A runaway trampoline caused chaos on the railways after finding its way out of a garden in the west of Scotland amid high winds.
The apparatus came to rest beside the rails near Hillington, between Glasgow city centre and Paisley, earlier today, causing services to be delayed while railway workers removed it from the trackside. Train services in the area have also been affected by a tree that fell onto overhead power lines at around 9.30am and a broken rail inside a tunnel further west, near Bishopton.
While the trampoline has been removed, efforts to extract the tree from the wires and replace the rail is ongoing. Travellers on services heading out to Ayrshire can use their train tickets on McGills buses while Scotrail arranges rail replacement buses.
Scots took to Twitter to share the news of the latest in a long line of trampoline-related maladies on the railway. Network Rail bosses have also seen the funny side, claiming the springy play equipment was "making a break for it".
One Twitter user said: "Train delays coming into Paisley due to an "object on the line", which is usually one of two things in Scotland: a cow or a trampoline. Today we have a trampoline."
Another added: "Delayed start to the morning due to trampoline at the edge of the train track! Hillington Glasgow.
"No driver etc able to move it over the fence or put into a carriage so some trains cancelled on Ayrshire route! 3 incident vans parked about 2 miles away with 6 staff standing."
Network Rail Scotland said: "Live near the railway? Please help us keep trains moving by making sure your garden furniture, buildings or trampolines are secure.
"This morning a trampoline made a break for it in the Hillington area and we want to avoid any more unwanted visitors!"
Railway chiefs have warned of further disruption on Friday after the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather warning. The forecaster has warned of high-speed gusts across much of central Scotland, which could spell trouble on the rails.
The network operator added: "With windier weather on the way over the next 24 hours, we’ve just caught up with train operators, and our infrastructure teams across Scotland on another Extreme Weather conference call. We expect 45-55mph gusts of wind widely, with 60mph forecast on the West Coast, East Coast and Highland Main Lines."
Scotrail said: "Network Rail has received reports that there's an object caught in the overhead wires in the Paisley area. Due to this, the following services may be cancelled, delayed or revised: Glasgow-Ardrossan Harbour, Glasgow-Ayr services, Glasgow-Largs services."
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