Botanic Gardens

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Botanic Gardens (1896-1939)

Opened on the Glasgow Central Railway.

Description

This was a two platform station in the west end of Glasgow. The station was below ground level with a fine surface building.

The design was superior due to the stipulations of the owners of the Botanic Gardens. This building was by James Miller. The building was 'Domestic Revival' in style and had Tudor chimneys, and due to the two onion domes on the building it was sometimes known as 'The Kremlin'. The surviving gatehouse building at the entrance to the gardens has some characteristics in common with the now lost station building.

The cutting containing the station is open at either end of the platforms allowing light to enter and the station may be glimpsed below from above.

To the east, the line ran under Great Western Road (Great Western Road Tunnel, below the pipes of the Loch Katrine Aqueduct) to Kelvin Bridge station and to the west it ran under the Botanic Gardens themselves (Botanic Gardens Tunnel) to Kirklee station.

The station briefly had a signal box from opening until 1909.

Great Western Road carried trams whose competition led to an early closure for the station in 1939. The line closed to passengers in 1960 and survived until 1964 as a single track line from Maryhill to Kelvin Bridge and the building survived as a cafe until a fire in 1970.

There were no goods facilities here.

Being fairly intact, the station is a popular urban exploration location, although the access to the railway tunnel is gated. It was used by the BBC for the daytime 'Garden Party' programme as a band venue in the late 1980s, early 1990s.

Local

The Friends of Glasgow Botanic Gardens

Tags

Station

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map


Nearby stations
Hillhead [Subway]
Kirklee
Kelvin Bridge
Kelvinbridge [Subway]
Kelvinhall [Subway]
Maryhill Central
Hyndland [1st]
Kelvin Hall
Kelvinside
Partick [Subway]
St Georges Cross [Subway]
Yorkhill
Partickhill
Partick
Hyndland
Botanic Gardens Tunnel
Great Western Road Tunnel
Kirklee Junction
Cooper and Co
Kirklee Goods
Kirklee Goods Signal Box
Maryhill Central Junction
Hamilton^s Aerial Railway
Bellshaugh Junction
Glasgow Glass Works
Caledonian Glass Bottle Works
Firhill Glass Bottle Works
Ruchill Oil Works
Tourist/other
Glasgow Royal Botanic Gardens
University of Glasgow
Location names in dark blue are on the same original line.


Botanic Gardens


The gardens opened on this site, having previously been at Sandyford, in 1842.

The Kibble Palace was relocated from John Kibble's Coulport House, Loch Long, and opened in 1873 after enlargement.


Chronology Dates

10/08/1896Glasgow Central Railway
Maryhill Central to Glasgow Central Low Level to Glasgow Cross opened. Maryhill Central, Kirklee, Botanic Gardens, Kelvin Bridge, Stobcross, Anderston Cross and Glasgow Central Low Level stations opened.
28/03/1909Glasgow Central Railway
Botanic Gardens signal box closed.
06/02/1939Glasgow Central Railway
Botanic Gardens closed.
  /  /1970Glasgow Central Railway
Botanic Gardens station building destroyed by fire. This also burned the below-ground buildings at platform level.
  /06/2008Glasgow Central Railway
Plan to convert Botanic Gardens into a nightclub for £7 abandoned. Council would not lease site to promoter.

News items

18/01/2022Calls for old Glasgow West End rail way station to re-open as tourist attraction [Clyde 1]
16/01/2022Glasgow Batgirl filming sees first train 'call' at Botanic Gardens station since 1939 [Glasgow Live]
13/01/2022Batgirl: Abandoned Glasgow railway tunnel being used for new DC film [Glasgow World]
19/12/2021Hidden Glasgow Central platform being brought back to life as 'usable space' [GlasgowLive]
03/09/2020A lost railway station and that rumour about Charles Rennie Mackintosh revisited on Glasgow guided tour [Evening Times]
16/06/2007Plans approved for Botanic Gardens Station