The site of the first Bridge Street Station is now landscaped as the aerial view from the west (below) shows.

The architect of the two storey station building was James Collie. The station opened in 1841, replacing a temporary wooden structure. The Doric portico fronting the Booking Offices was demolished around 1950.

The blueprint below shows the internal layout of the station. The side entrance from the quayside at Clyde Place led directly to the platforms, which were at the upper level.
The pends either side of the Booking Hall provided access to the station for horse drawn carriages.
The little pub adjacent to the station was the Railway Arms Tavern. The upper storeys at the corner of Bridge Street and Clyde Place contained the Bridge Street Station Hotel.

The station had 5 tracks entering it, with 4 passenger platforms. The additional track between the platforms was used for the storage of rolling stock.
This pattern was also used for the terminal tracks entering the later Bridge Street Station and Southside Station, both of which had 5 tracks and 4 platforms.

None of the platforms shown in the blueprint above were used for the new station. The four-track through line to Central Station passed behind the old buildings, as shown in the map below.
After the opening of the new station, the buildings of the earlier station had a variety of uses. The collonaded Booking Hall was converted to offices surrounded by shops and public houses with banks at either end of the block. The upper floors of the corner building to the north of the Booking Hall continued to be used as an hotel.

A view of the site of the original Bridge Street Station from Carlton Court, which faced the entrance to the Booking Hall. The site was never redeveloped after the demolition of the station buildings in 1971.
The lines across the Clyde in the background are approaching Central Station.

The remnants of the second Bridge Street Station, which you can currently see from the trains approaching Central Station, are of a completely different building, situated to the south of the original Bridge Street Station shown on the earlier map. This large new station opened in 1890.
The photograph below shows the frontage of the station between Nelson Street and Kingston Street.

The design and construction of the new station was carried out by the Caledonian Railway Company Architects and Engineers Department in 1889/ 1890, under the supervision of engineer, George Graham. The station building was designed by James Miller in his preferred French Renaissance style.
It was closed and redeveloped in 1905/ 1906, after Central Station had been extended to provide extra platforms.

The map below shows Bridge Street Station in the period 1890-1906, before Central Station had been extended to take in more trains. It was still in use as a railway terminal even though the four platforms nearest the entrance at Bridge Street were used for the track passing through, en route to Central Station.

The stonework on the upper levels of the station has been well preserved.
There was an arched entrance to a central booking hall at street level. There were entrances leading directly to the high level platforms at each end of the building, at 40 and 52 Bridge Street.

The entrance to the former station at 52 Bridge Street shows the year of construction of the new station buildings, 1890.
In 1994 the upper floors of the second Bridge Street Station were converted into apartments. The flats are accessed from stairways entered from the old station entrances at 52 and 40 Bridge Street.

The Caledonian Railway's lion crest features above the former station entrance at 40 Bridge Street, which now leads to the flats on the upper levels.

A close up look at the terminal platforms in the 1890 station, shows 5 tracks with 4 passenger platforms. The additional track between the platforms was used for the storage of rolling stock.
This pattern was also used for tracks entering the earlier Bridge Street Station and Southside Station, both of which had 5 tracks and 4 platforms.

The tracks would eventually cross the river to provide 4 extra platforms at the Hope Street side of Central Station.

Billboard at the northern side of the river at Central Station points to Bridge Street for the 4 terminal platforms for trains to Kilwinning, Irvine and other destinations.

The 4 through lines from Bridge Street terminated at the Union Street side of Central Station, which had 9 platforms at that time.
The station would be later expanded to replace the 4 terminal platforms at Bridge Street and create the familiar 13 platforms of Central Station.

View from the Clyde looking back at the site of the first Bridge Street Station.
All that remains of the original four track bridge are the granite supporting piers. The present day eight / ten track bridge leads into Central Station on the northern side of the river.

View of the supports of the original bridge which once carried the four track railway from Bridge Street to Glasgow Central station.

The Glasgow Herald of 1st August 1879 reported on the opening ceremony of the new Central Station the previous day. “A special train consisting of 13 carriages and drawn by an engine gaily decked for the occasion with evergreen and bannerettes started from Bridge Street at one o’clock.”
The paper reported that the Caledonian Railway had taken possession of all properties on the city centre site on 28th May 1876.

Granite pier which supported dismantled old bridge leading to Glasgow Central.

View from Broomielaw, on approaches to Central Station, looking back to Bridge Street.

The earliest form of steam transport between Glasgow and Paisley was by road, rather than by rail. In 1834, John Russell ran 6 steam powered road-carriages between Glasgow and Paisley on a regular hourly service. During the Glasgow Fair holiday, however one of the carriages blew up, killing 4 people, allegedly as the result of sabotage by the road trustees, who were hostile to this form of transport. The service was abandoned a short time later.

The remains of one of these coaches is held by the Glasgow Museum of Transport after being found in a barn near the Paisley Road.

Bridge Street Station Before Central Station		Gorbals Stations Southside, Main Street & Gorbals
Eglinton Street Station Caledonian Railway Company		Cumberland Street Station Glasgow & South Western Railway
Shields Junction Disused Stations		Clyde Ferries and Docks A working river

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All original artwork, photography and text ©Gerald Blaikie 2002-2010
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