Clockwork Orange

On the second day of the Mackintosh Tour, the day began with Director's Choice, a walking tour, starting at Glasgow Central Station, then moving on to the Daily Record Building on Renfield Lane. We then made our way up to James Salmon's elegant office building, the Hatrack and then up to Blythswood Square to view the entrance to the former The Glasgow Society of Lady Artists.

I took the group into the Roger Billcliffe Gallery for a quick look at the new exhibition. We then walked past the GFT and over to Cowcaddens and took the Subway over to Scotland Street School. This is a shot in Cowcaddens as the train comes into the station.

After a tour of Scotland Street we headed over to The House for an Art Lover to view the building and then have an excellent lunch in the Art Lover's Cafe.

After lunch I took the group over to the Mackintosh House for a tour. Unfortunately the current guided tours of the house are only 30 minutes long and this does not give you enough time to view each of the rooms properly and take in the exhibition space. My group felt 45 minutes would be better. We then headed back into the city centre on the Subway.

The Glasgow Subway was the world's third underground railway, after London and Budapest. Originally built for the Glasgow District Subway Company, the railway first opened in 1896 as a cable-hauled system.

When the system was electrified in 1935, the original coaches were converted to electric traction and continued to run until 1977. By this time, the coaches were outdated and the tunnel infrastructure required major work. As a result, the Subway was closed until 1980 for tunnel repairs, new power supplies and station enhancements. The depot at Broomloan was modernised and provided with connecting tracks into the tunnels.

When the system re-opened in 1980, its bright new orange trains, supplied by Metro-Cammell, soon gained the nickname ‘Clockwork Orange’, after the film of the time.