The Modern Railway
Locomotive & Rolling Stock Exhibition
Central Station Glasgow, 3rd to 19th September 1959
This was an accompaniment to the "Scottish Industries Exhibition" being held in the Kelvin Hall to capture many of the same visitors. A DMU shuttle ran between the two, and a Wickham railbus was on display in Central.
A few days before, on August 31, the East Kilbride service had been transferred from Central to St Enoch station to reduce the number of trains using Central for re-signalling, and this was probably one of the reasons that Central could spare the use of two platforms. Had the exhibition been held as part of the Kelvin Hall show the cost for the space would have been considerable, and not all the vehicles displayed met the 'built in Scotland' criteria.
The exhibition was open daily, except Sundays, from 10am to 10pm, and was held in platform 5 and 6. It was attended by 104,000 visitors[1]. The focus of the exhibition was modernisation.
A promotional booklet was produced (measuring 8 1/4" x 6") detailing the exhibits. Scans courtesy of John Paton.
Entry was free to those with an admission ticket to the Scottish Industries Exhibition, otherwise admission was 6d for adults and 3d for juveniles.
A colourful modern entranceway was erected featuring large sized publicity images. The clientele seen queueing for entrance did not seem to be the average trainspotter.
The vehicles on display included a three-car "Blue Train" EMU, seen on the left, in front of it was Wickham railbus Sc79969 (pictured here). On the right platform is Sulzer Type 2 D5329 and freight rolling stock. Although not mentioned in any of the promotional material it was noted there was also one of the Swindon Inter-City vehicles on display[2], these had just been introduced to the Ayr line.
There was also a sleeping car, model railway and cinema coach — the films on modernisation, freight and Scottish travel were watched by 22,000 people[1].
In the first image schoolboys study the Presflo display. In the second image British Transport Commission Chairman Sir Brian Robertson inspects the AM3 EMU (later known as a Class 303) built nearby at Linwood by Pressed Steel for the North Clyde electrification which would be introduced the following year.
The five images above are from the October 1959 Scottish Region edition of the British Railways (staff) Magazine.
Scottish Industries Exhibition
A promotional booklet was also produced for the Scottish Industries Fair at the Kelvin Hall, which was the largest general trade fair held in Great Britain that year. Scans courtesy of John Paton.
All railway stations in Scotland were selling admission tickets to the exhibition, the booklet also promoted the fares from a selection of Scottish locations.
The shuttle arriving into Kelvin Hall station on the 19th September 1959. Stuart Mackay Collection.
British Railways had an enquiry bureau in the exhibition.
A DMU shuttle service, using a Cravens twin supplied by Hamilton depot, was provided between the two exhibitions using Glasgow Central (Low Level) and Kelvin Hall stations, returns cost 1/- for adults and 6d for children. These ran half hourly to boost the sparse steam service, the DMU provding notably cleaner accomodation, and the journey time was apparently four minutes[2] although that does seem a little fast!
Another item detailed in the booklet was the of some of the historic steam locos that were running trains to the exhibition, four pre-grouping Scottish locos and bizarrely GWR "City of Truro".
The entrance to Kelvin Hall station was specially decorated for the exhibition. This image, and the image of the Cravens in Kelvin Hall station platform, were taken on 5 September 1959 by WAC Smith, images courtesy of John Paton/Caledonian Railway Association.
References
- ⋏ a b "Locomotive and Rolling Stock Exhibition" p460 October 1959 ScR British Railways Magazine
- ⋏ a b "Scottish Region" p307 October 1959 Railway Observer (Railway Correspondence and Travel Society)