HAPPY 180th birthday, Queen Street station…
On this day (February 18) in 1842, the terminus for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway first opened its doors.
(Fun fact – the station opened before building work had actually been completed.
It was more than 30 years later, in 1878, that the station’s amazing A-listed glass roof was finally in place.)
The station – originally called Dundas Street - was redesigned and extended that year and became one of the earliest buildings to have electricity in Glasgow.
Our photo shows how train announcements were done in 1932…and who remembers Roadhouse Refreshments, the concourse café?
Queen Street was recently redeveloped again, to the tune of £120m.
The site was not the easiest place to build a railway hub – the Cowlairs Incline, a steep slope with a gradient of 1 in 46, meant early trains had to be hauled from the station by means of a steam-driven winding cable.
Below the station, low-level platforms were opened in 1886.
READ MORE: From Glasgow to Canada - Dan's moving memories of life as a wartime evacuee
This was another engineering feat, with the underground platforms and lines all excavated successfully without disturbing the main line above it.
Open spaces provided escapes for the smoke from passing steam trains.
Queen Street is Scotland’s third busiest station - by 2030 the number of people using it is expected to increase by 40 percent to 28 million.
What are your favourite memories of Queen Street Station? Get in touch with Times Past to share your stories and photos.
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