'Buchanan Street Station' was the least known of
Glasgow's four main terminal
railway stations, the other three being
Central,
Queen St and
St Enoch. It was based to the Northwest of Queen St Station and ran services to the North of
Scotland.
Constructed in
1849 by the
Caledonian Railway Company as their main terminus station for the city, the original station buildings consisted of supposedly temporary wooden structures, which actually lasted on site until the
1930s. A goods station at the site opened in
1850. Services that ran from the station were primarily northbound, with
Aberdeen,
Perth and
Stirling being common destinations.
The station was marked for closure and replacement in the ''"
Bruce Report"'', a study into how to redevelop the city of Glasgow in the post-
Second World War period. The plans set out a scheme whereby Buchanan Street and Queen Street stations were to be closed and a new ''Glasgow North railway station'' was to be built in their place. This station would have been built on land including the site of Buchanan Street although would have been many times larger. There was also a similar scheme to replace Central and St Enoch stations with a new ''Glasgow South railway station'', but neither came to fruition.
Despite this reprieve, it proved only to be temporary as the station was closed to operations in
1966 as part of the rationalisation of the railway system of the entire
United Kingdom devised by
Richard Beeching with most of its services running to Queen Street instead. The buildings had been completely demolished by
1971, although the 430 yard long Buchanan Street tunnel that ran from just outwith the station coming out at
Sighthill still exists, although public access is prohibited.
Buchanan House (named 'ScotRail House' between January
1985 and April
1994) and
Glasgow Caledonian University occupy the site of the railway station.