The Hidden Glasgow Forums

HollowHorn wrote:Aye Ken, but hawd the boat, I've just looked at the pics above & I'm seeing tram tracks being uprooted in the present day. Do you have maps or (and I hate to say it) evidence that most of the tracks in and around Glasgow were dug up back in the day?

Josef wrote:Looks like you're absolutely right, Tombro. There was a tram-free bit between Elmbank Street and Renfield Street. Which is the bit that I saw being resurfaced.

HollowHorn wrote:Saw this on another site:

Wouldn't be so disruptive in Glasgow I don't think. The tram rails are all pretty much intact under the tarmac. Strip a few layers down on most of the main routes and bob's yer auntie.

I'm rather surprised at this statement, I thought that all the tram tracks had been dug up & scrapped, I've certainly seen photos of this happening in Byres Rd. & Eglinton Toll. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Peekay wrote:

glasgowken wrote:That's a point, I can't see it catching on.

Anybody see that Mythbusters episode where they ran a car on chip fat ? It worked great

I've got a pal that does it. He collect the used oil from his local Chinese(saving them on the disposal cost), filters the gubbins out, sticks in a glug of ethanol and off his goes. Works a treat and he pays about 20p a litre.

PK

Vinegar Tom wrote:I'm sure you are correct HH for most of the tracks.

I previously transcribed this passage from Bill Patersons wonderful memoir:

Vinegar Tom wrote:
Chapter 5 of Bill Paterson's new book " Tales from the Back Green" details the destruction of the tram lines:

"But in the end the smokeless zones cleared the fogs and the buses and cars scuppered the trams.Our Corporation scrapped them, sent them to museums and decided to rip up the tracks and that is why the monster was now outside our close.
It turned out to be a tracked vehicle about the same disposition as a Sherman tank. It had a long jib sticking out from the front tipped with a huge steel beak. The beak was only interested in digesting one thing: our tramlines and the big granite cobbles they were set in.

It was raised about twenty feet in the air and then allowed to crash down on to the cobbles with a ghastly teeth shattering kerrang that was probably heard in Sauchiehall Street. The jib then pulled the beak back and a whole section of cobbles and tramlines rose up like a giant jig-saw. It hung there for a few seconds then crashed back to earth and the cobbles would break up. The Troglodytes moved in and cut the rails with their spitting, rasping flares which flashed dazzling light all around the tenement walls. It chewed up the tracks and then moved on. Our street now had a gaping wound running right down its centre. They filled the scar with tarmac, painted white lines down the middle and handed Alexandra Parade over to the motor car."

Call me an old Luddite , but that makes me sad. BTW if you liked that extract , buy the book - it is a cracker.

retired tiger wrote:Being a war baby, (2nd, not 1st!) I have loads of fond memories. One of my best laughs was my pall telling me about driving an old Austin 7 with wheels so narrow they could get caught in the tracks so you had to hope the tracks were going the way you wanted.

the researcher wrote:Just had a look on the fife council library catalogue and they have several copies of this book so will need to request it, also had a look for any books about the subway and the only one they appear to have is glasgow undergound the final years by david h barzilay is this book worth getting out?