Glasgow Central Station rush hour

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Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby cumbo » Mon Mar 08, 2004 11:17 am

Whatever happend to the fab Scottish country dance music that they used
to play in the morning and evening rush hour at Central station??
I have never heard anything like it. It was like Hogmany all year round.
We used to skip off to work like worker ants!
It's all barrier checks and free samples of coffee now.
Do you think there would be a market for that kind of music now?
Central The Dance Years Vol I II III :?: :roll:
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Postby johnnyanglia » Mon Mar 08, 2004 10:21 pm

Ah the good old days !. What about when the train timetables and platforms were displayed in the windows above the shops(M&S etc). I clearly remember men walking back and forward with canvas stretched on timber frames which fitted into 13 window frames. The canvases would have the destinations printed on them. They stopped doing this about 1983. BRING IT BACK !!!.
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Postby Pgcc93 » Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:26 am

Johnnyanglia you brought back memories of that place, I'd almost forgotten about it.
The place where they hung the destination boards was known as the TIO (Train Information Office) now a restraunt. It was finaly closed in the spring of 1985 I think, when Glasgow Central got it's first major facelift in many decades. The TIO became redundant when British Rail commisioned the new electronic display on the concourse in front of the platforms. There was not much change out of a couple of million £'s for this latest technology and had many teething problems that took several years to sort out. IIRC the company that made it went bust, just to add final insult!.

I have a personal account of the old TIO when it shut as I (new tea boy) had the task of removing all the old Destination Screens from here to the Area Managers Office, where the were sold off for a donation to charity. They were in three price grades. £7.50 for a good un' and the cheapest being £3.50 and £5.50 for the middle of the road stuff.
But the ironic thing was that they were priced on thier condition I:E Very old with a bit of history attached to it/or railway/train no longer ran went for the least amount and the more mundane modern ones went for the top price!!!
If you wanted one you had to personaly come and collect it and there was no guarentee that you would get what you wanted route wise as there were very few doubles.
There was one Lady who sent in a cheque for £70 and asked for the Board that had the stops on the train from Glasgow Central to Portpatrick, But this service had been axed under the Beeching cuts and had been binned, surplus to requirements many years before, but the young Station Manager of the day (he's still within my company today on a very senior level;-) decided that we couldn't let the old biddy down and promptly got on the phone to the railway workshop over at Muirhouse Jct where the last of the painters and craftsmen were based and ordered up brand new one. Well the charity got its money and OK! it was not from that era but at least she got the very final hand painted Destination Board from Glasgow Central.

PS: they were all hand painted on canvas and the last one I saw (actually two) was in Brodick on the Isle of Arran in 1992 where they were lying in an old single decker bus?? I think one was a Football Special (footex) in old railway speak.

Also for nostalgia officiando's I discovered that the station announcer was based on the same level where there was a huge bank of amplifying equipment circa 1950's (Marconi & Tannoy badges were prevalent within grey hamerite cases & no doubt full of very large valves) He could be found behind the original Arrivals Board albeit out of the public view. The present station tannoy blurb! comes from Glasgow Central Signalbox.

And the best announcer I remember was a guy who had a very distinct accent. We're talking mid 70's until it's closure who according to my Dad (also a time served Railwayman) said he was an Irish/Canadian. To hear his voice today you need to either get hold of a 'Sense of Freedom' (Jimmy Boyle Story) or get hold of old copies of 'Charles Endel Esq' or was it Budgie ? I'm too young to remember much about this programme when they filmed in the Central Station area circa 1980. Ian Cuthbertson was the main character as usual. And you'll hear this guy's dullcet tones, he was the best in my book.
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Postby johnnyanglia » Tue Mar 09, 2004 6:50 pm

It is great to hear somone else remembers the boards. People tend to doubt my sanity when i tell them about it !.
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Postby Schiehallion » Sat Mar 20, 2004 9:35 pm

The Irish/Canadian Central Station announcer that Pgcc93 refers to was a great wee bloke called Tony Werbicki. He had retired before the TIO was dismantled as I was the Central Station announcer leading up to the TIO going.
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby the researcher » Fri Jul 22, 2011 8:32 pm

what i cant get is that train announcements are drowned out by the train arriving and even the occasional announcement when no trains arriving are done its still not possible to hear them as the volume control isnt turned up far enough why? also why not announce a train arriving before the train actually arrives not when it is arriving thereby defeating the object of the exercise.
i should point out this problem is prevelant at waverly station in edinburgh as dont know whether the same problem arises at glasgow central
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby dazza » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:20 pm

cumbo wrote:Whatever happend to the fab Scottish country dance music that they used
to play in the morning and evening rush hour at Central station??



I had completely forgotten about that. I don't recall any particular "Scottish country dance music", but I do remember hearing Acker Bilk and Percy Faith. Repeatedly.
Glasgow Underground has occasionally dabbled with the idea of having MOR music playing on the platforms (and in the carriages), but, as it's never came to fruition, then as I assume the public vote was a resounding "No".
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby RDR » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:24 pm

Question, but do they ever intend to reopen the dropping off point and car park within Central?
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby Bridie » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:25 pm

My mum, as a teenager, worked in the kiosk in the middle and sold a Daily Record to Stan Laurel. 8O
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby tobester » Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:59 pm

RDR wrote:Question, but do they ever intend to reopen the dropping off point and car park within Central?


If thats the bit that was up on the concourse at platforms 13/14 (i think) etc then sadly no, as the car park etc was removed for the new platform 12/13 a by product of the now cancelled GARL
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby yoker brian » Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:14 am

tobester wrote:
RDR wrote:Question, but do they ever intend to reopen the dropping off point and car park within Central?


If thats the bit that was up on the concourse at platforms 13/14 (i think) etc then sadly no, as the car park etc was removed for the new platform 12/13 a by product of the now cancelled GARL


Tobester (FSR Lackey that he is :wink: ) is correct in that the dropping off point / car park were removed during the modifications for the new platforms.

I also read a report earlier this week that there is plans to remove the drop off point & ban vehicle access to the concourse of Edinburgh Waverley via the ramps to Waverley Bridge on security grounds during and after the station redevelopment, the thinking behind this would I assume be to prevent or minimise the threat of a reoccurance of an attack similar to that which took place at Glasgow Airport.

So the chances of the Glasgow Central drop off point being reinstated are probably non existant.

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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby RDR » Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:25 am

Thanks YB and Tobster.
That is the area I mean.
Had to drop my wife off at central several times this year to go down South and there is nowhere, apart from Gordon Street, which is monopolised by the taxi trade, to drop someone with heavy luggage. The old area was perfect for that.
Or is there another area I'm missing?
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby Dexter St. Clair » Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:46 am

RDR wrote:Question, but do they ever intend to reopen the dropping off point and car park within Central?


They are removing that facility from inside Edinburgh Waverley due to terrorism fears and the unlikely chance of a John Smeaton within the ranks of Network Rail lackeys.


Drivers face Waverley ban under terror rules
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby HollowHorn » Sat Jul 23, 2011 1:48 pm

Dexter St. Clair wrote:They are removing that facility from inside Edinburgh Waverley due to terrorism fears]

Sound a bit iffy, the Glasgow attack was four years ago.
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Re: Glasgow Central Station rush hour

Postby The Egg Man » Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:52 pm

Am I mistaken in thinking shiny new metal posts have recently been installed at the Gordon Street entrance to Central Station, or have I just not noticed them before now?
I hear the people sing.
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