Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Glasgow Central Station tour

I had been wanting to go on the Glasgow Central Station tour, led by Paul Lyons, for some time.  I managed to get a space on it today and I was not disappointed.  As someone who was born in Glasgow but grew up in one of the satellite suburbs to the south of the city Central Station has always been an important hub in my life, a gateway to adventure and culture.

The building itself is massive, truly much bigger than I ever really realise.  To get a true picture of its extent you need to see it from above.  It is a giant footprint on Glasgow, extending north from the Clyde.  It was build on top of an old village and even now hundreds of people work in the station and thousands more commute through it every day.

This tour gives you a chance to see behind the scenes at this important building.  You get into some of the nooks and crannies of the station and you learn about it’s construction and evolution as well as its central role in the social history of both Glasgow and Scotland itself.  Paul Lyons is a great speaker and he tells us of the massive crowds drawn here is yesteryear by the famous names of the past.  He also reminds us of those who were sadly unnamed as they passed though the station during the tragic final years of the first world war.

I could go on and on about the things I learned from Paul today but that is not really my role.  These stories should be told by Paul on the tour and at some point they will hopefully be written down and further recorded by him.

For everyone else, until that point, go on this tour.  You will not be disappointed.

1 comment:

George Q said...

My mate Raj went on the tour, he also said it was quite enjoyable. I saw more adverts up for it today in the station.