Fight to save Strathbungo office from bulldozer runs out of steam
A COMMUNITY and local councillorbacked fight to save the 145-years-old street-level booking office of the former Strathbungo station from demolition by Network Rail has finally run out of steam.
The campaign also garnered support from Glaswegian railway heritage fans and building conservation lobbyists.
Despite a 1200-signature petition to save the building, which dates from 1877, and a stay of execution in 2020 to allow community consultation to take place, Network Rail has confirmed that the office will be pulled down in August as part of works to electrify the Glasgow Central to Kilmarnock and East Kilbride lines.
The company says that the wooden structure is not fit for commercial letting, with rotting footboards and asbestos.
One of the last of its type to survive in Glasgow, it was once served by trains from both Central and St Enoch stations on the joint Glasgow & South Western and Caledonian Joint line that it straddles.
Long history
It saw joint Glasgow & South Western and Midland Railway trains from St Enoch to London St Pancras pass through, including, later, in BR days, the prestigious ‘Thames Clyde Express’.
Strathbungo was closed in 1962 following the electrification of the Cathcart Circle by the famous Glasgow ‘Blue Trains’, as circle station Pollokshields West is only a fiveminute walk away.
The station’s cast iron footbridge, also dating from 1877 and built by Hanna, Donald & Wilson of Paisley, was rebuilt into a pedestrian bridge crossing the line after the station closed by removing the stairs leading down to the abandoned platforms.
A C-listed structure, the bridge was refurbished by Network Rail in 2019 at a cost of £650,000, but is now due for removal and replacement in 2023 to allow overhead line clearance.
Network Rail says it is likely to offer the bridge to the heritage railway sector and is replacing it with a new bridge sensitive to the surrounding local architecture, which includes houses by famous Glasgow architect Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson.
Strathbungo’s booking hall was leased in 1968 and was a popular shop, called Susie’s Store, until it closed when the owners retired in 2019. Since then, the building has become derelict and subject to vandalism. It sits on Nithsdale Road bridge, which spans the railway tracks. The road overbridge, on which the booking office sits, was built to accommodate four tracks but only ever had two beneath it. It is scheduled to be replaced as part of the electrification project; despite opposition, there was little chance of the building surviving.
Disappointment
Resident Paula Khan, who led the drive to save the station, along with the support of Coun Jon Molyneux, of Glasgow City Council, and the Strathbungo Society, said:“The station building has been very much part of the railway and built heritage of our area for so long and we’re all very disappointed to learn that it will be demolished in August.”
Network Rail said that there is no alternative given the condition of the structure, but that it has made every effort to take the views of residents and anyone else with an interest in the heritage of the station on board, while the refurbished footbridge has a future at another location after careful removal from Strathbungo.