On December 14th 1896 Glasgow District Underground opened.
Originally built for the Glasgow District Subway Company, the railway first opened in 1896 as a cable-hauled system. Propulsion was provided by stationary steam engines and the railway was hailed as the first of its type in the world. The Subway is generally recognised as the world’s third underground railway, after London and Budapest. In 1923, the Subway passed into the hands of Glasgow Corporation Transport Department, and in the following decade the railway was converted to electric traction, introducing a third live rail for the purpose.
The railway ran with little further change until 1977 when the new operators, Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive, closed it for major modernisation investment. The railway in its present form reopened for operation on 16 April 1980.
Now part of SPT, the railway is one of the few in the UK remaining in public ownership.
Pics are of the opening in 1895 and one of the new trains that just entered service this week.
Subway (old, Glasgow)
