Buchanan Street railway station

Not to be confused with Buchanan Street subway station.

Buchanan Street
The station in 1961
General information
Location	Glasgow, Lanarkshire Scotland
Coordinates	55.8665°N 4.2527°W / 55.8665; -4.2527
Grid reference	NS590660
Platforms	6
Other information
Status	Demolished
History
Original company	Caledonian Railway
Pre-grouping	Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 November 1849 (1849-11-01)	Opened as terminal station
7 November 1966 (1966-11-07)	Closed

Buchanan Street station is a former railway station in Glasgow. Less well known than the city's other terminus stations – Central, Queen Street and St Enoch – it was situated in the Cowcaddens district to the north-west of Queen Street station and served the north of Scotland.

History

Constructed in 1849 by the Caledonian Railway Company as its main terminus for the city, the original station buildings consisted of supposedly temporary wooden structures, which lasted until the 1930s. A goods station at the site opened in 1850. Services ran primarily northbound, to Aberdeen, Perth and Stirling and other destinations.

The station was earmarked for closure and replacement in the "Bruce Report", which made proposals for the redevelopment of Glasgow after the Second World War. The plan included replacing Buchanan Street and Queen Street stations with a Glasgow North station on land including the site of Buchanan Street, but many times larger. There was also a similar scheme to replace Central and St Enoch stations with a Glasgow South station, but neither came to fruition.

This reprieve proved to be temporary, as the station was closed in 1966 as part of the "Beeching Axe" devised by Richard Beeching. The station largely duplicated the function of the more centrally located Queen Street in serving the northern inter-city routes from Glasgow, whilst the latter also held the advantage of serving the northern electric suburban network as well as having a near-direct interchange with the Glasgow Subway. By contrast, Buchanan Street, with its distant location from the city centre in Cowcaddens, and being located halfway between Cowcaddens and Buchanan Street had no easy or convenient Subway interchange. In addition, the slum clearances of the 1960s in the immediate area had taken away much of the resident population that the station served.

The decision was therefore taken by British Railways to move all of the station's services to Queen Street, despite its smaller physical size and capacity constraints. The station buildings were demolished in 1967, and a multi-storey car park and Buchanan Bus Station were built on the site in 1977. The railway lands to the immediate north of the station were given over to the construction of the new Glasgow College of Technology (now Glasgow Caledonian University) in 1971, whilst British Rail itself also constructed a new office block known as Buchanan House on the site in 1975. It acted as the headquarters of BR's Scottish Region (later ScotRail), as well as successor organisations Railtrack and Network Rail until the early 2000s. The Glasgow headquarters of the British Transport Police also occupy part of the site.

The 430 yd (390 m) Buchanan Street tunnel that ran from just outside the station to just beyond the Cowlairs Incline at Sighthill (where the lines merge with those emanating from the Queen Street tunnel) still exists, although the route was severed due to the construction of the M8 motorway at the turn of the 1970s, and the two ends are therefore no longer connected together. The south portal can still be found located behind the campus of Glasgow Caledonian University and Buchanan House, but it is now sealed off and all access is prohibited.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Terminus		Caledonian Railway Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway		St Rollox Line and station closed

Site

In 1975, British Rail constructed Buchanan House (later named ScotRail House between January 1985 and April 1994) and Glasgow Caledonian University occupy the site of the station. The Station Bar, nearby, still exists.

References

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.