Glasgow Botanic Gardens station and line

[sprinterguy]

Hello,
In the "station buildings" thread in the Infrastructure section, the old, long closed station beneath the botanic gardens in Glasgow is mentioned. A bit of internet digging has yielded a little more information on the line that served this station, and some info on the nearby Kirklee station on the same line. I have since consulted the big green Historical Railway Atlas of Great Britain in an attempt to find out the route and opening and closure dates of this railway, but to my surprise, the line is not shown! This has further fuelled my interest, as this suggests that it was never a constituent of the big four railway companies and must have been operated by a completely individual company.

So can anyone tell me:
1. What the route of the line through Botanic Gardens station was?
2. When was the line opened and closed?
3. Which company built and operated the line?
4. What sort of traffic did it carry?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Nightrider]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanic_Gardens_railway_station

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Central_Railway

Plenty of info in those links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirklee_railway_station

 

[jamesontheroad]

What the route of the line through Botanic Gardens station was?

Anderston - Stobcross (site of Exhibition Centre station today) - Kelvinbridge - Botanic Gardens - Maryhill.

I've seen some urban exploration websites with photos (maybe 10 years old or more) which recount journeys through the extant tunnels. You can see the two portals from beside the River Kelvin if you exit the Underground at Kelvinbridge. One is under the back of the buildings on the south side of Great Western Road - this tunnel runs the length of Great Western Road to Botanic Gardens. The other is just beyond the Eldon Street road bridge. From that portal a tunnel heads south towards Exhibition Centre, opening out just once or twice as it passes beneath the line between Partick and Charing Cross... visible on Google Maps here.

 

[sprinterguy]

Thanks for the information, that's really helped me work out the course of the route and answer a couple of my other queries: Because so much of the line is in tunnels, I've been having difficulty working out exactly where it ran, all explained now! I think I'll have a further browse of my Historical Atlas, now that I have a better idea of where the line is/was, I may well have missed it before. It's great to find out some more about this.

 

[Nightrider]

Usual story, this possible branch line today would be a complete winner even if it only linked Kirklee, Botanic and Kelvinbridge with the city centre.
The biggest concentration of public transport users in Glasgow must in that few square miles from Glasgow Central/Queen St to West End/University area.

Beeching the Barbarian.

 

[me123]

Usual story, this possible branch line today would be a complete winner even if it only linked Kirklee, Botanic and Kelvinbridge with the city centre.
The biggest concentration of public transport users in Glasgow must in that few square miles from Glasgow Central/Queen St to West End/University area.

Beeching the Barbarian.

You're right. You only need to look at the Subway in rush hour, the heavily used buses down Great Western Road, and indeed the ridiculous vehicle traffic on that road (one way in each direction!) to see that the service would be well used.

But I suppose that the will isn't there to reopen the line, as the public transport links currently in place are pretty good; the only area to benefit would be Kirklee.

 

[Clip]

Anderston - Stobcross (site of Exhibition Centre station today) - Kelvinbridge - Botanic Gardens - Maryhill.

I've seen some urban exploration websites with photos (maybe 10 years old or more) which recount journeys through the extant tunnels. You can see the two portals from beside the River Kelvin if you exit the Underground at Kelvinbridge. One is under the back of the buildings on the south side of Great Western Road - this tunnel runs the length of Great Western Road to Botanic Gardens. The other is just beyond the Eldon Street road bridge. From that portal a tunnel heads south towards Exhibition Centre, opening out just once or twice as it passes beneath the line between Partick and Charing Cross... visible on Google Maps here.

www.28dayslater.com may have some of the pics as they have loads of other railways on there

 

[Nightrider]

www.28dayslater.com may have some of the pics as they have loads of other railways on there

Do you mean this.

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=49944

 

[Clip]

Do you mean this.

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=49944

thats the one.. couldnt find it when i searched for somre reason.

cracking pic this mind

 

[CarterUSM]

thats the one.. couldnt find it when i searched for somre reason.

cracking pic this mind

What is that long cuboid structure on the ceiling?

 

[Clip]

Im not sure. Could be a walkway they had to make when building the tunnels.. very odd mind.

 

[CarterUSM]

Im not sure. Could be a walkway they had to make when building the tunnels.. very odd mind.

Yes, i thought it looked like a walkway, though as you say, rather odd looking. I'd like to take a wee saunter down there and have a look though.

 

[Nightrider]

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Glasgow%20Central%20Railway

A few more pictures.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

The Botanic Station came up on the Infrastructure section of this forum just a few days ago - there's more links on there http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=490754&postcount=24.
I remember going down there to investigate the old lines myself a long time ago.