Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
David McLean

The Glasgow 'ghost' station that might one day be brought back from the dead

An urban explorer has created a fascinating video uncovering the ghostly remnants of a forgotten Glasgow station.

Built in 1886 for the Glasgow City and District Railway, Finnieston Station was active for barely 30 years before being mothballed during the First World War.

Not to be confused with the Exhibition Centre station, which was itself called Finnieston Station for a spell in the 1980s, the station incorporated a two-storey booking hall building that was located opposite what is now Lebowski's bar on Argyle Street.

READ MORE: The iconic Glasgow curry house that was Billy Connolly's favourite

The booking office had stairwells leading down to canopied platforms on either side of the railway, all of which were demolished following the station's closure in 1916.

In January 2023, YouTube channel Urban Expeditions, which has been posting a series of Glasgow ghost station videos in recent months, visited what remains of the lost Victorian railway station.

The fascinating video gives an in-depth explanation into the history of the station and how its configuration compares with the lines around Finnieston that are still active today.

Read more: Glasgow dead end street dumping ground for mountain of rubbish by 'man with a van'

Fenced off, but still standing, is the station's old footbridge which once allowed rail passengers to cross from one platform to the other over what is now the modern-day North Clyde line between Partick and Charing Cross.

The footbridge, platform mounds and signs of the former staircase down to the platforms are all that physically remains of the Finnieston Station.

In the video, our intrepid urban explorer host warns us to steer clear of the fragile-looking footbridge, which precariously hovers over live train lines south of the Finnieston Tunnel.

Sign up to our Glasgow Live nostalgia newsletters for more local history and heritage content straight to your inbox

Finnieston's old station is not the only ghostly railway remnant to be found in these parts.

In one scene, we're taken into The Finnieston Bar & Restaurant, where the YouTuber asks permission to access the rear of the building. From this vantage point we learn that it's still possible to catch a glimpse of the long-since disused Glasgow Central Railway which once crossed the west part of the Finnieston line.

Urban Expeditions' video also makes a case for the reinstatement of Finnieston Station, which is currently being considered by authorities.

Reopening

In 2018 there were local community council discussions over the feasibility of reopening Finnieston Station.

The matter was taken forward once more in September 2021 with then Transport Minister Graeme Dey confirming that the reopening would be considered as a part of the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2. No further updates on the matter have been announced.

You can view the video of Urban Expeditions' visit to Finnieston Station here.

READ NEXT:

Glasgow's unbuilt 'vision of the future' that would've dominated the city centre

Glasgow's forgotten trolleybuses that dominated city streets in the 1950s

Remembering the pure bedlam that was the Tennent's Sixes at Glasgow's SECC

The historic Glasgow island that completely vanished from the map

The Glasgow 'keelies' who terrorised rival cricket fans on Glasgow Green

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.