Exhibition Centre

Location type

Station

Names and dates

Stobcross (1896-1959)
Finnieston [2nd] (1979-1987)
Exhibition Centre (1987-)

Note: text in square brackets is added for clarity and was not part of the location's name.

Opened on the Glasgow Central Railway.
Opened on the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway.
Open on the Argyle Line.

Description

This station is at the east end of a flying junction from Partick, leading to an unusual V shape.

The adaptation of the former layout of the lines here explains the shape.

The original station was located between Stobcross West Junction and Stobcross East Junction.

A goods line ran down from the Stobcross Railway to the Queens Dock - this is now the westbound line. The westbound platform is the site of the former Stobcross Goods Low Level.

A double track line ran from Glasgow Central via Stobcross to Partick Central - this is now the single track eastbound track. The west end of this tunnel has been realigned to emerge onto the Stobcross Railway.

The Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway met the Glasgow Central Railway here (see Stobcross West Junction). The original layout here was that this was a two platform platform on either side of a double track line with a signal box at either end. The junction between the two lines was in the tunnel to the west of the station, controlled by the west box until it was taken over by the east box in 1929. The east box controlled the line east and access to the Queens Dock lines to the south (see Stobcross East Junction). This box was part of a resignalling in 1956 which stretched east to Bridgeton Cross [CR]. The route to Kelvin Bridge closed in 1960.

The original single storey street level building had a curved frontage. It has not survived.

The station was to close to passengers in 1959, to goods and minerals in 1965. The incline down from Kelvinhaugh Junction, which served sidings nearby, closed completely in 1968/9. The station re-opened in the remodelled form on the Argyle Line in 1979.

Local

Scottish Event Campus

The SSE Hydro

On the south bank of the river, further away

Glasgow Science Centre

Stobcross House and Finnieston House were to the south of the later station site, swept away during development of the Queens Dock.

Tags

Station

Aliases

Finnieston

External links

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


This station is at the east end of a flying junction from Partick, leading to an unusual V shape.

The adaptation of the former layout of the lines here explains the shape.

The original station was located between Stobcross West Junction and Stobcross East Junction.

A goods line ran down from the Stobcross Railway to the Queens Dock - this is now the westbound line. The westbound platform is the site of the former Stobcross Goods Low Level.

A double track line ran from Glasgow Central via Stobcross to Partick Central - this is now the single track eastbound track. The west end of this tunnel has been realigned to emerge onto the Stobcross Railway.

The Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway met the Glasgow Central Railway here (see Stobcross West Junction). The original layout here was that this was a two platform platform on either side of a double track line with a signal box at either end. The junction between the two lines was in the tunnel to the west of the station, controlled by the west box until it was taken over by the east box in 1929. The east box controlled the line east and access to the Queens Dock lines to the south (see Stobcross East Junction). This was box part of a resignalling in 1956 which stretched east to Bridgeton Cross [CR]. The route to Kelvin Bridge closed in 1960.

The original single storey street level building had a curved frontage. It has not survived.

The station was to close to passengers in 1959, to goods and minerals in 1965. The incline down from Kelvinhaugh Junction, which served sidings nearby, closed completely in 1968/9. The station re-opened in the remodelled form on the Argyle Line in 1979.

Chronology Dates

20/10/1874Stobcross Railway
Line opened by the North British Railway. The Caledonian Railway obtained permission for running powers to Stobcross and for goods yards at Partickhill Goods [CR] and Stobcross. The Caledonian managed to gain join ownership of the Stobcross high level to Stobcross low level connecting line.
  /  /1891Glasgow Central Railway
Deviations at Stobcross and abandonment of original authorised alignment approved.
26/11/1894Hamiltonhill Branch (Caledonian Railway) Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway Glasgow Central Railway
Balornock Junction to Possil Junction, Maryhill [CR] and Stobcross (L&D railway no 4) opened to minerals and goods. This gave the Caledonian Railway an independent line to the Queens Dock lines.
01/05/1896Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway
Maryhill Junction to Bellshaugh Junction to Clydebank Riverside, Partick West Junction to Stobcross and Bellshaugh Junction to Kirklee Junction opened for goods. Kelvinside, Partick Central, Scotstoun Goods, Whiteinch [CR], Yoker [CR] opened to goods. Branch into the Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard [2nd] opened.
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.
  /  /1956Glasgow Central Railway
Line re-signalled with power boxes at Bridgeton Cross [CR] and Stobcross.
03/06/1956Glasgow Central Railway
Stobcross East, Anderston, Glasgow Central Low Level, Glasgow Cross, Glasgow Green, Bridgeton Cross [CR] Junction signal boxes closed during conversion to colour light signalling. The boxes were replaced by new panels in the boxes at Stobcross and Bridgeton Cross [CR] Junction.
03/08/1959Glasgow Central Railway
Stobcross and Anderston Cross stations closed.
02/11/1959Glasgow Central Railway
Maryhill Central to Stobcross (via Kelvin Bridge) closed to passengers. (No stations remained to be closed.)
26/05/1965Glasgow Central Railway
Stobcross East, Bridgeton Cross [CR] Junction signal box closed with line closure.
05/11/1979Glasgow Central Railway
The Argyle Line; Stobcross to Strathclyde Junction and Rutherglen Junction re-opened to passengers. Stations at; Finnieston [2nd], Anderston, Glasgow Central Low Level, Argyle Street, Dalmarnock and Rutherglen.
  /  /1986Stobcross Railway Glasgow Central Railway
Finnieston [2nd] renamed Exhibition Centre.
11/12/1994Glasgow Central Railway
The River Kelvin bursts its banks and floods the disused tunnels from Kelvin Bridge to Stobcross, where it floods the open Argyle Line railway. (Alternative date 9th.) The route through Glasgow Central Low Level is closed between Partick and Rutherglen and trains are diverted onto the Sunnyside Junction to Whifflet section of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway for access to Motherwell. This remains in operation for around nine months. Units 314208 and 314212 are trapped in the floodwater at Glasgow Central where the water reached half way up the sides of the carriages.
03/09/2007Glasgow Central Railway
318254, not in service, derails in tunnel at Exhibition Centre.

News items

09/05/2022Glasgow's Argyle line reopens on time for passengers [Network Rail]
12/04/2022Inside the £32m project to redevelop Glasgow's Argyle train line [STV]
12/03/2022Argyle line to shut for £32million works to improve punctuality [The Herald]
11/03/2022£32m Argyle Line improvement work to start on Sunday [ScotRail]
10/03/2022Slower journeys for Helensburgh commuters from Monday [The Lochside Press]
05/03/2022Argyle Line closure: ScotRail customers set for 'bumpy 8 weeks' [The Herald]
04/03/2022Extra bus service to support 8 week ScotRail Argyle line closure [Glasgow Times]
28/02/2022Rutherglen commuters face two months of rail disruption as line set to close [Daily Record]
10/02/2022Rutherglen residents to be without Sunday train service for nearly two months [Daily Record]
11/01/2022Glasgow low level rail route to close for major improvement works [Glasgow Times]

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

An Illustrated History of Glasgow's Railways

The Vanished Railways of Old Western Dunbartonshire (Britains Railways/Old Photos)