Pollokshields West Railway Station

This Where am I? entry provoked responses split 50:50 between this being Pollokshields West or Maxwell Park. So here’s some more evidence.

Although only Maxwell Park Station building survives after a careful restoration, it wasn’t the only island station house on the line. Pollokshields West had a station house of the same design, as seen here, until the late 1980s.

Pollokshields West Station seen from the Terregles Avenue entrance, in 1987 (Ewan Crawford, Railscot), and again in 2018 .

The Cathcart District Railway

The Cathcart District Railway was proposed to provide a loop line to run from the Caledonian Railway’s new Glasgow Central Station through the fields of the southside, to provide transport for the newly developing suburbs. Only the eastern arm was built initially, extending through Pollokshields East, Queens Park, Crosshill, Mount Florida and so to Cathcart, opening in May 1886 .

In 1887 plans were reinstated to complete the loop, but it didn’t open until 2 April 1894, along with Pollokshields West station. In the early twentieth century steam trains were running every ten minutes, although the line always struggled with competition from trams, and trains ran only hourly from the 1950s.

Postcard of Pollokshields West, with 1-10 Moray Place and Strathbungo Station in the distance. Postcard, date unknown.

May 1962 saw the introduction of the electric “Blue Trains” after the line was electrified, prompting a bit of a revival, and Sunday trains ran for the first time since the line opened.

Blue Train

Terence Cuneo poster for the new Blue Trains c.1965

More Then & Now

Above: Class 303 Blue Train (but latterly in SPT livery) to Glasgow Central, 1987 (Ewan Crawford) & 2018

Above: Outbound train to Maxwell Park, 1987 (Ewan Crawford) & 2018

Above: View from Darnley Road, 1987 (Ewan Crawford) & 2018

Demise

The Strathbungo Society News reported on the deteriorating state of the station in summer 1987, and the demolition of several other stations on the line. The Society had been asked by the Scottish Civic Trust to consider the adoption of the station building, but the proposal was felt to be beyond its practical and financial resources, and the society declined. No other proposals were made and the station was presumably demolished soon afterwards.

References

1.
Railscot | Pollokshields West [Internet]. [cited 2018 Oct 15]. Available from: https://www.railscot.co.uk/locations/P/Pollokshields_West/
1.
Cathcart District Railway. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2018 Oct 15]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cathcart_District_Railway&oldid=844932765

1 Comment

  1. Stephen J Butler

    October 16, 2018 at 8:38 am

    I am still searching for the history behind the black iron horse’s head that adorned the embankment of Strathbungo Station and was removed at some point of the closure of the said station. What happened to it? Was it sold for scrap metal along with the fountain at front of the Salisbury Quadrant tenements?

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