Glasgow Central Station Tour

On Thursday we were in town for the Central Station Tour. This recently introduced tour (the last couple of years I think) is immensely popular and it’s going to be expanded to include a wee museum. A voucher for the tour was one of James’s leaving presents from his colleagues, and we had to book it weeks ahead. No wonder it’s popular; resplendent in completely unnecessary hi-vis tabards and hard hats we set off with our group into the tunnels beneath Central Station. The tour did not take us very far physically; a couple of tunnels, a “haunted“ room, and an abandoned Victorian platform. But the stories that our guide told us about the history of the place and the part it has played in the history of Glasgow were fascinating. We heard about the Clearances resulting in unemployed Highlanders sheltering from the rain under the “Hielanman’s Umbrella” beneath the railway bridge. We heard about First World War troops leaving for and returning from Platform 1, and about the underground tunnel from the Post Office in George Square to the station, to load the mail onto the trains for London, including the ill-fated train that was held up in the Great Train Robbery in 1963.
When we emerged into the sunshine we found the shoppers of Buchanan Street being entertained by several bands who are in Glasgow for the World Pipe Band Championships, and we listened to them from a pleasant distance (I love the sound of bagpipes but not up close) while having a coffee sitting outside Costa in Royal Exchange Square.