Half of Glasgow’s iconic subway fleet salvaged from scrap yard

The historic carriages will be repurposed and used creatively by businesses, schools, charities across Glasgow and beyond

Author: Athina BohnerPublished 7th Nov 2024

Around half of Glasgow's iconic subway fleet from the 1980s has been salvaged from the scrap yard by local campaigners.

Commonly nicknamed Clockwork Orange, the historic carriages will be repurposed and used creatively by businesses, schools, charities across Glasgow and beyond.

A success for Glasgow transport heritage

Some of the carriages’ new destinations will include the Hidden Lane in Finnieston, Hutchesons’ Grammar School, and the Beatroute Arts charity.

Other carriages were obtained by private collectors, such as TikTok trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, who has amassed millions of likes on social media for his railway videos.

Only one of the historic carriages was originally planned to be saved and is currently being exhibited at Glasgow’s Riverside Transport Museum.

Built by Metro-Cammell near Birmingham in the late 1970s, the second generation of Glasgow subway carriages were in operation from 1980 to 2024. The fleet was fully retired from service on 28 June 2024 and has now been replaced by modernised Stadler trains manufactured in Switzerland.

Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney supported the campaign, and referred to the project as “a few months of very hard work”. He spoke of challenges with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and Stadler and commended the efforts of lawyer Ben Denton Cardew - a railway enthusiast who attended university in Glasgow.

Sweeney told Clyde 1: “These iconic orange trains have carried millions of people over the last 40 years and are so well loved by Glaswegians. It’s part of our everyday life in the city and sometimes we don’t appreciate the value of that until they are no longer there.

He added: “Despite a lot of blockages along the way, we were able to successfully negotiate a removal of the £5,000 charge per carriage that Stadler were wanting to levy for charities, and we have managed to facilitate the use of a mobile crane and low-loader to move the carriages off-site from the subway depot at Broomloan.”

The carriages are being temporarily stored at the Glasgow Works in Springburn and will soon “be going off to a wonderful new life in various different guises”.

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