easy to get confused.
This is subway, this is the subway, sandwich is here
trains here do not get the two confused.
Now in the late 1970s,
when the network would refurbished Patrick station
and Kelvin Hall were the only two
to retain their original station entrances.
I confess we may have gone into the wrong subway,
but then we got onto the train and went to Partick station,
which has murals outside
to commemorate the 2014 Commonwealth games.
It's also the station for the nearby Riverside museum,
where they have old original subway rolling stock
on display.
And talking of old original subway,
there's a disused station here too.
We've come outside to Partick station
at the top of this wall here
at the national rail trains part of the Scotrail network
and it's the only station on the network on the subway,
where there is actually proper integration
or be on two separate gate lines.
And this is also the location,
it's all gone of where the subways only abandoned station
is located Murkland street.
Although at platform level,
you can kind of get an idea of where it was
if you look down the tunnels.
Merkland street became disused in the 1970s modernization,
Partick station was built in its place.
And it was also during this time
that Govan Cross was renamed to just Govan
and Copeland road became Ibrox,
but we'll get to that in a couple of stops time.
When the train is Partick towards Govan
in that direction about 30 meters,
there's a moment where there's a cabinet opens up,
there's a railing and with your head pressed to the window,
you can just about see where the old platforms used to be.
That way.
Next stop along the line is Govan,
which is where the Depot's located.
Master station, but up here,
the sign for Berlin Depot who walked down this path,
you can see a train in the open.
So it's a two minute walk down this road,
alongside the fence.
And here, you got an excellent view of well
they're having on the day
that we've can't run any trains outside
maybe it's because it's raining
and we all are going inside to stay dry,
but otherwise this is the place you can in Glasgow.
See a subway train outside, trust me.
The distance between Govan
and the next stop, Ibrox is the longest two stations
at 930 meters.
Welcome to Ibrox, not always called Ibrox,
originally called Copeland road
and then during the closure in the late 1970s,
we had a name change,
it was changed to match the name of the stadium
around the corner apparently some football takes place.
As you would expect, this station is exceedingly busy
on match days, but it's strangely quiet at all other times,
On the outside of Cessnock station,
you can see original signage
from before the 1970s modernisation work.
The arch here also remains following an online campaign
to save it from further modernisation.
Feeling a little tired from our journey so far,
we took a rest before realising
that we haven't done any step counting in our travels yet.
So at the next stop Kinning park provided the perfect place
to do this as it's the shallower station on the system.
22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 31 32.
We made a quick stop at Shields Road
to check out the park and ride facility,
the largest of three on the network.
This one has spaces for over 800 cars,
and it's so large at the Eastern end of the car park
it's actually physically nearer
to the next subway stop along the line.
And that's West Street.
Welcome to West street,
which we confess isn't the most exciting station
on the network nor is Bridge street the one up the line,
however, you see this railway bridge just here
that is a freight and passenger line
and if a project known
as the Glasgow Cross Rail Project goes ahead,
cross rail project, I could probably be named that
the Wallace line.
If that happens,
expect a multi-million pound investment happened
in this area and for this all to be redeveloped.
Until that happens, this is your chance to ride
what we think is the shortest difference
between two stations on the line,
it's just under 500 meters
between here West street and Bridge street.
So I've got my stopwatch up,
we're going to time it.
The distance between iBrox and Cessnock is also very short,
measured at the same distance
but we think that the journey here is a couple
of seconds quicker.
In fact, it's total journey time is 52 seconds
in between West Street and Bridge Street
less than a minute.
And with Bridge Street being the 15th station
on our circuit that brings us back round
to where we started.
And we've returned to where we started at St Enochs,
having successfully done an anti-clockwise circle
of the Clockwork Orange.
It's great fun the Glasgow subway, come and take your ride,
take a train to Glasgow takes about 20 minutes
to do one loop.
Come ride the Orange Train.
(outdoor ambience)