After day’s of continuous rainfall that
fell over Glasgow in the early part of December 1994 the Glasgow
Central Low Level Railway was about to be engulfed by thousands
of gallons of water that poured out of the River Kelvin in
the West End of the City.
With the River Kelvin swelling to unprecedented levels the
water raged over the retaining wall at the steps leading up
to Gibson Street with a peak flow of 191 m3/s, corresponding
to a 1 in 200 year flood!. With the retaining wall overwhelmed,
it soon breached, setting a secondary course for the River
Kelvin to surge swiftly down the long abandoned Gibson Street
Tunnel towards the station at Exhibition Centre on the Argyle
line.
With trains still running and no alarms in place to alert
the Signalling staff of the impending deluge, a potential
catastrophe was narrowly averted by fate and good luck as
there was a train heading Eastbound as the torrent raged onward.
Luckily there were no casualties, but the damage to the Low
Level meant services would not run for many months. These
pictures were taken after the water subsided. The Platforms
were covered in fine silt and a high water mark on the exterior
of the six coach train.
The pictures clearly show the difference in water depth
(arrowed) at either end of the train. As the pictures illustrate,
the floodwater being deepest at the pedestrian exit (Eastbound
towards Argyle Street) and shallower at the Western end towards
Anderston Station. This is due to the subtle gradient of the
track. [PGCC]
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