I started on the railway in 1972 as a junior railman at Westerton loved the job and went on to become signalman class b at Bowling then relief class 2 at Dumbarton Box covering Dumbarton,Craigendoran,Bowling,Westerton and Milngavie,it was the best job ever having a big trainset to play with,this film brings back many happy memories.
Note all the shipyards and engineering works that have been closed for decades. The Singer sewing machine works closed in 1979, but the station name was retained.
As an eight year old in 1962 the family went on a return trip to Helensburgh shortly after the Blue Trains started running just for the experience. On the return to Glasgow we were in the front coach just behind the driver. My siblings and I had great fun trying to guess when the bell for the all clear signal would ring in the cab.
As a relative youngster I can remember the 303s when they still had the original interior in the early 80s just before they were modernised. Used to love sitting on the seat behind the driver and seeing through the front window.
I was a postgraduate at Strathclyde university in the early 1980s and stayed for the first year in a student house in Bearsden on the Milngavie branch. So I would take the train to Queen Street low level to get to the university. I remember how cold it was waiting at Queen Street, it was like being in a wind tunnel. The 303 units were all repainted corporate blue and grey, and they were joined by new class 314 units. These were built for the recently re- opened line through Glasgow Central low level. The new station at Hyndland replaced the old one on a short branch line. The branch was still used for stabling units. The station at Bearsden still had the light blue Scottish Region totem signs. Thanks for a fascinating film.
Thanks very much for this. I used to commute on a daily basis between Queen St and Jordanhill in the 1970s, travelling in 303s. It was especially interesting to see all the signal boxes.
Fascinating. I think the 303s (and 311s) were amongst the few EMUs where you could sit behind the driver and see out the front. You could see out the front of the 310s and 312s but not from a seated position as the windows were higher up. Particluarly fascinating were the view of the J37 (steam engine) at Hyndland and the Coronation tram at Dalmuir. Sheer nostalgia. Thank you for sharing this!
Beautiful. Before my time, though I was close to my grandparents, & have always had an interest in social history, of how, I guess, the "way we were", to mention a song. The internet can be a very unhealthy place, then I come along these types of home recorded film, & get transported to the days when my Fa(i)ther was younger, & what they had.
Excellent footage and important historic record. My first visit to Glasgow in 1979 included several Blue Train AM3 rides and I couldn't get enough in! I grew up in AM10 country, and as a boy I knelt up over the high-backed seats to see through the cab, but wow those AM3s were superb by comparison. A shame that view was lost when the AM3s and AM11s were converted for DOO in the 1980s.
Hi Alan. They were both built for LNER Clyde service based at Craigendoran. Jeanie was built in 1931 and saw war service. Waverley was built in 1946/7. On return to civilian service Jeanie Deans was rebuilt and very closely resembled the new Waverley. They were really quasi sisters, Jeanie being slightly longer than Waverley. At the end of the 1964 season Jeanie was sadly withdrawn. However she saw further service on the Thames. This was not successful and she was eventually scrapped after a couple of years.
Thanks for your insight James, perhaps you'll enjoy my PS KC Medway and Thames video th-cam.com/video/U_QLGYJW_zM/w-d-xo.html also see Scottish ferries within playlist th-cam.com/play/PL8-7_QXSriLhjX9e_onVBhmPVPQ3JYFZt.html
Love that early blue livery on the 303s, very stylish. A real shame no modern trains on BR allow passengers to see the line ahead like these old units did, especially on lines as scenic as this.
0:40 That's the Jeanie Deans of 1931. As built she was totally different from the Waverley. At the end of the war, the Jeanie was rebuilt and the Waverley was a new build (keel laid down at the end of 1945). The plans for both were very similar. The easy way to tell them apart is that the Jeanie had a lot of small windows (15?) in the forward part of her hull where the Waverley has 9 large windows.
Does the commentary say Craigendoran pier is no longer in use at this time? We were still using it for steamer crossings to Rothesay in 1965 or 66 but I don't think it can have been much longer after that it went out of commission as a service pier. We still fished from it for a few years after that.
I think it was a mixture of 25 and 6.25 ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_electrification_in_Great_Britain#6,250_V_50_Hz_AC,_overhead ), in a similar fashion to parts of the Southend route in London, on account of limited structural clearance, until it was better understood, with the standards changing to allow higher voltages. These days, it’s gone the other way a bit (standards wise), with lots of overbridges etc being altered to allow OLE to be installed.
I remember seeing the electrification of the Cathcart Circle line back around 1960 and the blue trains were so modern and exciting.
Oh,....so much memories,....used take this train from Helensburgh to Glasgow! I miss them so much and Scotland!
I take it, Sir, that you were visiting Scotland from . . . Japan? Hong Kong? I regret I cannot read your name.
I started on the railway in 1972 as a junior railman at Westerton loved the job and went on to become signalman class b at Bowling then relief class 2 at Dumbarton Box covering Dumbarton,Craigendoran,Bowling,Westerton and Milngavie,it was the best job ever having a big trainset to play with,this film brings back many happy memories.
Note all the shipyards and engineering works that have been closed for decades. The Singer sewing machine works closed in 1979, but the station name was retained.
loved sitting at the front looking out the drivers window happy days
As an eight year old in 1962 the family went on a return trip to Helensburgh shortly after the Blue Trains started running just for the experience. On the return to Glasgow we were in the front coach just behind the driver. My siblings and I had great fun trying to guess when the bell for the all clear signal would ring in the cab.
Yes, was fun to sit so close to the driver, especially at that age.
This series is great entertainment, pure nostalgia .
I worked this route as a guard from 1979 to 1985.
Ah the old Blue Trains, or the Smurfs as my Grandad called them lol.
As a relative youngster I can remember the 303s when they still had the original interior in the early 80s just before they were modernised. Used to love sitting on the seat behind the driver and seeing through the front window.
Superb archive footage and some great industrial scenes. Great viewing.
Brilliant next best thing to a time machine. I drive this route and it's amazing to see how much it has changed
I was a postgraduate at Strathclyde university in the early 1980s and stayed for the first year in a student house in Bearsden on the Milngavie branch. So I would take the train to Queen Street low level to get to the university. I remember how cold it was waiting at Queen Street, it was like being in a wind tunnel. The 303 units were all repainted corporate blue and grey, and they were joined by new class 314 units. These were built for the recently re- opened line through Glasgow Central low level. The new station at Hyndland replaced the old one on a short branch line. The branch was still used for stabling units. The station at Bearsden still had the light blue Scottish Region totem signs. Thanks for a fascinating film.
@5:40
This Black 5 was built in 31/5/1955 and it was cut up in 21/10/1966 not very old for such a wonderful machine!
Stunning footage of a journey i've made a thousand times........ Awesome & cheers for posting this.
Thanks very much for this. I used to commute on a daily basis between Queen St and Jordanhill in the 1970s, travelling in 303s. It was especially interesting to see all the signal boxes.
Fascinating. I think the 303s (and 311s) were amongst the few EMUs where you could sit behind the driver and see out the front. You could see out the front of the 310s and 312s but not from a seated position as the windows were higher up. Particluarly fascinating were the view of the J37 (steam engine) at Hyndland and the Coronation tram at Dalmuir. Sheer nostalgia. Thank you for sharing this!
Beautiful. Before my time, though I was close to my grandparents, & have always had an interest in social history, of how, I guess, the "way we were", to mention a song. The internet can be a very unhealthy place, then I come along these types of home recorded film, & get transported to the days when my Fa(i)ther was younger, & what they had.
Fa(i)ther indeed, A. Stay free. R 😎
Bliss. Thank you both. Stay free. R 💚
Excellent footage and important historic record. My first visit to Glasgow in 1979 included several Blue Train AM3 rides and I couldn't get enough in! I grew up in AM10 country, and as a boy I knelt up over the high-backed seats to see through the cab, but wow those AM3s were superb by comparison. A shame that view was lost when the AM3s and AM11s were converted for DOO in the 1980s.
The paddle steamer named as Waverley early in the film is, in fact, Jeanie Deans.
She looks very similar to Waverley, which survives. Were they sister ships?
Hi Alan. They were both built for LNER Clyde service based at Craigendoran. Jeanie was built in 1931 and saw war service. Waverley was built in 1946/7. On return to civilian service Jeanie Deans was rebuilt and very closely resembled the new Waverley. They were really quasi sisters, Jeanie being slightly longer than Waverley. At the end of the 1964 season Jeanie was sadly withdrawn. However she saw further service on the Thames. This was not successful and she was eventually scrapped after a couple of years.
Thanks for your insight James, perhaps you'll enjoy my PS KC Medway and Thames video th-cam.com/video/U_QLGYJW_zM/w-d-xo.html also see Scottish ferries within playlist th-cam.com/play/PL8-7_QXSriLhjX9e_onVBhmPVPQ3JYFZt.html
Love that early blue livery on the 303s, very stylish. A real shame no modern trains on BR allow passengers to see the line ahead like these old units did, especially on lines as scenic as this.
0:40 That's the Jeanie Deans of 1931. As built she was totally different from the Waverley. At the end of the war, the Jeanie was rebuilt and the Waverley was a new build (keel laid down at the end of 1945). The plans for both were very similar. The easy way to tell them apart is that the Jeanie had a lot of small windows (15?) in the forward part of her hull where the Waverley has 9 large windows.
If they hadn't cut out right after it said "Home of the sewing machine. I would have seen my old house.
Does the commentary say Craigendoran pier is no longer in use at this time? We were still using it for steamer crossings to Rothesay in 1965 or 66 but I don't think it can have been much longer after that it went out of commission as a service pier. We still fished from it for a few years after that.
ENJOYED THE VIDEO
Was the whole system electrified on 6.25 kv ac initially?
I think it was a mixture of 25 and 6.25 ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_electrification_in_Great_Britain#6,250_V_50_Hz_AC,_overhead ), in a similar fashion to parts of the Southend route in London, on account of limited structural clearance, until it was better understood, with the standards changing to allow higher voltages.
These days, it’s gone the other way a bit (standards wise), with lots of overbridges etc being altered to allow OLE to be installed.
Wasn’t 625v just in tunnels and 25kv elsewhere ?
Love you vids before westminster shut Scotland down before stealing Scotlands oil