Former St Rollox Works, Springburn

St Rollox Works is a substantial range of adjoining and interconnected former railway locomotive workshops located in Springburn, Glasgow. The works were first constructed in 1854–6 for the Caledonian Railway Company and were enlarged and remodelled by the company between 1882 and 1887.

The current building consists of 12 adjoining workshops with pitched roof spans, dating largely from the 1880s, and covering approximately 5.5 acres. The workshops mainly run parallel with each other on an east-west axis, having an irregularly stepped plan form that diminishes in length from north to south. The three longest halls to the north, each being over 152 metres in length, are the former machine shop, wheel shop and locomotive erecting halls. Adjoining to the south are the former boiler and tender shops, coppersmiths, pattern shop and stores. A truncated section of the former forge and smith's shops, orientated north-south rather than east-west, runs to the west side of the building. Four shorter workshop ranges to the far south housed the former brass and iron foundries.

The building is largely of iron and brick construction. The walls are of red brick with rounded white brick dressings at the corners, windows, doors and cornices. The gable ends of each workshop span are shouldered, having round-arched doors and windows to the east gables, some with later modifications and apex roundel openings to the west gables. The side elevations have pilastered bays topped by a parapet with a dentil course and sandstone cornicing. The openings to the ground floor are predominantly round-headed arch, and there is a mix of round-arched and roundel windows at the upper level. Window units are largely later 20th century replacements, with some metal-frame windows with multi-pane glazing retained at ground floor level. The roof is covered in metal sheet cladding, formerly grey slate in diminishing courses interspersed with long horizontal glazed sections.

The interior was inspected in 2021. An internal refit was carried out during the 1960s. The structural iron and steel elements remain intact. Internal brick walls have piers to support the overhead cranes. Several round-arch openings connect the various workshop ranges. The roof valleys of the long workshop ranges are supported on wrought-iron girders and rows of two-stage cast-iron circular columns with curved brackets supporting the steel I-beams and wrought-iron rails of the high-level travelling crane system. The roof structure is predominantly wrought iron with narrow angle beam and tie rod support construction. The principal beams are covered by timber lining, with some sections of metal latticework within parts of the roof structure. The embedded tracks, engine inspection pits and wheel turning plate fixtures within the concrete floors demonstrate the continued use of the building for rail vehicle repair over a 160-year period and are included as part of the listing.

The former St Rollox Works Offices of 1887 occupies the northwest corner of the site and is listed separately as category B.

Historical Development

The Caledonian Railway Company was incorporated in 1845 and became one of the most successful railway companies in Scotland. The St Rollox locomotive works was established and constructed in the Springburn district of Glasgow in 1854–6 as the Caledonian's principal locomotive construction and repair works. Robert Sinclair, Superintendent of Works, constructed the new building alongside an older works belonging to the Glasgow and Garnkirk Railway company. The Garnkirk line was among the first mineral and passenger railways in Scotland, established in 1831 to bring produce from the Monklands coalfields into the city. Its first locomotive, called The St Rollox, was designed by railway pioneer George Stephenson.

Rapid expansion of the rail network and advances in locomotive engineering meant a much larger works was required by the Caledonian Railway Company. Between 1882 and 1887 the St Rollox Works were remodelled by the Caledonian's newly appointed chief engineer Dugald Drummond to designs by district engineer Robert Dundas. The surviving workshops incorporate fabric reused from the 1854–6 building. The north wall of the erecting shop, for example, was retained and raised in height during the remodelling, and a large quantity of red bricks from the old building were reused.

The enlarged locomotive works consisted of around 12 acres of adjoining covered workshops with a further 3 acres of detached workshops, employing around 3000 workers. The main locomotive engine erecting halls were over 165 metres in length with space to construct 90 locomotives at one time, while the carriage and wagon shops, consisting of 14 slightly lower workshop spans running at right angles to the main body of the building, had space for over 500 individual vehicles. Three miles of railway track ran throughout the St Rollox Works site. Between 1886 and 1923 more than 550 locomotive engines and thousands of carriages and wagons were built at St Rollox.

The Caledonian Railway Company was subsumed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company in 1923. Locomotive engine manufacture largely ceased at St Rollox by 1928, although it remained heavily involved in railway vehicle repair and maintenance. At the time of the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, the St Rollox Works continued to employ more than 3300 workers.

After nationalisation, the newly formed British Railways acquired 18 principal locomotive works across the UK as well as numerous smaller subsidiary works. Cuts and consolidation measures during the 1960s resulted in six main workshops remaining in operation, chosen on account of their favourable locations, size, existing facilities and adaptability. The retained workshops in England were at Crewe, Derby, Doncaster, Eastleigh and Swindon, and in Scotland at St Rollox.

An overhaul of the St Rollox Works during the 1960s cost more than £1 million. Repair work was temporarily moved to the main works at nearby Cowlairs before that works was closed in 1968 and later demolished. By 1972 St Rollox had been renamed The Glasgow Railway Works.

A downsizing of operations took place at St Rollox prior to the privatisation of the rail network in 1988. The former carriage and wagon repair shops became redundant and were largely demolished during the 1990s. A truncated, 8-span section of the former carriage and wagon workshops is retained on the north side of the present building. A supermarket was built on the cleared portion of the site in 2002.

The surviving 5.5 acres of covered workshops were retained in public ownership and continued to operate in service to the railway industry until 2019, when the works were closed and sold to a private owner in 2021.