East Kilbride line closes for four months. No more 156 diesel trains or Victorian footbridges.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- Thursday 23rd January 2025 saw the final day of service of the Glasgow to East Kilbride line before it closed for four months for electrification and route improvement works. What does this mean? Fewer Class 156 disel trains out of Glasgow Central, and the demise of station footbridges built in the nineteenth century when accessibility laws didn't exist.
The final day was meant to be Friday 24th January but because of Storm Éowyn "Red Alert" we had a Scottish Government lockdown and no trains ran that day.
I travelled on the line on 22nd January visiting every station apart from Clarkston and this film shows my day and my narrative. I had filmed at Clarkston in 2023, and these clips are included.
It's not clear from current publicity when the full electric service will start, as there will be a need to source rolling stock, do route testing and and driver training. The December timetable change is a strong possibility.
A comment below indicates that the bridge at Busby shown in my film has been gifted to the Fife Railway Centre.
#railways #train #travel #trainspotting #glasgow #eastkilbride #scotrail #scotland #scotlandtravel #scotlandtourism #class156
If you'd like to sponsor me with a coffee to help me buy train tickets for more joyous films, please see ko-fi.com/cliv...
The music track on the film is When Johnny Comes Marching Home by Cooper Cannell downloaded royalty-free from TH-cam Studio.
Thank you to the ScotRail train conductors and the various contractor staff on site for their friendly helpfulness on this day out.
You can chat to me now on Discord (link will follow!)
Thanks for the info. Was up flying my drone around the development yesterday so looking forward to sharing It on the weekend. Haven’t listened to this due to having a sleeping baby granddaughter on my chest,lol!
Excellent now I've seen it. Lots of great information in there. I hadn't realised the old bridges would have to go. Hadn't given that a thought. Thank you.
Thanks for your comment. At some locations they build a new bridge and leave the old one in situ (e.g. Carstairs) but I don't think that'll happen on the EK line.
Very well produced video Clive, packed with information. A real shame to see these beautiful old bridges being dismantled.
Thanks for your comment Alan, and your donation on Ko-Fi - much appreciated! You should try the café in Giffnock I mentioned, it's very good and the baking looked tempting.
I used to drive daily to work from EK to Clydebank for a couple of decades until my car was out of action for a few days and I had to resort to trains. Never went back the car. Cup of my own coffee and a read of the Metro that was the life😀I look forward to May 15th and getting back on board with my bicycle.
Absolutely love this thank you for the info
Thanks for your comment.
In the early/mid 1970's this line used to carry dozens of EK kids to the ice rink at Crossmyloof every Saturday morning. Your video brought back lots of happy memories so thank you for that.
Thanks for your comment and the memories.
Well, I have no idea how this got on my feed, but I’m glad that it did a very enjoyable video. The fog adding to the atmospheric feel and all the lovely little villages just outside Glasgow and not forgetting, obviously the trains this was very very enjoyable
Thanks for your comment. I'll have to do more films in the fog!
Thank you Clive. I really enjoyed that; both visuals and information.👍
Thanks for your comment.
Great video. I’m one of the Engineers involved in this project.
Thanks for your comment - I'm looking forward to riding on the Enhanced line. Feel free to share this film with your colleagues.
Great information 👍
Thanks for your comment.
Very informative video, learnt quite a lot of info about the line and solved the mystery of why it's called the Busby junction. Thanks
Thanks for your comment. Every day is a school-day!
Just discovered your site ,I lived in Neilston for 20years and have lived in British Columbia 60 years and would love if you have a video of Glasgow Central to Neilston.thank you Jim.
I always enjoy the train ride to Neilston so I might take up your suggestion. Thanks.
Thanks for the trip back, Clive. Living now in the wilds of British Columbia, I commuted daily on the Ek diesel to glasgow, then walked to Glasow Uni for 4 years in the '70s
Thanks for your comment. I love it when my films invoke memories!
Likewise, but I proceeded eastwards to techno Strathclyde instead! I always wonder whatever happened to my fellow young student passengers from those happy, carefree, 70s gay times! As they were scattered to all quarters of the globe, stoking the great big Capitalist engine. I was nearly tempted to emigrate to the Anglosphere far beyond, but never had the courage to do so, as the rot of Thatcherism & Neoliberalsm ravaged this sad little country! Whatevers and mebbes Aye, mebbes Naw indeed! Are you a lumberjack perchance and are you OK?
Surely you walked by choice? The old underground and buses were a fast cheap way of getting to the Uni, especially when we all had student grants!
@@jasonmudgarde286 Those were the days! I had never been so well off on my grant, and I stayed 2 years in Baird Hall of Residence at the end of Sauchiehall St. A long travelcard was a great thing. The underground was fast and convenient when I moved up to Kelvinbridge for the next 2 years but the Partick-Central line was just behind the Kings Theatre when I was in the Halls. OMG that was half a century ago.
Good news about the footbridge at Busby, it has been saved and has moved to the Fife Heritage Railway in Leven where It will have a new life there.
Thanks for that information, really happy news. A couple of years ago I made a film about the old footbridge at St Erth in Cornwall, which was donated to a heritage line. th-cam.com/video/joNfi_5AVY4/w-d-xo.html
Good video of Giffnock station. Used to travel to Glasgow on steam trains. One trip in November 1665 it was so foggy you could not see the station names from the carriage. My mum left my new school trousers parcel on train on one trip. Great memories
Blimey! you must be really old travelling on the train way back in 1665!
Oops. 1965 arthritic fingers
Thanks, I enjoyed this
clips like this will always give us something to look back on and how it was ,As the new stuff will be sterile
Thanks for your comment, much appreciated.
I agree. It's useful archival stuff isn't it? I value TH-cam a lot for that kind of thing. I hope the plug doesn't get pulled on it and everything deleted!
Its just a pity that the line wasn't extended to Blantyre from East Kilbride. Trains could serve Blantyre, Hamilton, Motherwell and beyond. Part of the old Blantyre/East Kilbride line can still be seen at Stonymedow Road.
Isn't it just. Imagine maybe a train once every hour two straight to Edinburgh or farther afield.
Same in NSW Australia where all the old iron footbridges with wooden steps were taken out and new concrete footbridges were installed with lifts on the whole Sydney suburban network so disabled people, cyclists, old people and people with heavy luggage could easily get onto platforms. I'm old enough to remember the introduction of the 156's where people on the highland and far north lines were sorry to see the demise of loco hauled trains with class 37's. I even have a video from 1984 when the first 150's were built.
Thanks for your comment and the interesting memories.
Interesting video. Shame to see the 156's no more to east Kilbride . Are you doing a video on the new electrified line!
Thanks for your comment. I will be adding it to my list once the new service is running. I believe it may be later in the year after route testing and driver training etc.
Enjoyed your vid. The likelihood is that the 156s will be running on the EK line for a few years after the electrification is completed as ScotRail doesn’t have enough EMUs. Likely only be 1 electric service per hour
Thanks for your comment. There seems to be a deficit in strategic thinking if they electrify a railway but don't get electric trains to run on it! A bit like building a ferry then discovering it's too big to fit into the port.
@ It wouldn’t surprise me if the ferries going over budget used up Transport Scotland’s budget that would have been set for new trains
I know every part of that line I patrolled it every week for years when I worked for track maintenance was a nice walk-in the good weather but horrible in the bad weather I sometimes would pop into the busby inn for lunch my walk was from ek to pollokshaws west
Thanks for your comment and the memories. Was the White Cart previously known as the Busby Inn? (You can tell I'm not a south-sider!)
Very enjoyable video. From piecing together various bits of information, the 156's will still be used after the line is "officially" classed as electrified in December. The reason being, Scotrail hasn't ordered any new EMU's and they don't have sufficient spare units from the existing fleet. Unless Scotrail hire some redundant Bi-modes (which would make sense as they could be used down to Kilmarnock/Carlisle and out to Leven) the old workhorses will still be plying their trade up and down the line. Cheers Euan
Thanks for your comment. I must say it's not entirely clear to me when the electric service will commence, they will need time for route testing and driver training etc., I'm not expecting it to be immediatelly after the route improvement works finish.
Hi Clive the electric services are due to start from the December timetable change. I suspect not all of the existing services will be electric. The driver training will be in the late summer/ Autumn.
"Redundant bi-modes"
I swear back in 2023 or 2024, they did some tests on Class 769s... that's gone rather quiet, though. Perhaps them, if the programme is still happening?
Not of course down to Network rail which is reserved to Westminster.
The decision to buy or not to buy new rolling stock is Transport Scotland domain - not Westminster's @@paparobbo62
Historic video, Clive! Let's hope they stick to the planning
Hi Frank - engineering projects in this country normally over-run, so we'll see what happens!
Thorntonhall is a small village but with VERY expensive houses indeed
Yes, I felt a bit conscpicuous and out of place wandering around. I photographed one of the houses and expected rotweilers to come running out!
Hasn't it got the highest concentration of Millionaires (Boo!) outside dat Londons? Also, Fred MacCauley (Comedian, it says here) lives there, or once did!
And is famed for its farm ice cream 😋
Nice video despite the fog. Did you have a pleasant Burn's night Clive?
Thanks for your comment. I almost forgot Burns' night!
Try living in the area,its an absolute mare!
Use this service regularly the smell of these trains and the diesel fumes are instantly recognisable
The noise is more recognisable for me 😂
Corrections:-
East Kilbride station will not be double tracked.
The passing loop currently between EK and Hairmyres allows extra trains during rush hours and will be extended through the new Hairmyres station.
Thanks for your comment and clarification. The maps of the project, one of which I put in the film, show the double tracking as you describe. I read somewhere that there had been consideration to a second platform at EK like there's one at Largs, to improve platforming capacity at peak times.
@@Clivestravelandtrains It was originally announced that the double-track would be extended beyond Busby to EK but this was scrapped in either '21 or '22.
The overhead gantries that have been installed at EK have only been provisioned for single line operation.
@@aetch77 I see. Thanks for that. I must admit I didn't scrutinise the gantries when I was at EK.
I used to work Class 101s&156s from Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Shotts.
Thanks for your comment. The Shotts route is always fun to ride on, especially now that there are limited-stop trains. Some of the wee stations are very lightly used.
New station being built at hairmyres too
Thanks for your comment. There's a clip of that towards the end of my film.
The bus route from Pollokshaws to Silverburn has been closed for 4 months already so if like me your an OAP and live in Mansewood I have a mile hike in either direction to get a bus and we won't get it back for another 6 months at least.
Thanks for your comment. I live on the 38C bus route which gets worse and worse.
Got to hope the bridges get passed onto any heritage lines that may want them despite their poor condition
The Busby bridge I know has been saved and has moved to the Fife Heritage Railway.
@@QTXAdsy Thanks for that information.
I get why they need to replace the old pedestrian bridges, but I wish they had managed to come up with a better design for the new ones. To my eye the replacements are just brutalist and cheap-looking. I'm not sure how many they have built on the network, but they are a real eyesore when installed in small village stations or beside interesting Victorian/Edwardian station architecture.
Yes, they all look the same! Apart from Reston, which seems to blend in more with the landscape.
You could've mentioned why it was only a single track line to sunny EK!
I appreciate your feedback, I guess I assumed it was apparent from my comment about the line originally going to Busby and then later being extended to EK which was then a sleepy little village. The Caledonian Railway only provided a handful of trains every day as there was little traffic - if only they knew it would 90 years later be developed as a New Town!
@@Clivestravelandtrains Oh! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought it was because of the deep chasm just beyond Busby which would've been problematic to build a double track across the yawning abyss way back when. It was then pointless building a double track to sunny EK. Of course, I could be h'utterly wrong!
@@ChuffingNorah I have to ask - what chasm? Also, the stone arch bridges along the route have been built wide enough for dual track and the current track sits off-centre within those bridges.
@@aetch77 Err ... Does the land not drop rapidly from Busby as you head back to Glasgow (something to do with an ancient geological fault, if memory serves?) requiring a large Viaduct in Busby Glen over the gaping void. Of course if you never look out of your train window, you would never noticed it was there! But that's just me being sarcastic!
When I was a child I can remember double tracks extending from East Kilbride going east ward, we used to play on the old embankments with our dog, any info where the old line would have went before EK became the final stop? Great video bye the way.
There's a rumour that Kilmarnock services will get bi mode trains. Converted 319's I think?
That wouldn't surprise me, and makes sense in the short term due to lack of funds to extend the wires to Killie. I think the bimodals were re-numbered in the 7xx range. It might wake Avanti up into using bimodal trains on the G&SW as a diversion route rather than the frequent "nothing north of Preston" that Avanti resort to. I'm not sure if they will ever use the Settle & Carlisle again - like Virgin used to. They just like tipping everyone out at Preston.
@@Clivestravelandtrains I was raised near Accrington and remember the INTERCITY diverts calling at Blackburn before they took the Daisyfield Junction to eventually reach the Settle Carlisle, and on to Scotland. I never bashed the diverts to my regret. However, I used the Virgin Diverts over the GSW when I lived in Kilmarnock. Nonstop to Carlisle was a change to the Scotrail all-stoppers.
I put "Intercity" in capitals because my all time favourite livery was the Swallow livery 🤣
@@DavidPeacock1972 Fortuntalely I am old enough to remember being diverted via Blackburn and Hellifield when the WCML was being electrified in the 1970s . Blackburn was a fine old station then, and I still have some old photos of it I took. The cotton mill chimneys are quite striking, in those days we took that sort of thing for granted!
Privatised then provide a terrible service on well outdated trains. Greed once again
Thanks for your comment. They weren't outdated when they were introduced in around 1990 (if that makes sense)!. In fact, I have always liked them - one of the few types of trains left where you can open a window on a hot day.
TS scrapping the full double tracking and the promised “turn up and go” service was criminal
Thanks for your comment.
@ my friend who works at NR, she said a TS director called Bill Reeve scrapped it due to a cost cutting exercise
156s will still be running until the December timetable change, then electric services will take over while the closure is place I'm currently being put on Barrhead & Kilmarnock services
Thanks for your comment. I did wonder about that as they normally need time for route testing and driver training after electrification. The December timetable change is logical as it allows for project over-runs and also for ScotRail to source appropriate rolling stock.
@Clivestravelandtrains so what I've been told is I'll be doing my training on class 380s in November
@@seanlowe4780 I found a picture of 380s on Wikipedia. South Western Railway run them apparently. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSWR_380_class
ScotRail will no doubt make a mess of this. They’re hopeless
Thanks for your comment. The route improvements are largely in the hands of Network Rail and their contractors.
Interesting, and thank you! Busby was itself a junction. There was a branch on the west side which led to a freight yard about half a mile away. You can still trace part of that line through some woodland, with a filled-in bridge, cutting and embankment visible, but the freight yard is these days occupied by the 1970s housing development on Birchview Drive.
@@alastairhamilton6572 Thanks for your comment. I was thinking about including that in my film, but decided against as it would have added a bit more time to an already long film. I don't usually like to go over 10 to 12 minutes. I know from my viewing analyses that most viewers of my films don't stay right to the end!
Giffnock is in renfrewshire not a suburb of glasgow
Thanks for your comment. Where I live one side of a road is North Lanarkshire, the other side is Glasgow. The current boundaries drawn up when Strathclyde was abolished can be a bit idiotic.
Well I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again theres gonna be a massive amount of logjam problems between busby and hairmyres because of the stupidity of the contractors not to build a second platform at thorntonhall and make the “double track” go through it because if there’s a chance of a major crash which I foresee then there’ll only have themselves to blame
Thats nothing to do with the contractors, it's Scotrail that decide what being done.
@@weeblue4182
Yes that’s true it WIL be ScotFails fault for not being able to foresee the logistics of this
@nasher42 Some of the info in the video is wrong.
EK already sees extra trains during morning and evening rush hours. This is facilitated by a passing loop between EK and Hairmyres. This loop is being extended through the new Hairmyres station.
Also, EK won't be double track.