Saint Enoch |

Version 9 - view current page


St Enoch Station was a former mainline railway station in Glasgow.

Located on St Enoch Square in the city centre, it was opened by the City of Glasgow Union Railway, in 1876. The first passenger train stopping there on 1 May 1876, with the official opening taking place on 17 October 1876.

In 1883 it was taken over by the Glasgow and South Western Railway and it became their head quarters. In the 1923 grouping it was taken over and then operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway. After the nationalisation of the United Kingdom rail network, the station was run by British Railways.

It was a large station with 12 platforms and two impressive semi-cylindrical glass/iron overall roofs. The station was closed in 1966 as part of the rationalisation of the railway system undertaken by Dr Richard Beeching. In an act that can be described as nothing more than architectural vandalism, the roofs of the structure were demolished, despite protests, in 1976. The St Enoch Hotel which fronted the station and the brick-arch viaducts which supported the station were then demolished in 1977, with the city council claiming the site was earmarked for a building for use by the Ministry of Defence - this never materialised. The site is now occupied by another glass structure, the St Enoch Centre, a large and rather hideous shopping centre. The remains of the station and hotel were used to help in fill the Queen's Dock on the banks of the River Clyde, today the home of the SECC.

The small red sandstone ticket hall which stands in St Enoch Square immediately west of the shopping centre is not part of the former rail station, but in fact the former ticket hall for the adjacent St Enoch subway station on the Glasgow Subway. Though the mainline station is gone, parts of the arcaded approach embankments (now containing shops and restaurants) can be seen to the east of the shopping centre's carpark. Though these currently go nowhere they once connected with the Glasgow City Union Railway and the City Union Bridge of 1899 which still spans the River Clyde to destinations in the south. The much spoken of Glasgow Crossrail scheme hopes to use this section of track and incorporate it into the SPT network.

St Enoch Station & Hotel

St Enoch - busy day at the station

Saint Enoch, 1963 - Platform 3

Saint Enoch, 1954 - Taxi rank

St Enoch, Platform 9

St Enoch, 1964 - Platform 4

St Enoch, Platform 9 in use as a Car Park

St Enoch, in use as a Car Park

St Enoch - station roof about to be demolished

St Enoch Hotel building July 1976, station roofs now gone

St Enoch - being demolished, with the Lewis' building in the background