St Rollox Works inertia sparks union frustration
THE Scottish Trades Union Council, Unite, and the Rail Maritime and Transport union have written jointly to Michael Matheson, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, to express their anger and disappointment of his failure to act in finding an alternative use for the historic former Caledonian Railway’s St Rollox Works at Springburn, Glasgow.
Interest
Closed by Hansteen in 2019, the site was the focus of great media interest in late 2019 and early 2020 after Jeremy Hosking’s Locomotive Services Limited (LSL) made a bid to take over the works as a heritage steam locomotive maintenance and train care depot.
There was widespread public disappointment and hopes for the site and for railway jobs on it were dashed when Hansteen rejected LSL’s bid. Now the 279,000 sq ft site – which includes railway workshops and equipment, and remains rail connected – continues to be marketed, so far without success, on behalf of Hansteen by property agents CBRE and JLL on a lease or sale basis.
The unions accuse Mr Matheson of inertia and reneging on a pledge to form a task group to look at ways of developing the site, hopefully returning railway maintenance to it, but say the task group has not met in the year following closure.
The signatories to the letter are demanding that the site be brought under public control.
History
St Rollox is the former Caledonian Railway works, opened in 1854. After various changes of ownership after 1923, including LMS and BR, it finally closed in 2019.
Still known locally as The Caley, the site and its buildings, some of which date from its earliest days, represents the last link with the once powerful railway manufacturing industry in Springburn. The original office buildings, in which many of the Caledonian Railway’s locomotives were designed, are listed and carry a plaque recalling their historical significance.