Friday 23 December 2011

I Am Curious, Orange



The following text features in the new issue of online men's magazine Umbrella.  Yes, I've been trainspotting. Neate photo set.

Above ground in Glasgow, orange has sectarian and soft drink (known as ‘ginger’) associations. Underground it represents the Subway, ‘the Clockwork Orange’, the third-oldest (after London and Budapest) subterranean metro system. Serving 40,000 people daily across both sides of the River Clyde, the Subway may have been electrified, modernised and rebranded since opening in 1896 but it still follows much the same, entirely underground 6.5 mile (10.5 km) loop of 15 stations, though some station names and locations have since changed. 

“A model railway for people” laughed my new colleagues when I asked about their home town metro. Certainly its narrow, four foot (1,219 mm) gauge makes for slimmer trains with seating that runs along the carriages while trains and platforms only stretch to three carriage-lengths. Its these dimensions, along with Glasgow’s variable geology and economic fortunes, which have preserved the Subway’s separateness from the railway network above ground. While these factors have also ensured its lack of expansion and stubborn survival, last year it was suggested that the Subway might have to close.
Originally the Subway operated by a cable haulage system, similar to San Francisco's cable cars, before tracks were electrified in 1935. As stations then consisted of single island platforms, trains running on the Outer Circle and Inner Circle lines (clockwise and anticlockwise respectively) only had doors on one side. The Subway then closed between 1977 and 1980 for substantial modernisation with additional platforms built at its six busiest stations. Its these rectangular spaced platforms with brown brick floors and off-yellow tiled walls lit by fluorescent tubes which gives the Subway - along with its turnstile barriers - an urban, American feel. 
However it was the bright orange exteriors of the post-modernisation trains that brought a European and futuristic appearance; even when passing through the Subway’s shabby south side. It was these trains’ iconic facades, designed in partnership with the Glasgow School of Art, that easily encouraged the Subway’s Kubrikesque tribute. Although trains today are painted in the ‘carmine-red and cream livery’ of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), orange still remains reassuringly evident throughout the Subway’s signage and ticketing machines.
Earlier this year the Scottish Government approved a £290 million upgrade to overhaul the Subway and deliver a new wave of station modernisation with improvements in public access, which for disabled passengers is limited at best. Work at Hillhead Station in the upmarket west end has already begun with plans for a sleek, metallic silver design by Clancy Docwra that will be familiar to those who use London’s Jubilee line. With a public art installation by Alasdair Gray, Hillhead’s upgrade is expected to be completed by summer 2012, and will act as a ‘flagship’ for future station upgrades. 
Also recently announced is the deployment of new branding, styled by local firm, Stand Design, with Klavika - the font of Facebook’s logo - due to feature on all posters, trains and signage. More importantly for those nostalgic for the Subway’s ‘Clockwork’ past, future trains will again be orange but with a modern grey and white twist. Already one train to sport this design is in service and makeovers across the fleet are due to be rolled out ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Further developments planned include an integrated, smartcard ticketing system by 2013, as well as driverless trains and automated signalling. Although this new attention on the existing line means that plans for an East End Circle extension are on hold, it appears that the legacy of the Victorian Glaswegians and their unique, orbital Subway has now been secured.

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