Glasgow Subway

The Glasgow Subway was the world's third underground railway, after London and Budapest. Originally built for the Glasgow District Subway Company, the railway first opened in 1896 as a cable-hauled system. Propulsion was provided by stationary steam engines and the railway was hailed as the first of its type in the world – similar systems were adopted by San Francisco for their cable car system (and which remains in use) and for the old cable tram system in Edinburgh, whereby two continuous cables were each driven by continuous motion stationary steam engines (one for each direction). Motion for each car was provided by a 'gripper', which could clamp on to the cable, thus pulling the car forward at a constant speed.

The Subway route is essentially circular, all underground, in the centre-west of Glasgow. The train sets continuously circumnavigate the loop and cross the river Clyde at two points. Originally, the two loops operated independently of each other, without switch points; a crossover was constructed during the recent re-build of the system. In 1923 the Subway passed into the hands of Glasgow Corporation Transport Department, and in the following decade the railway was converted to electric traction, introducing a third live rail operating at 600 volts, direct current. From March until December 1935, clockwise trains were cable-hauled, whilst anti-clockwise ones were electric.

"The 1935 electrification was quite bizarre. As well as a conductor rail for traction current, there was a completely separate pick-up system for lighting. On almost all electric rail systems, the lighting power is taken from the same source as the traction power. Indeed, at that time, Glasgow had a huge electric tramway system, and on each tram, the lights were powered, of course, from the traction circuit. However, the subway already had a lighting system, installed for the cable-cars.

This separate system was retained after the conversion even though it would need its own maintenance and upkeep, possibly because it meant that the lights on each car did not have to be re-wired for the higher (traction) voltage. Conductor rails for both circuits were on the side of the tunnel, part-way up the car on the side away from the platforms. This was only possible of course because there were no doors on that side of the car; and it was necessary for the lighting circuits as a between-the-rails current pick-up would have interfered with the traction cable.

"The method used by the signalling system to detect the presence or passage of a train was even more bizarre, since it depended on that lighting circuit! This design decision was allegedly forced on designers because both running rails were mounted on steel cross-ties/sleepers, and so conventional track circuits could not be used. But even at that time, there had been other railways that had had rails fastened to steel decking - for example, the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Rubber gaskets or washers were already well-known as a means of insulating heavy equipment such as rails. A very curious decision.

"There was a sort of treadle in the track for each section, which was pushed down by the wheelset of a train. When a train entered a section it depressed the treadle, which was fixed to the rail just ahead of the signal. This changed the state of the section to 'Occupied', and set the signal to Danger. The lighting current was used (in connection with a short length of one of the lighting conductors or 'T-irons' to clear the section the train had just left. The 'clearing section' was a short length of T-iron approximately 600 feet beyond the signal, which, when the train passed and drew current from it, cleared the section. Thus a train with its lights out would leave the sections behind it in the 'Occupied' state as it went, and eventually it could fill the entire circle up with phantom trains."Dewi Williams

The railway ran with little further change until 1977, when the new operators, Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive, closed it for major modernisation investment. The railway in its present form reopened for operation on 16 April 1980. Now part of Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, the railway is one of the very few railways in UK remaining in public ownership and vertically integrated' with SPT responsible for all aspects of operation and infrastructure.

The route

The railway forms a small underground circle of twin tunnels, allowing clockwise circulation on the 'outer' circle and anticlockwise on the 'inner'. Fifteen stations are distributed along the route length of just over 10km. Eight of the stations are north of the River Clyde which disects the circular route.

Most of the tunnels are relatively shallow, following the alignment of the city streets. The deeper sections that pass under the rivers are lined with cast iron segments, whilst the majority of the tunnels are formed from concrete and brick.

Tunnels are very small, at only some 3.4m in diameter. This is in scale with the unusually small and unique track gauge of 1220mm (4 feet from rail-to-rail), and represents a major constraint inherited from the early origins of the railway. The route, though nominally 'circular', has many directional transitions creating some further constraints on the operation. There are also significant gradients (up to 6%), and the tunnels generally rise to stations and fall to low points between.

Trains

Trains normally comprise three cars sets, the maximum length of train that can be accommodated in each station. Thirty-three 'power cars' from the 1977-80 modernisation form the majority of the rolling stock fleet - self-contained cars, each with a driving cab, controls and motorised to be able to be driven independently. Eight additional 'trailer' cars were provided in 1992 and these have no cab or traction motors.

A normal three-car train is coupled from a power car at each end, with either a trailer car or freewheeling power car in the centre. The three-car train has a seating capacity of some 112 places, and space for additional 165 or so standing passengers.

Each car is just 12m long, in keeping with the tunnels and the curvatures of the route. Trains in passenger operation are semi-automatic, where the drivers allow Automatic Train Operation (ATO) to fully control speed and stopping in stations. Under ATO control, trains have a maximum speed of 54 km/h, but are automatically limited to lower speeds for the tighter curves and other route limitations.

Stations

Originally the fifteen stations were very basic and similar at track level, with a simple 'island' platform serving either direction of travel. The 1977-80 modernisation introduced separate 'flank' platforms to six of the busier stations and 28 sets of escalators. All stations have staffed ticket offices, normally at street level, and access to platforms is through ticket controlled turnstiles. The three busiest stations are Buchanan Street and St Enoch in the city centre, and Hillhead to the west.

1896 to 1935 – The cable era

Construction of the Subway was started in 1891 by the Glasgow District Subway Company and it was opened on 14 December 1896. The system was a tunnelled loop, six and a half miles long, linking the burghs of Govan, Partick and Kinning Park with Glasgow City Centre and the West End. It was unique in being the only cable-operated underground railway in the world.

The picture shows Directors, engineers and officials at the opening in 1896.

Early rolling stock

The picture shows underground cars in Copland Road station (now Ibrox) in 1897. Note the cable traction system on the curve of the track. About one third of the route is in cast iron-lined tunnel – the rest is of brick and concrete construction. The deepest point of the system is the inner circle tunnel beneath the Clyde between Partick and Govan.

The first cars were on bogies, but the second batch were four-wheelers (there is one on display at Buchanan Street Station). The twenty original carriages were built by the Oldbury Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, of Oldbury, Birmingham, England. Many continued in service until 1977! A further ten were delivered by the same manufacturer in 1897. From 1898, second (trailer) carriages without a cable gripper mechanism were added, though they were considerably shorter than the front (gripper) carriage.

These additional carriages, eventually numbering thirty, were built by Hurst Nelson & Company, Motherwell, Lanarkshire. These carriages were soon expanded to match the length of the front carriages, although carriage 41 has been restored to its original length and can be seen preserved at Buchanan Street subway station.

Most of the gripper carriages were subsequently converted to electric traction in 1935. All carriages were originally built with lattice gates (instead of doors) at the ends; many were converted to air-operated sliding doors in the 1960s, but a few retained the gates until 1977.

There were no points – cars were lifted out of the tunnel by crane at the Car Sheds in Govan. Journey time for a complete circuit was 40 minutes. The busiest section was across the Clyde from Govan to Partick Cross and a fare of a halfpenny was charged until 1940 – long after the halfpenny fare had been withdrawn on the trams.

The cable system

The subway was powered by a clutch-and-cable system, with one cable for each direction. The cable was driven from a steam-powered plant between West Street and Shields Road stations. There was no additional cable to allow trains to reach the depot; instead, they were transferred to and from the running lines by crane operating over a pit at the Govan workshops. This also meant that the two tracks could be completely separate, with no points anywhere.

Map of the subway system (pdf)

Locomotives
A Glasgow Subway battery locomotive – originally built in 1927 – after rebuilding in 1937

Experiments with electrical traction
An early car, the first to be experimentally converted to electric traction, early 1933.

Power generation
The power station was in Scotland Street. Coal-fired boilers and steam engines drove the cables at a steady 13 miles per hour.

1935 to 1977 – Electrification
After initial trials with one car converted to electric traction in 1933, the whole system was electrified in 1935 – the Inner Circle from March, and the Outer Circle from December. The rolling stock was converted to electric traction - with journey times reduced from 38 minutes to 28 minutes for a complete circuit - and continued to operate until 1977.

The picture shows the interior of a car in 1949.

New ownership
Passenger traffic reached a peak in 1949/50. From the 1950s the trains became all red — in a shade similar to that of London buses.

After the Beeching Axe of the 1960s, both St Enoch and Buchanan Street mainline stations were closed and demolished. Ever since, the Subway has had no direct passenger connection to the national railway network — a major weakness — although an interchange to the suburban rail system exists at Partick, and a moving walkway was installed between Buchanan Street station and Queen Street mainline station as part of the late 1970s modernisation.

During the early 1970s, trailer carriage number 41 was repainted in the original 1896 livery; part of the carriage, shortened to its original length, is now preserved at Buchanan Street station.

Before the 1977–1980 modernisation, the stations had a distinctive earthy odour. The trains, almost all of them dating back to 1896, were formed from two carriages — the front (motor) carriage with red leather seats and the rear (trailer) carriage with brown leather seats. Smoking was permitted in the rear carriage only.

The backs of the seats were attached to the sides of the carriages, which moved semi-independently from the floor, to which the seats themselves were attached. Passengers were rocked backwards and forwards while the carriage jiggled them around. Passengers always entered at the middle of the train, with "Queue Here" signs painted on the platforms, leaving by the front door of the front carriage or the rear door of the rear carriage.

In June 1973, the Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive (GGPTE) took over all of the assets of Glasgow Corporation Transport, including the Underground.

The picture shows a car in the pre-modernisation all-red livery.

1980 onwards – A modern rail system
By the 1970s, use of the Subway had declined significantly, with the closure of some of the dockyards and widescale demolition of tenements south of the River Clyde. Breakdowns of the 1896-era cars were becoming increasingly frequent, and because trains could only be removed from the tracks to the depot by crane, a single inoperable train could cause major delays.

On 24 March 1977, cracks were noticed in the roof of Govan Cross station, leading to suspension of services until 2 May. The service resumed with only four trains per circle. On 21 May 1977, the system was shut down eight days prematurely for a major refurbishment and modernisation; the date was brought forward because of the appearance of more cracks in the roof of Govan Cross (now Govan) station.

Badly deteriorated tunnels were repaired; stations were rebuilt and enlarged, with additional platforms at Buchanan Street, Partick, Govan, Ibrox, Hillhead, and St Enoch. The entrance to Kelvinbridge was reversed, with a new entrance and car park built at North Woodside Road, an escalator to Great Western Road, and stairs down to the west end of the platform; the former entrance and stairway at the east end became an emergency exit, and the lift was withdrawn from service. Merkland Street station was closed; a new station to the north was built at Partick to provide an interchange with the North Clyde suburban rail system.

The site of the former Merkland Street subway station can be noticed by the characteristic hump and the larger-diameter tunnel with both tracks. A further interchange via moving walkway was installed between Buchanan Street station and Queen Street mainline station as part of the modernisation.

During the 1977–1980 modernisation, two Clayton battery locomotives were used by the contractors Taylor Woodrow to haul construction trains. Heavier track was installed (although still at the unique, 4-foot gauge); the original Broomloan Depot was modernised and equipped with connecting tracks (with points) to replace the crane transfer; and a new electrical supply, from Westinghouse Electric Corporation, was installed.

Further developments
Not only the track, but also signalling and power supply systems were replaced. 33 new power cars were built, and platforms were lengthened to accommodate three-car trains at a later date. The thirty three power cars put into service in 1980 were refurbished in 1995. An additional eight un-powered cars were purchased in 1992 to cater for increasing demand, allowing the operation of three-car trains all day.

Picture shows trains on Inner and Outer Circles at Cessnock station

While usage of the Underground had dropped to 7 million passengers per year before closure in 1977, by 1996 well over 14 million passengers a year were using the system.

Here is some further reading about the world’s third underground passenger railway.

Circles under the Clyde
'Circles under the Clyde: A history of the Glasgow Underground' by J. Wright and I. Maclean. Publishers Capital Transport Publishing. ISBN 978-1-854141-90-3

The Underground with its many unique characteristics was the third “tube” railway following on from London and Budapest and was a reflection of confidence at that time with the cost involved justified by the resultant ease of travel between the docks and shipbuilding areas, the City Centre and residential and recreational areas to avoid the congestion which even then was quite widespread. The book follows developments from the 'quaint' cable-hauled system to the introduction of electric power, and examines the station structures and the changing composition of the rolling stock.

The Glasgow Subway
'The Glasgow Subway' by David L Thomson and David E Sinclair

Believed to be out of print.

Glasgow Subway Album
'Glasgow Subway Album' by George Watson. Publisher Adam Gordon.

Believed to be out of print.

Glasgow Underground
'Glasgow Underground - The End of an Era' by David H Barzilay.

Believed to be out of print.

Glasgow Subway - 1896 - 1977
'Glasgow Subway - 1896-1977' by LRTL. Published by LRTL.

Believed to be out of print.

I Belong to Glasgow
'I Belong to Glasgow - The Human History of the Glasgow Underground' by Gordon Casely and Bill Hamilton.

Believed to be out of print.

The Glasgow Underground
'The Glasgow Underground' by Brian Kettle.

Believed to be out of print.

Glasgow Subway Scenes
'Glasgow Subway Scenes' by unknown author.

Believed to be out of print.

Underground Centenary 1896-1996
'Underground Centenary 1896-1996' by Strathclyde Passenger Transport. Publisher SPT.

Believed to be out of print.

Useful links
Here are some useful links relating to Glasgow’s underground railway:

Glasgow's Rolling Stock - pictures

Merkland Street Station (disused)

Short History of the Glasgow Subway

And finally...
You are on the Glasgow underground, travelling clock-wise. The journey time between Buchanan Street and St. Enoch is approximately 55 seconds. Hmmm....not long. On the surface it's a downhill journey, but it is down the busiest shopping street in Glasgow, and there are two road crossings.

So, the challenge: can you get off the a train at Buchanan Street and back on the same train the next time it stops at St. Enoch?

Glasgow Subway Challenge


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