Glasgow Underground (1977) | The Final Days
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- čas přidán 22. 07. 2017
- Documentary exploring the Glasgow Underground's history and imminent closure in 1977. The Glasgow Underground underwent a huge modernisation project and reopened in 1980. It is still open today with new trains, updated modern platforms but the same oval route with only two tracks - clockwise and anti-clockwise.
A video exploring the 3 year modernisation is also on my channel.
The "presenter" from Edinburgh.....this is why, for many years, there was visible animosity between the two cities.
When it reopened in 1980 I used it daily to get to school, then at the weekends to "roam" about the town. It's a fantastic thing, and still is today and Glaswegians are really proud of their clockwork orange.
Ever since the modernisation the media have been trying to get the "Clockwork Orange" thing to stick. No Glaswegian calls it that or ever will. The reference has no relevance or connection to the Subway or Glasgow, some hack was just trying to show that he'd read a book.
Typical inter-city jealousy.
The clot from Edinburgh says ....”do Glaswegians just like using the underground because they like dirty smelly places”
Yes we maybe do.... that’s why we visit Edinburgh from time to time
In 1977 the London Underground was dirty and smelly
now...I....she....undear....goun.....tean.
...
UK...tean.....
@@ldb281 Thankfully, it still is
Well said!
That old man on the train is superb! I hope he lived a long good life what a character !
A life full of dreams you mean?
Really annoying I thought.
Was it Cliff Hanley that you are talking about? A true Glasgow character.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Hanley
@@ianfraser8347 Wow, I think someone posted that it was Fyfe Robertson. Indeed it seems to be Cliff Hanley. Cliff seems to be the one involved with the Glasgow underground song.
Wonderful souvenir. I did a report for a French railway magazine in September 1974. To visit the workshop, the train stopped right in the shaft so I could reach the surface using the ladder.
Jean-Paul, from Esbly, France.
I remember as a child in the early 60's the magic of the Glasgow Underground. The brightly painted trains, how small the trains were, and the unmistakable station smell as you waited on the platform for your train to appear out of the darkness of the tunnel. It was a magical adventure for a child.
The smell of damp concrete and pee?
@@daphne4983 Don't forget the dead animals, cigarettes and smoked haddock.
@@daphne4983 I love the smell of damp concrete and pee in the morning............
.......
Smells like........
........
Victory. No, its Glasgow.
Man, the art deco, the hair, the people and how they dressed, oh, the 70s, before my time but fascinates to me.
Er, art deco? That's a 1920s style. 1970s buildings were typically brutalist. (Which can be nice as well, but it's a wholly different cup of tea.)
@@gymnasiast90 train looks like relic from 1920s
i was a crane driver in the govan works, and knew a couple of folk in the video, it was a great place to work, thanks for posting, happy memories.
I suspect a lot of places were better to work at than current places that are H&S mad.
are some of these people still alive?
@@Marco-wz3ff It was over 40 years ago so it's unlikely that any older people in the film are still with us.
That said, it was a lot easier to gauge someone's age back then - a 60 year old looked positively ancient - not now.
@@ianmacfarlane1241 it would be so interesting to find out more about these people.
@@Marco-wz3ff Why? They're just average people. Go into your own city and talk to an old person and you'll probably find that they are just as interesting as anyone in this video, (with respect to most of the people in the video - not the presenter or Cliff Hanley.)
There's a preserved carriage in the Glasgow transport museum if anybody wants to have a closer look.
The previous setup at Kelvinhall was 100x better.
indeed it was. Visited the new setup last month for the first time and was bitterly disappointed. I mean, the carriage is there but its not the same. The old setup felt like you were really in the old subway, the new one is a poor imitation.
the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway and Museum have one too.
thanks for the info, next time I am down that way I will drop by !
Has Damien Hurst pickled it ?
That older gentleman on the train was a colorful character. lol
Fyfe Robertson was a jounalist/ tv presenter and quite a character on Scottish tv
@@geemc3592 Are you both talking about the older gentleman who is the first person talking to the camera in this video? Because that person is Cliff Hanley, who, as he says, wrote the "Glasgow Underground" song at the start of this video. (As performed by Francie and Josie aka Jack Milroy and Rikki Fulton.)
@@michaeljames6953 thanks I stand corrected age is not playing fair lol
So glad I got to ride the Glasgow Underground when I visited Glasgow in December 1971. It was a unique experience I’ll never forget.
It's still here. It just got modernised. Come back and take a trip around.
At the time it needed modernising now it needs to be extended to the Outer Glasgow area and towns
Too bloody right.
no
No point in extending the loop, small trains and limited capacity. A whole new line or lines would be a better option!
mat mells: “[S]cots are known for [being] tight...” yet they’re one of the few who are investing in ongoing rail electrification no? That certainly doesn’t come cheap...
fetchstix™ great western mainline and East Midlands maybe? Oh yeah very smell projects
As a boy in the six week school holidays my parents would take me to my mums home town of Glasgow as were from Nottingham to see relatives. It was a given that we would use the the underground and I just loved that stale air smell and I remember St Enoch's station as being close to where my mum loved to go shopping at Lewis's. These are memories that will never leave me
Pre Christmas visits to Lewis's was my childhood. On the subway. Magnificent. I still love the subway, but it doesn't have the same dank character. I can still smell it!
I remember going on the subway as a child in the 1960s and it was an awfully big adventure for a wee wean. I had to hing on tae ma mammy's hand on the platform as you'd hear the rumble and roar down the tunnel. Then this big (to me) dark red train would appear. I remember the wooden floors, and I guess, now, looking back, the Victorian features. I think today it would be very steampunk. I remember the smell, it's something that never leaves you. It wasn't a dirty smell, more like a kind of musty smell very peculiar to the subway, it was just it's signature. I think it all leaves quite an impression on a young child. Wonderful film.
6:30, poor Andrew looks truly bummed
Andrew is elsewhere 😂
you will enjoy this boy!
Truly bummed by his dad yeah
@@danielkerr4100 aye dads not fany at al isit?
The same dad that goes to a sale 3 hours after opening and is truly stunned that what he wanted was sold out. Even though the same thing has happened 5 times this year already. I bet he's been missing the boat all his life.
The smell of the underground was wonderful! Brings back many fond memories.
I was asked what my favourite smell was & this is what I chose. I loved the smell 👌
I remember as a child in the early 60's going with my parent's on the Glasgow Underground. For a child it really was a magical experience.
What a fascinating program full of nostalgia.i love Glasgow and wish I could have experienced it for myself.
weallmakechoices
That drone of a presenter! SMH. I was lucky to grow up in Glasgow and this is trip down memory lane for me, those trains that shuggled about with the seat back moving at a different tempo to where your bum was parked, the cage doors, the whistle, and the strange dank smell, the gloomy wee cupboard-like offices with a solitary lightbulb that housed the staff. Kelvinbridge, Buchanan St, Cowcaddens, St Enoch. A poem to my childhood.
12 seconds ago
Classic absolute classic. I can just imagine the job advert for driver "must be experienced in stoving cats and dogs heads in with a shovel if necessary" seriously a great piece of history.
fare dodger caught at 9.50
GET OOT MA TRAIN YA JAKEY BASTARD
@@aaronholmes8568 more like "allah akbur".... I mean that's a REAL early Pakistani migrant.
@@OffGridInvestor thankyou
9:50
@@aaronholmes8568 9:50
This is easily the most charming subway I've ever seen. Great upload, Patty!!
This is an excellent video and an invaluable insight into the old underground. My wife and I spent our wedding anniversary weekend in Glasgow and I loved the system. So much friendlier and professional than the one in London - having lots of staff about and open ticket offices makes a huge difference!
The guy from London at 05:15 was a trainer at both the old White City School and the present Ashfield House training centre for many years - though long since retired now.
Loved the underground since my first visit in the 60's. From Northamptonshire we have visited Glasgow over 50 times and always take a ride on the underground. Nothing matches it anywhere in the world. Great video, Thank you
You've got one of the biggest and best underground systems an hour from your house, and you rate Glasgow's effort - really?
Ian Macfarlane London Underground might be technically brilliant but it comes with the sardine packed crowds. Glasgow Subway is rarely so busy, but it needs a second overlapping loop line. Now they have a SPT card like the Oyster it's getting into the modern world. When I first visited Glasgow in 2012 it had old paper card tickets littered everywhere. The new rolling stock coming in 2021? Much needed.
@@rarevhsuploads4995 Fantastic, no paper tickets, and not many people use it - you're really selling it there.
Are you in marketing?
Your "second loop line" is a fantasy - what makes you imagine that they'll ever expand it?
Traveled everyday on the subway. Always remember the wonderful yeasty smell of the tunnels and the mix of ozone from the electrics. Nothing bad about it! Edinburgh snobs! Just 'cause they couldna make one for their own wee city! sometimes used to go all the way around the loops for fun!
Brilliant this & cheers for posting this full version ? Great memories......
No problem. Found it on my computer don't know where i got it from can only assume I saved it from CZcams at some point but it's gone now.
xtstevie。
So cool. This is what makes CZcams ( and Scotland ) great :)
Gives me goosebumps to hear their optimism of the new train.
Great piece of history = thanks for posting it, despite the run down appearance (I remember Glasgow when it looked like that), it had character and best of all, it worked!!!!
It's charm has gone but the modern Glasgow subway is neat.
@9:25. How quaint. A ticket manager looking at the tickets of the passengers. This looks like something from 1925 or earlier. Amazing. A blast from the past. Thank you.
“There’s Partic Cross and Cessnock, Hillhead and Merkland Street. St. George’s Cross and govan cross where all the people meet. West street, shield road, the train goes round and round. You’ve never lived unless you’ve been on the Glasgow Underground!”
Bruce Tharpe A crackin’ wee tune eh? I love it!
Francie and Josie?
@@ayrshireman1314 Oh, the patter.
Sure Ian, sure sure.
@@ayrshireman1314 And the song was written by none other than Cliff Hanley, which surprised me as I only knew him from the 80s onwards via his column in the Glasgow Herald.
"It's a railroad of dreams my boy. A railroad of dreams."
This is cool!!
@VERNON Probably his kid
I’m English. I used the underground during the 2010’s when I worked by Byer’s Road. It remains an excellent service. However, my friends from Japan smiled when they travelled on it. Compared with Japan’s service, it is a “toy-train”. Long may it last.
"Smiled"?
Laughed their heads off?
1st time I've actually seen anything like this - I was born in the 80's & it's mind-blowing how they still used the old victorian stock right up to the 70's. That & the fact you don't see any safety equipment worn in the tunnels like high-vis vests & helmets. Crazy.........
There are no trains running and there's nothing above to fall so what useful purpose would hi-vis clothing and hard hats make.
Hard hats and high vis didnt really get enforced till 1992 under the Protective Equipment Regulations act. Today you would need to wear one in case you tripped and hit your head and so forth.
@@RogersRamblings I was told I'd be sacked for refusing to wear a lid on a site in London circa 1990. I was on a roof, unloading lead flashing from a hoist for three months in blistering sunshine - only two things could have fallen on my head - a bird or an aircraft.
@@ianmacfarlane1241 You where getting sacked because you talked so much shite
@@danbreen6946 Were you there ya fanny?
That'd be nope - I'd have remembered a Henry.
This is a great film Brings back fond memories of a system I visited several times in its last years after seeing it on BBC Nationwide.
RIP Merkland Street 1896-1977
Remember these when I was wee, travelling from queen street.
Colin Bodger there is no queen st underground pal
Ali - no but there used to be an entrance to Buchanan St subway station right next to the entrance to Queen St. Plus he may have meant Queen St low level trains.
Great little documentary. Thanks for posting!
I loved the smell of the underground. I used to go aroind and around when I was a kid then I used to travel to govan for work.
Love the Alexander bodied buses at the start of this video...
Miss them from my city too. The volvo ailsa had a unique sound.
It would have been awesome to have experienced this just once.
I commuted Hillhead to St Enoch in 1972/73, and always loved it. I remember the glazing moving independently of the frame as it rolled along. Lots of characters, like Glasgow as a brilliant City. (a Sassenach)
28:48 RIP old station ceiling lights
This just came up on my CZcams feed. My uncle (Walter Habbick) worked on the Underground and I was told that my grandfather had something to do with the design of the electrification of it. Brings back fond memories for me as a child. I have a vague recollection of being taken in a train which stopped mid stations at a workshop. Thank you for sharing.
Finally a good recommendation! Didn't understand Half of it, though! Greetings from Germany!
eine Stadt voller Leichen you now have friends in Scotland (Glasgow)
A very stunning and fascinating piece of tech history i've never seen or heard of bedore. Many thanks for sharing! I'd like to visit Glagow right now.
I love the Glasgow Subway 😍
More than 40 years 4 decades and counting and is still beautiful
I think these old red gals were quaint and I would have loved to have a ride! I miss the old London Tube Stock as well
Living in Cumbria/Cumberland, I regularly used the LU - did ah bollox - LOL. Miraculously, it seems LU rolling stock has come and gone already without me noticing. The '1939' stock is what I remember - with 'door mats' of wooden rails just like the old escalators - red trains, inside & out - with dangly balls hanging from the carriage roof on 'springs'.
My first impressions of this old LU stock was that it was designed as a people mover and not for comfort - and I liked it. Less impressed with newer rolling stock ! The electric smells and jerky acceleration all added to the experience and memories.
@@millomweb I used the Northern line daily from about 1980 when the trains were elderly pre-war 1938 stock. A friend who worked at one of the London Transport works did tell me what the wooden slats on the floor were made of, it was the same as the RT and Routemaster buses but I have forgotten what it was. I never knew the old Glasgow subway although I saw the new trains when they still at Birmingham RCW where they were built. The Northern Line in London had a certain smell but it was somewhat dreadful. A combination of the acrid whiff of old DC electrical equipment and Pish!!! Mind the GAP!!! Ironically London is now just an increasingly distant and not altogetherly fondly remembered memory. Glasgow has long been with other places in the central belt an occasional stopping off point to places further north.
@@tonymaries1652 Some years ago, I had an expensive w/e in London - staying over night. Total spend for the w/e was £1·50.
That was for a hot dog at the Blackheath Tea Hut after I visited the Greenwich Observatory and before cycling back into the City.
The point of this comment being that on cycling along, there was one point where I could smell the electrical underground - quite possibly DC as even with my experience of DC and AC I cannot distinguish the two by smell ;)
It sounds like you're Still Game ;)
@@millomweb . And those “dangly balls” became a favourite weapon for the football hooligans 😉
@@edwardoleyba3075 How ? They shouldn't pull off or be low enough to hit anyone with !
I love the Glasgow Subway. It's well known for being that one subway that has never extended its tracks and is very useful if you need to get to the other side of the city in a hurry, i.e. if your going from the city centre to Govan or toward Ibrox. It should never change, it's an institution.
Edit: Even in the 1970's before it was an actual slogan, people still made Glasgow.
My nephew calls the subway the funny train.
I loved the wee red trains. It was a quick way to get to work in the town. Memories.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Fyfe Robertson. What a guy I had forgotten how positive he was on all things. I travelled regularly on this old system as a 13 year old (1972) and loved it. I have no recollection of those "solid" sliding doors, I only remember the trellis gates. I remember that the research into the smell featured into the local TV news and that ultimately the smell needed no encouragement, it survived the modernisation. I liken the old carriages to the trams at Blackpool. It would have been nice if they could have kept some of the old with the new. As it is we now have the "Clockwork Orange"
Not Fyfe Robertson it's Cliff Hanley.
Great stuff.
The East Coast sarcasm lives on. Should have got a Glaswegian to review it. It was the 2nd city of the Empire, unlike the rival on the other coast. 😂
This film is terrific for many reasons.
The carriages truly were a testament to great engineering and craftsmanship - I hope they were preserved.
They were not preserved, can’t speak for them all but I know a lot were reused to help build and upgrade the system using its massive overhaul. By saying resided I mean they were ripped apart and used as wagons. A real waste
@@garyrea2320 Typical...everyone knows the price of everything; but never the _value._
@@saxongreen78 I looked into this a bit more, there is one at the Glasgow transport museum and another was at a subway station but it was basically cut in half. The rest were used during the system upgrade as wagons and then sent for scrap. It’s really sad that do much of the old system was destroyed. They also did the same with Glasgow at Enoch station. That building was very grand but was bulldozed and dumped in the Clyde to fill in the old docks.
@@garyrea2320 in Aberdeen they burned the trams after they were replaced by buses. The vandalism of our history is a disgrace but they thought destruction was 'progress', and 'The Progressives' are doing it again in the name of political ideology.
I believe there's four of these subway cars still in existence, three at the Glagscow Transport Museum and one at the Bo'ness and Kinnell railway museum.
The best part of this film is seeing the Glaswegians of that time. My Mum's generation. Sorely missed.
Some of us are still around :>
There would be a lot more of them around you hadn't all fallen for the empty promises of socialism.
From 1966 I remember the man standing there shouting constantly, "Roon' the queue"!
I love the rolling stock.
I remember seeing about this closure and modernisation on the TV news, I was a teenager at the time. I wish I had been able to travel to see it for myself - and that there were still at least one station where daylight reached the platforms.
Nice one Patrick :)
People seemed so much more dignified back then
They probably were too. What do you think explains the change?
9:46 .... no matter what time period... there's always one trying to push it!
Hey, I'd like to ride these old Underground trains. These cramped interiors are awesome, totally unlike other subway systems out there.
8:24 i love this door slam
I can still smell it!❤
As a southern Englishman, my view may be jaded by this wonderful portrayal. But it looked like a lovely thing. In reality, maybe there were problems with louts, drunks hooligans, all the usual suspects which bring down anything in society. But this film portrays a quaint little service.
Indian guy. What a star! LOL
Sorry, I couldn't make out from his accent whether he was from the north side or the south side ?
heart drop at 9:50
PAKISTANI. I mean it's pretty obvious he's a muslim. With the beard and all the stuff about prayers.
@@OffGridInvestor There are 200 Million muslims in india too :)
@@millomweb South Side - Pollokshields, Govanhill or Queen's Park.
6:46 "In 1999….NO ONE DIED….." etc
LOL! Great that I get this reference. I remember losing the plot laughing it when I first saw it.
I was thinking of that sketch just yesterday.
Don't forget the incident with the pigeon.
specially trained horse hunters with hammers and a special gun
Great video, Patrick! I see it on one breath) If it's correct to say like this. Very interesting. Tonnels are really narrow. Not so far I was in Berlin and U-bahn semms to me very cozy and those small cars.. but Glazgo cars much smaller. I can imagine how it was for people who suffer from claustrophobia syndrome)
Almost 50 years those trains will have lasted. Impressive.
I don't know why this was recommended to me, but i loved it
It was the final days of the old trains. The subway was only closing temporarily, for relaying and upgrading the track for the new trains. So I think it's slightly dishonest to describe it as the closure of the subway.
I use the underground whenever I'm in Glasgow, and I personally am delighted that the upgrade was so successful. And the current trains are still cute, IMO. Cute but effective and efficient
My dad took on the underground before it closed in for refurbishment in 1977. I was 4 at the time.
Fascinating
Incredible! Looks like toy train in basement! Thumb up!
6:30 Andrew scares me.
really good
Love it.
The framing is very interesting. All those shots of white walls in the background.
Great channel
Great to see
In early 1977 I was employed on the London underground and while visiting Glasgow managed to wangle my way in to the car sheds. Photos at...
www.rogersramblings.co.uk/glasgow-subway-1977/
wow...nice old video :)
So beautiful city off Glasgow from kurdistan 🇳🇪
6:46 This guys voice is pure ASMR
6:20 Best Bit of television I’ve ever seen!
As a school boy of 10 I liked to stand in the “cage” , noisy and exciting all the way from Hillhead to St Enoch (the trellis gates) I miss the glass partitions between the passengers could do with then nowadays.
Strange how this just popped on in my recommended videos.
Can’t believe he said that”Being from Edinburgh this to me is a dirty smelly place” 😂😂
What a wanker he is
It was 1977. People were less guarded about vetting their every statement for its capacity to offend.
Being from Edinburgh, I know that Edinburgh is the real dirty smelly place.
He's just jealous cos in the 70s they had nothing . . . Not even a tram 🤣🤣
10:18 wins best beard of the year award!
Took my three year old on the subway for the first time this week and he's hooked too
Interesting.
6:22 When you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you. -Nietzsche
The blackest eyes, like a dolls eyes - Quint
5:25
Ancient hipster detected.
Omg all 3 of them
@@SpiderPigggg xD
@@SpiderPigggg I just saw that video in my recommendations and wasn't really sure if I have already seen it or not. And now I see you commented just yesterday which seems like a hell of a coincidence to me.
@@l3p3 You are a broken armpit.
@@Den2067 Я работаю на КГБ, детка
It was the quickest way to get to Uni for me.
Art Deco like design; nice looking.
Little Sweetie nope. Victorian design, art deco came in the 20s. The subway was from 1886..
Colin Johnston; thanks for the correction! :)
@@colinjohnston8519 The refurbishment was art deco in the Thirties
Am I the only one that is just fast forwarding to see what other people have posted about the creepy conductor and fare dodger etc :D
Well that was rather interesting.
between west street asd shields Road still has that smell.
I'm sad that I never got to ride this.