Exhibition right on track to mark 50 years of Glasgow's Blue Trains

THEY ended the days of smoky platforms for train passengers, revolutionised rail travel and transformed the fortunes of fading routes.

Scotland's first electric trains were launched 50 years ago on Friday, replacing steam engines on a notorious commuter route through Glasgow city centre.

Where before travellers could hardly see along smoke-filled subterranean platforms like those at Queen Street, the new trains provided clean, fast and more frequent services.

To celebrate the transformation of the line between Airdrie and Helensburgh, Balloch and Milngavie, an exhibition will be launched at the city's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum on Friday.

It will also link to next month's opening of an eastern extension of the line to Bathgate in West Lothian.

Passengers flocked to the new trains in 1960, with numbers trebling within weeks and electrification being extended to Glasgow's Cathcart Circle line two years later and to Glasgow-Inverclyde routes in 1967.

Martin Brough, one of the organisers of the Kelvingrove exhibition, said the trains utterly changed rail travel.

He said: "Before they arrived, travelling by rail through Glasgow was very dirty and slow.There were a lot of tunnels and very little ventilation. People had to put paper bags over their hands to open the doors because the trains were so filthy.

"The electric trains were clean, fast and reliable, and the windows at the front and back meant you could see where you were going and behind you.

"They were a tremendous success, and next month's new line opening shows electrification continues to be a success story."

The electrified services were affectionately known as the "Blue Trains" because of their light blue livery, taken from the former Caledonian Railway, which set them apart from British Rail's then maroon scheme.

They were built at Linwood in Renfrewshire in the factory that later made Hillman Imps.

A new blue and yellow logo was also designed for the service which influenced the British Rail double arrow sign, still used for stations.

However, the trains' introduction did not go smoothly. The entire fleet was withdrawn for nearly a year after a train exploded because of transformer problems in December 1960, seriously injuring three people.

The Scotsman's report of the incident, at Renton, near Dumbarton, quoted a passenger describing "a tremendous explosion" and travellers falling "in a heap on the floor".

Bob Campbell, who also organised the display, and joined British Rail in Glasgow months before the trains were launched, said they had been a marvel of the age.He said: "They revolutionised transport, replacing dirty, infrequent services with a regular timetable and the novelty of shiny, new trains."

However, he said it was an "absolute disgrace" that one had not been restored for museum display after the last was withdrawn from service by ScotRail in 2002. One of the originals is still in service on the heritage Bo'ness-Kinneil railway near Falkirk, but with a refurbished 1980s interior.

Mr Campbell said a 1967 version with its original interior intact was being checked for asbestos at Summerlee, the Museum of Scottish Industrial Life at Summerlee at Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire.

A spokesman for Glasgow Museums said: "We have tried in the past to get hold of a Blue Train for Glasgow's collection, but unfortunately weren't successful. We're not aware of any examples that are available."