St. Rollox Railway Works
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Glasgow Works, formerly the St Rollox Works, is a railway
rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...
heavy maintenance and repair works established in the 1850s in the
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
district of
Springburn Springburn () is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its industrial expansion began ...
by the Caledonian Railway Company, and known locally as 'the Caley'. Ownership of the works passed to the LMS in the 1920s and then to
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...
in the 1940s, with the size of the works reduced in the 1980s under
British Rail Engineering Limited British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the rolling stock manufacturing and maintenance subsidiary of British Rail. It was established on 1 January 1970 by the British Railways Board to operate its 14 rolling stock maintenance centres and ...
management. It was sold as part of the
privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...
in 1995 and after numerous ownership changes the site was operated by
Mutares Mutares SE & Co. KGaA (styled MUTARES) is an international private equity investor focused on special situations, particularly acquiring parts of large corporations (carve-outs) and companies in transitional phases. Portfolio Since its esta ...
-owned subsidiary Gemini Rail under a lease from the landlord, Hansteen Holdings. The site was purchased by businessman and philanthropist David Moulsdale in 2021 before achieving listed status in 2022. The site has since been fully restored, opened and connected to the railway mainline, and operates as a joint venture with Gibsons Engineering Ltd who maintain, repair and build rolling stock for the mainline railway and light rail tram systems. There are future plans to create a high-tech heavy engineering and manufacturing site, and the depot is currently undergoing electrification to allow EMU/electric rail vehicles to enter unaided from the mainline.


History


Caledonian Railway

St Rollox Locomotive Works and St Rollox Carriage & Wagon Works were built in 1856 in
Springburn Springburn () is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its industrial expansion began ...
, an area in the north-east of
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, Scotland, for the
Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was formed in 1845 with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively ex ...
, which had moved away from its works at
Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...
to Springburn. The new works was built by the Caledonian Railway's locomotive superintendent Robert Sinclair near to the
St Rollox Chemical Works St Rollox Chemical Works was an industrial manufacturer of chemicals located in Glasgow, Scotland, that began in 1799 and operated continuously until 1964. It was created by Scottish industrialist Charles Tennant and owned and operated by his f ...
of
Charles Tennant Charles Tennant (3 May 1768 – 1 October 1838) was a Scottish chemist and industrialist. He discovered Calcium hypochlorite, bleaching powder and founded an industrial dynasty. Biography Charles Tennant was born at Laigh Corton, Alloway, Ayrs ...
on the north bank of the
Monkland Canal The Monkland Canal was a canal designed to bring coal from the mining areas of Monklands to Glasgow in Scotland. In the course of a long and difficult construction process, it was opened progressively as short sections were completed, from 177 ...
and adjacent to the site of the St Rollox station on the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway, one of the first railways in Scotland. The works and the terminus station was named after the nearby parish church of St Roche. The Caledonian Railway had previously acquired the Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway in 1846, extending the line west to their new Glasgow terminus at
Buchanan Street railway station Buchanan Street station is a former railway station in Glasgow. Less well known than the city's other terminus stations – , and – it was situated in the Cowcaddens district to the north-west of Queen Street station and served the north o ...
in 1849, now the site of
Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University, informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley (), is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and Glasgow Polytechnic (originally Glasg ...
. The works was extended eastwards in 1864 and 1870, before being fully reconstructed by Dugald Drummond from 1882 to designs by Robert Dundas, which forms the remaining works buildings on the site today. The works was served by 30 sidings to the east and was capable of building carriages, wagons and locomotives, rather than just maintenance. The red-brick works offices facing Springburn Road were also built at this time. Among the locomotives produced for the Caledonian Railway were the ''Cardean'' and ''Dunalastair'' Classes.


London, Midland and Scottish Railway

After the First World War, the
Railways Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an act of Parliament enacted by the British government, and was intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grou ...
also known as the Grouping Act, merged the Caledonian Railway Company into the newly created
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...
(LMS). St Rollox became the main works of the Northern Division of the LMS but ceased building new locomotives by 1930. The final batches of main line locomotives built on site were lot 11-30 LMS class 4F 0-6-0 freight engines numbers 4177-4206 completed in 1925, and lot 45 comprising 10 locomotives of the same class completed in 1928. In 1929 wagon repairs were moved to the former
Glasgow and South Western Railway The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was the third biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle, Cumbria, Ca ...
's
Barassie Barassie () is a former village on the east shore of the Firth of Clyde in South Ayrshire, Scotland. Today it serves as a suburb outside the northern edge of Troon. To the north-east of Barassie is the Kilmarnock (Barassie) Golf Club, Kilmarnock ...
Works, leaving St Rollox as the locomotive and carriage repair centre.


War work

During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, St Rollox joined in the war effort, producing, among other things,
Airspeed Horsa The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century ...
gliders for the Normandy landing airborne assault. The nearby Cowlairs railway works also produced 200,000 bearing shells for
Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British Coolant#Liquids, liquid-cooled V12 engine, V-12 Reciprocating engine, piston aero engine of 27-litre (1,650 cu in) Engine displacement, capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited, Rolls-Royce designed the engine an ...
engines. The Springburn-based
North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park W ...
was also involved in wartime production.


British Rail

After World War II, the railways were nationalised by the
Transport Act 1947 The Transport Act 1947 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 49) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under the terms of the Act, the railway network, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were nationalised ...
into
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...
ways. The Scottish network was reorganised as the Scottish Region (ScR), one of six new regions of British Railways. The St Rollox works was designated as the primary Scottish repair centre for carriages and locomotives, as well as undertaking work for the
London Midland Region of British Railways The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irela ...
. In 1968, the nearby Cowlairs railway works, that had been previously operated as the main Scottish works for the
North British Railway The North British Railway was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, ...
(NBR) then the
London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...
(LNER), closed and merged into St Rollox under consolidation measures to form
British Rail Engineering Limited British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the rolling stock manufacturing and maintenance subsidiary of British Rail. It was established on 1 January 1970 by the British Railways Board to operate its 14 rolling stock maintenance centres and ...
(BREL) in 1969, with the loss of over 1,000 jobs in the Springburn area. In 1972 the site was renamed from St Rollox Works to the Glasgow Works. In 1986, a major downsizing of the works was announced by the Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley, with the loss of 1,206 jobs out of a workforce of 2,400, and a large section of the carriage works becoming disused. The northern part of the site was occupied for a time during the 1980s and early 1990s by
MC Metals MC Metals was a metal recycling company based in the Springburn area of Glasgow, Scotland. History MC Metals was founded by Jim MacWilliam in 1987. The company was made famous through the scrapping of huge numbers of British Rail diesel locomot ...
, which undertook the scrapping of old rolling stock.


Privatisation

After BREL was privatised in 1988, the site was kept in public ownership as a rail maintenance facility under British Rail Maintenance Limited (BRML) along with
Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...
,
Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
and
Wolverton Wolverton ( ) is a constituent town of Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban ar ...
. In 1995 BRML was privatised and the site was sold to Railcare Ltd., a
Babcock International Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...
/
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
consortium, along with the Wolverton site for £6 million. During 1997 the disused part of the carriage works was demolished and surplus land was sold off to become the site of a large
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...
supermarket, which opened in 2001. A
Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...
,
Lidl Lidl ( ) is a trademark, used by two Germany, German international discount supermarket, discount retailer chain store, chains that operates over 12,600 stores. The ''LD Stiftung'' operates the stores in Germany and the ''Lidl Stiftung & Co. K ...
, new Springburn
fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equ ...
and a
Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
sorting office A sorting office or processing and distribution center (P&DC; name used by the United States Postal Service (USPS)) is any location where postal operators bring mail after collection for sorting into batches for delivery to the addressee, whic ...
were developed in the early 1990s to the north of the site on the former Sighthill Railfreight goods depot, which closed in 1981, forming the St Rollox Retail Park. In 2002 the remaining St Rollox Works site was sold to
Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
, along with the Wolverton Works, which became the larger parent site of the operation. Alstom also sold the site to St Modwen Properties in a sale-and-leaseback deal. In 2007, the lease to operate the site was taken over by RailCare Ltd. RailCare Ltd was placed in administration in July 2013. In August 2013 the operating lease was taken over by
Knorr-Bremse Knorr-Bremse AG is a German manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles that has operated since 1905. Other products in the company's portfolio include intelligent door systems, control components, air conditioning system ...
, who in 2018 transferred it to
Mutares Mutares SE & Co. KGaA (styled MUTARES) is an international private equity investor focused on special situations, particularly acquiring parts of large corporations (carve-outs) and companies in transitional phases. Portfolio Since its esta ...
and its new subsidiary, Gemini Rail. St Modwen's industrial property interests, including St Rollox, were acquired by Hansteen Holdings in 2018. Recent work included overhauls of Class 156, Class 158 and Class 320s for
Abellio ScotRail Abellio ScotRail, operating services under the name ScotRail, was the national train operating company of Scotland. A subsidiary of the Netherlands-based transport conglomerate Abellio (transport company), Abellio, it operated the ScotRail (br ...
.


Closure

In December 2018, the planned closure of St Rollox in July 2019 was announced by Gemini Rail and its German owner
Mutares Mutares SE & Co. KGaA (styled MUTARES) is an international private equity investor focused on special situations, particularly acquiring parts of large corporations (carve-outs) and companies in transitional phases. Portfolio Since its esta ...
, despite the site running at a profit, with the loss of over 200 jobs and centralisation of maintenance work at the company's larger works in Wolverton. The workforce led a campaign against the closure in concert with the Unite and RMT trade unions, lobbying both the UK and Scottish Governments to renationalise the works, and putting forward several proposals to save the site from closure, even including a plan to commission the restoration of the Springburn-built South African Class GMA 4-8-2+2-8-4 ‘Springbok’ locomotive, in storage at Summerlee, Museum of Scottish Industrial Life in
Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...
, and local MP
Paul Sweeney Paul John Sweeney FIES ; born 16 January 1989) is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, he currently serves as Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region in the 6th Scottish Parliame ...
raised the matter at
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
’s final
Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingd ...
. The workers held a rally as the final shift walked out after 163 years, on 26 July 2019. In January 2020 that Jeremy Hosking's Locomotive Services Limited made an offer to purchase the St Rollox Works site for use as a heritage locomotive maintenance depot, but agreement could not be reached with the landlord on a price for the site. In April 2021, the works were purchased by Springburn Depot (SPV) Limited, a
special-purpose vehicle A special-purpose entity (SPE), also called a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) or a financial vehicle corporation (FVC), is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limited partnership) created to fulfill narrow, speci ...
owned by the
Optical Express Optical Express is a provider of ophthalmology services including laser eye surgery, cataract surgery and lens replacement surgery in the United Kingdom and Europe. Optical Express is a trading name of ''DCM (Optical Holdings) Limited'' which ...
billionaire, David Moulsdale. There are 2 preserved steam locomotives built by St Rollox. * Caledonian Railway 812 Class 0-6-0 No. 828 of 1899, preserved at the Strathspey Railway * Caledonian Railway 439 Class 0-4-4T No. 419 of 1907, preserved at the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway


Listing

In May 2022, it was reported that an application by Paul Sweeney MSP for the site to be designated as listed by
Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...
was successful, with the buildings and railway sidings awarded a category B listing. Historic Environment Scotland described it as "retaining many features which demonstrate its previous function, including its interconnected workshop design of high-quality ironwork". Dara Parsons, Head of Designations at HES, said: "The former St Rollox Works is a significant piece of Scotland’s industrial and transport heritage, and a worthy addition to the list of Scotland’s special buildings. It made an important contribution to railway history and to Springburn's role as a major centre for rail manufacture and repair in the 19th and 20th centuries."


References

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Literature

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Further reading

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External links

* {{Knorr-Bremse Alstom Railway workshops in Great Britain Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Caledonian Railway Rail transport in Scotland Springburn 1856 establishments in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Glasgow