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On the Glasgow Central Tour you will be given an exclusive, behind the scenes look at Glasgow Central Station. You will walk in subterranean passageways beneath Glasgow’s streets, visit railway vaults that drove Glasgow’s industrial expansion to become ‘The Second City of The British Empire’, hear tales of the famous and infamous who have travelled the tracks and stood on the platforms of Glasgow Central Station

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• The History

The Tour aims to open up not just the history of Glasgow Central Station but also connect it with the great social history of Glasgow and its people. Glasgow Central Station is far more than just a transportation hub for passengers. It has been a meeting point for countless romances, a crossroads of historical events and the first sight of Glasgow for millions.

Our Tour Guides Paul Lyons and Jackie Ogilvie, bring all this to the tours. They will transport you through time with powerful storytelling. With emotion and humour as the stories weave through and around major historical events of not only Glasgow and Scotland but also the World, all of which have a Glasgow Central Station connection. Prepare to be informed, moved, and entertained on Glasgow’s number one tour

Glasgow Central Station was opened by the Caledonian Railway in 1879 on the north bank of the River Clyde. There were eight platforms linked by a railway bridge over Argyle Street to Bridge Street station on the south bank of the river. At its earliest the station was congested and in 1890 a temporary solution, that of expanding the bridge over Argyle Street and constructing a n additional station platform, was completed. However it took until 1901 before further development work on the station took place to solve the congestion problem. A solution that works well to this day.

Glasgow Central Station is the larger of the two present main-line railway terminals in Scotland’s largest city and is currently one of 20 UK stations managed by Network Rail. With over 32.8 million passenger entries and exits between April 2018 and March 2019, Glasgow Central is the busiest in Scotland and the second busiest outside London. Glasgow Central Station is registered as a Category A listed building under the Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas (Scotland) Act 1997.

If you’d like a taste of what’s in store for you, check out Travelling voices.

On the Glasgow Central Tour you will be given an exclusive, behind the scenes look at Glasgow Central Station. You will walk in subterranean passageways beneath Glasgow’s streets, visit railway vaults that drove Glasgow’s industrial expansion to become ‘The Second City of The British Empire’, hear tales of the famous and infamous who have travelled the tracks and stood on the platforms of Glasgow Central Station.

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Glasgow Central Tours

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Glasgow Central Tours - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Glasgow Central Station

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Glasgow Central Tours

Explore one of glasgow's most iconic landmarks, from the platforms to the subterranean vaults on a glasgow central tour.

About Glasgow Central Tours

The tour explores many parts of Glasgow Central Station. You’ll find yourself walking through tunnels, boiler rooms and darkened basements, exploring the dark corners of Glasgow Central Station’s subterranean sprawl below the streets of Glasgow. Walk down winding stairwells, turn sharp corners and before you know it you’ll find yourself in the underground vaults beneath the station - built as store houses for a city at the peak of its power as the technological and industrial beating heart of a long ago empire. From an overcrowded congested station in 1879 to one of the most beautifully designed iconic buildings of its era. The architecture and engineering of Anderson, Matheson and Miller make Glasgow Central Station not only an inspiring spectacle of stunning craftsmanship but also a transportation hub of great beauty. Why does the concourse have a gradient? Why are the main gates green and gold in colour? and Why are there no supporting pillars to hold up the station roof on a near 4000sq metre concourse? Come on the tour and find out.

Upcoming Events at Glasgow Central Tours

Glasgow Central Station Tours

Glasgow Central Tours offer you the chance to explore behind the scenes of Glasgow's most iconic and busiest landmarks, Central Station!

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Glasgow Central Station Tour

Review Highlights

“ I beleive they are planning a roof only tour in the Summer count me in for that. ” in 7 reviews

“ e. I thoroughly enjoyed it an d V ic was so knowledgeable, I loved his attention to detail especially with date ” in 6 reviews

“ His patter was great and he kept us all really engaged and amused throughout the tour. ” in 2 reviews

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Glasgow Central Station

Glasgow G1 3SL

United Kingdom

City Centre

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The price was £13 and I was aware that the admission price had increased, but I think it was worth the cost. We were given hard hat caps in bright orange, which were rather fetching. The tour guide was Paul Lyons and he had a quick humour. We were guided down and given lots of historical facts. These were very interesting and the story/social history came to life by Paul. We went down and saw an old abandoned platform. Paul really treasured the stories and made me feel like these are important stories that need told and passed on to our generation. I left feeling that I wanted to know more and I will keep upto date with their progress, because there is a lot more to be uncovered. I guess it's a case of - watch this space.

Hard hat caps!

What a delightful way to appreciate a part of Glasgow that I'm guessing most people take for granted. I was already a huge fan of Glasgow Central Station, and getting to do the tour underneath the station is a really eye-opening, educational and enjoyable experience. I'd actually done the tour as part of Doors Open Day a couple of years back, which I thoroughly enjoyed and was really glad when they made these a permanent feature. Booking is straightforward through their website and it's a very reasonable £10pp for an hour-long tour (although ours went closer to two hours!). You meet opposite M&S by the mobility station and get fitted out in hard hats and bright vests which I think is probably overkill but at least they won't lose you during the tour. I don't want to spoil any of it, but you'll hear a bit about the architecture and design of the station, some amazing stories, lots of history and you'll have lots of laughs along the way. The tour guides, Vic & Paul, are as interesting as the tour themselves and their long histories with the station make it even more amazing. Vic asked our group where people were from and he managed to tie nationalities back into stories later on in the tour which I thought was pretty special. The tour does involve quite a bit of walking and you should wear comfy shoes and make sure you don't have too much stuff with you so you can get around easily. I can't pick one highlight of the tour as it's all really interesting and enjoyable and presented in a passionate way. There are plans to expand the tour so that you can go down onto the Victorian platforms as well as having a special tour of the roof in the summer.

See all photos from Briony C. for Glasgow Central Station Tour

Epic? Full to the max of 'choo choo' awesomeness? Amazing Glesga history? In yer face patter that's nothing like watter? Then this is the tour for you. (Bet you felt a little bit inside you to imagine pulling the whistle). I have been wanting to go on this tour for many many years but it always fills up so quickly. So note, book up as soon as you can, way far in advance. Basically like booking a train going down south but you always end up missing out on those advance tickets. Has anyone ever managed to get them? Anyway off "track" there. Haw haw, see what I did. Behold the group of very excited Yelpers in the middle of the Glasgow Central concourse geared up and ready to embrace what was to lie ahead in our tour. We were greeted by our tour guide, Vic, nae Bob, just Vic but this guy didn't need no side kick. We were suited and booted with our fashionable Network Rail hi-vis and safety helmet. I loved it, I felt like a pure engineer like. Ha, well kinda! It was so interesting and the things that you will see and hear are unbelievable. I thoroughly enjoyed it and Vic was so knowledgeable, I loved his attention to detail especially with dates. His stories really brought the tour alive. I was a bit gutted we couldn't get out on the roof as it was icy. He explained it was a bit catch 22, when it's clear then the engineers like to get up and do repairs. Fair dos! This was a really brilliant way to spend a few hours of your day. If you can book up soon as I promise you will not be disappointed. I thank Briony C. for managing to book it for us and hopefully later on in the year when they've added more to the tour we will go back and explore more of Central Station. Excited much!

I'll admit I signed up for the tour more out of curiosity than desire, and was ready to be a little underwhelmed. Boy was I wrong!! Whilst we didn't manage to get up on to the roof (there was still ice up there apparently) we did spend almost two hours learning about the history of the station from it's construction through to it's place as a central hub for Glasgow during World War I and beyond. Our guide, Vic, was great! His patter was, as he told us himself, pretty good and he clearly has a wealth of knowledge and passion about the station and this historic events that have transpired. It covered everything from the architectural design (I now know why the buildings are curved and the floor of the concourse slopes) and as we toured into the depths of the station he covered its use as a food hub, as a World War I staging area, and the visit of a certain future American President! Make sure to ask him about Laurel and Hardy too! Educational, funny, interesting, I can't recommend it highly enough!!!

If you like history, this tour is definitely going to float your boot. Wait, it's a train station - toot your whistle? Our tour guide, Vic, was full of the Glasgow banter. His patter was great and he kept us all really engaged and amused throughout the tour. He was also full of awesome knowledge, and managed to bring the history of Central Station to life. We had to don high vis vests and hard hats. I'm not really sure why, but it actually did make me feel like part of the cool gang as we made our way around the station. Yeah people, stare all you want, we're learning interesting facts here! We got access to parts of the station that you never normally would - right underneath it, and were also given a peek at the old Victorian platforms. We learned why the station was built, and some of the more sombre history, as well as some amusing celebrity stories, very well delivered by Vic. A great experience, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it changes as they are able to open up more of the station as the tour develops. A great new addition to things to do in Glasgow.

I really wish i could give this tour 10 stars as it was amazing! Our tour guide was vic and he was brilliant. He really brought the tour to life with his stories. I had no idea of some of the people that had passed through the station. We didnt get up on the roof as it was january but we did catch a glimpse of the victorian platforms and i cant wait to go back and do the platforms tour once they have made it accessable. Honestly for £10 you will not be dissapointed!

I went on the tour with my Mum and we both had a great day. Vic the tour guide was very informative and as well as having historical details he was full of banter and wee stories that made us laugh. We didn't make it on to the roof but managed to see the Victorian platform, can't wait to go back when rhis can be accessed (along with the ladies walkway).

I took the tour because of the reviews on Tripadvisor and yelp, but I was disappointed. It is mostly about the history of the train station, not Glasgow. Also tour guide, Paul, extremely delightful person, but I had a hard time understanding his thick Scottish accent.

Big thanks to Briony for organizing this we jaunt out on Easter Saturday. I had wanted to do the Central Station Tour for a long time but never got around to doing it. There were 14 of us on the tour lots of Yelpers and a few civilians who fitted in very nicely. We were met by Vic our Guide and were kitted out in hard hats an safety vests to identify us as tour members. We signed a Health & Safety Form and were good to go after Vic, broke the bad news that we would not get to go on the roof, as there was ice there boo hoo :o( Vic certainly new his stuff a history lesson and tour combined he kept us amused with lots of funny anecdotes. Going down under the station,seeing the Victorian Platforms that closed in 1964, with the loss of steam trains, brought back fond childhood memories to me. I beleive they are planning a roof only tour in the Summer count me in for that. People thought your review was: Useful 1 Funny 1 Cool 1 Delete review

This fascinating historical tour of the station began in the familiar surroundings of the main concourse where we met our knowledgeable, friendly and witty guide (a real character!) and heard a bit about the design and architecture of the building and the various changes that have been made over the years. We then descended into areas not open to the public and heard lots of facts and stories about the various spaces we were in that helped give a sense of the station's history (plus aspects of Glasgow's history), and bring past times to life. One of the areas we got to see was the old Victorian platforms and tunnel that steam trains used to run in. The tours don't currently take you onto the roof though due to health and safety concerns (apparently some people have gone against instructions not to take their phones out whilst on the roof), but we were told that they are working on it and hope to be able to take tour groups onto the roof in the near future. They also have other plans on how to make the tour even better so watch this space!

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A-Z of Secret Glasgow: Central Station Tours

Forget Ewan McGregor and the back streets of Auld Reekie.

When it comes to proper trainspotting, there’s only one place to go and that’s Glasgow’s Central Station.

With over 106,000 passing through each day, it’s Scotland’s busiest station.

Now you can book a behind-the-scenes tour that takes you from the clouds to the catacombs.

NEXT:  Visit the site of an old box factory for a proper ale!

Starting under the famous clock – one of Glasgow’s favourite meeting places – the 90 minute tour burrows its way underground to the eerie site of a forgotten Victorian village, passing through rooms that were used as a mortuary during the First World War, as well as an old boiler house that was the site of a 1930’s murder.

Weather permitting, you’ll also get to explore the station’s iconic glass roof.

With 48,000 panes making up 2.2 square miles of glass it is the world’s largest.

The idea for the tours came from Paul Lyons, who has worked on the railways for 18 years. He offered to take people around during the city’s Doors Open Day celebration in 2013 and was staggered to find that 83,500 people had applied for just 100 tickets.

With that sort of interest in train tourism it made sense to schedule regular events and Paul is now the knowledgeable guide telling stories of the famous people who have passed through the station since it first opened its doors 135 years ago. Everyone from Rudolph Hess to John F. Kennedy ….and of course the station’s resident ghosts…

Tours run Fri, Sat and Sun. Tickets cost £10 per person with profits covering staff costs and improvements to the station.

Address: Glasgow Central Station , Gordon St, G1 3SL

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Glasgow Central Tours - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Central station tours reopen with Glasgow School of Art onboard

Much-loved behind-the-scenes tours of Glasgow Central station are about to restart following lockdown and now feature a brand-new underground museum, created in partnership with The Glasgow School of Art.

From today (September 1), visitors are once again able to book tours to be guided through the subterranean passageways beneath Glasgow’s streets, visiting the railway vaults which drove the city’s industrial expansion to become ‘The Second City of The British Empire’, while hearing tales of the famous – and infamous – people who have travelled the tracks and stood on the platforms. During the down time, Jackie Ogilvie, museum curator, has been maintaining the tour’s delicate and valuable assets while painstakingly creating a new museum, with the added support and creativity from the Year 3 students from the GSA’s Interaction Design programme. The station museum is the latest addition to a must-see attraction, with exhibits gathered from old railway buildings, trains, donations from the families of railwaymen and women as well as past visitors to the tour who have been delighted to see their family history on display. The GSA students have created a visual history of the station from construction in 1879, expansion in 1905 through to the present day to create a spectacular showpiece of what’s taken place over the past 142 years, with audio provided by the tick-tock of the famous Glasgow Central clock. The second installation created by Paul Maguire, Programme Leader in the GSA’s School of Design, is a Roll of Honour of Glaswegians lost in the First World War, including their regiment and street address. It’s located in the area of the temporary WW1 mortuary in the depths of the station, where some servicemen will have arrived on their final journey home.

Jackie Ogilvie, Central station tour guide and museum curator, is so excited to finally share even more of the station’s story. She said: “While creating a museum for Central station was a difficult and complicated process, every new artifact and piece of memorabilia provided such an amazing insight into this wonderful place.

“We can’t wait to welcome people back to Central and take them on a wonderful, historical journey, which is only possible due to the kindness and support of so many people for which the station and the railway are such an important part of their lives.”

Paul Maguire, GSA Interaction Design programme leader, said: “I would like to thank Jackie and the team at Central station for the opportunity to work with them on this project. Gaining experience of engaging with clients and developing ‘live’ projects is hugely important to our students and allows them to see their work in a real-world context. The brief was ideal: clearly thematic but open to interpretation – allowing students to explore and experiment with media and meaning. They responded extremely well to the brief, producing a powerful and considered immersive audio-visual installation.

“It was a great privilege to be personally commissioned to develop the ‘Role of Honour’ piece. I found the experience of working with the database to be deeply moving, reinforcing the personal cost of war and reframing it within a city context, referencing familiar Glasgow addresses. I hope viewers feel this same emotional engagement with the work.”

More details and tour booking information for Glasgow Central Tours can be found at www.glasgowcentraltours.co.uk

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Glasgow , Guided Tours

Unique things to do in glasgow: glasgow central tours.

City tours can often be quite dull – too long, too many numbers and historic details or just not focused on the kind of things you’d like to know about a city. But there is a tour in offer that is totally different from anything I had experienced before: Glasgow Central Tours – and yes, that is Glasgow Central as in the train station.

Before you wonder how obsessed with trains I am to actually recommend you to go and check out a train station in a foreign city, consider this: Glasgow’s Central station has witnessed some key moments in the city’s and Scotland’s history – from both World Wars to the rise and fall of the ship building industry; its roof with 48,000 panes of glass is the largest glass roof in the world; and over 38 million people come and go in this station every year.

This post contains affiliate links from which I may make a commission. Find out more here . All opinions are my own.

Full of superlatives like this Glasgow Central is really rather impressive, both in history and architecture. Always digging for new and unusual things to do in the city I could of course not wait to try this myself, and so I signed up my mum, my boyfriend and me for a tour in early June.

The idea for a behind-the-scenes tour at Glasgow Central station was conceived in 2013 when Paul Lyons, who has been working for the national rail services for almost 20 years now, decided it was time to invite the public on a tour around the station and its roof on the city’s Doors Open Day, a day when random people like you and me get access to buildings and areas around Glasgow that they normally wouldn’t.

With a proud smile on his face Paul tells the story of how there were only a few spots available for this tour, but hundreds and thousands of applications by people who wanted to experience the station in this new way.

He knew he was onto something. Fast forward to 2016 and Paul has been running the official Glasgow Central Tours for several years now and there is no end in sight. Anybody can now book one of four daily tours which lasts around 90 minutes and costs £13 per head.

Once those exact same heads are well-protected by a safety helmet, the tour into the heart of the station begins.

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The tour is as much about the train station as it is about the history of the city of Glasgow. Paul tells stories about the transformation of the building, from the earliest station built here in 1879 through various phases of modernisation and expansion.

But what really seems to be close to Paul’s heart is to tell the stories of the people who frequented the station, and in particular the soldiers leaving Scotland by train for WW1 and their wifes welcoming them back home years later, or having to identify their bodies when they fell.

‘I’ll have you all greet by the end of the tour’ , and in Scotland of course ‘greet’ means ‘cry’ – Paul seems pretty confident about that. And indeed it is hard to hold back the tears when he brings to life the stories of war widows and survivors found in the national archives and tells stories of men who changed or died in war, and women who had to pick up the shambles at home and find a way to bring home the bodies of their loved ones.

Paul plans to commission some artists with artwork evolving around these stories to raise awareness of the effects and consequences the wars have had on the women of Glasgow.

As the tour goes on, we descend further and further down into the depths of Glasgow Central. Stories of ghosts and haunted tunnels, stories of murder and crime, stories of horses and rats – as someone of Tripadvisor writes about the tour: Paul should indeed be a TV historian.

He is such a passionate storyteller and tour guide that by the end of the tour – at the old Victorian platform that he wants to renovate in the near future, nobody wants to go back up to real life. If only the tour could go on for longer.

The good thing about this is that all the money earned with the tours goes right back into new projects at Glasgow Central. Paul really loves the station and its history, and so he convinced national rail services to invest back into the renovation of even more sections of the old train station. He will also start to offer tours to the station’s roof again soon. With every satisfied tour participant, his leverage to do so grows and I hope that I can contribute to the development of this project with my voice here.

Book your tour online at Glasgow Central Tours’ website .

This leaves only one thing to say: if you come to visit Glasgow and want to have a unique and unusual experience with one of the city’s loveliest and most impressive people, Glasgow Central Tours with Paul Lyon will definitely make your day!

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7 thoughts on “ Unique things to do in Glasgow: Glasgow Central Tours ”

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What a brilliant idea! I have lived in Glasgow my whole life and have never heard of this tour, but it sounds great and I’m definitely going to give it a try!

It’s really great – Glasgow has such a rich history 😀

Amazing! Such great idea. Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to be back in Glasgow and do it.

I was so surprised by the tour – it’s incredible how much you can fit into 1.5h when you’ve got a passion for the stories you’re telling! Hope you’ll get to experience it for yourself soon 🙂 Thanks for your comment!

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Glasgow Central Station Tour: Know The Secrets

Glasgow Central station tour revolves around the famous congested station of Glasgow… an architecturally brilliant ensemble that dates back to 1879 and has a mystery laden past. The building is recognised to be one of the most legendary buildings in Scotland (it’s category ‘A’ listed) and it stands on the North bank of Clyde.

Once upon a time there were 8 platforms that were linked by a railway bridge over Argyle Street… an extremely picturesque sight. Several modifications and more than a century after, the Glasgow Central station is now the biggest station in Scotland’s biggest city and is the busiest in Scotland. More than 130,000 people use the station each day and the Queen Anne style architecture is highly photographed.

The station changed a lot during the years and it’s fascinating to know the history of the place plus seeing the different nooks and crannies that normally remain hidden from public view. The public of Glasgow passes through this station for their travel needs but there are lots of history and interesting facts about the station that open up once anyone goes below the concourse level. Glasgow Central station tours are exclusively operated and managed by the station authorities and for many many years historian and guide Paul Lyons (he has decades of experience in the railway industry) has been conducting these tours.

The tour kicks off in its full flavour as the group descends below the concourse level into an entirely different medieval world that’s unlike the lively and modern everyday look of the Glasgow Central Station. At the first look the soot darkened walls and the maze like tunnels may seem gloomy but the excellent narrative provided by the guide puts colour in it.

The fascinating features of the station require some introduction. The glass panelled roof (biggest glass roof in the world) has more than 48,000 pieces of glass that make it up. The station covers almost 2.2 square miles and it could take years to know it well. There is a hidden area that used to host coal and grain stores in medieval times. There was even a mortuary that was constructed here during the First World War. The bowels of the station are humid and hot and yet seem like a fascinating maze of cables, power rooms and zig zag paths.

Some historical sites like the place where mail was dragged in to load up on the Royal mail train, are mostly a part of all Central station tours. Then there are walls filled with beautiful murals of Caledonian Railway Company and the engineers who constructed the station (artwork done by Glasgow school of art students).

If you are lucky the guide will show an area that hosts several finds associated with the station. There is an antique street map of Grahamstown (a village that vanished when the station was constructed), 18 th century bottles, wheelchair and stretchers from the First World War, map of the station in its 1920 version and a pair of church headstones. There is also a gorgeously intact Victorian era platform that was sealed behind a wall and vanished from memory for about 50 years before the guide Paul Lyons discovered it. Then there are steam boiler rooms.

The guide Paul Lyons’ passion about Glasgow’s history and in depth knowledge about every crevice of the station…is legendary. Lyons takes visitors into the hidden corners of the station continuously mixing facts with interesting stories about the place and in the process creating a fascinating narrative. There are moving accounts of the First World War, famous romances connected to the station, general plight of women, economic issues etc.

There are also stories about the engineers and workers who lived and died in this building and the commoners whose lives were inextricably tied with it. It’s also appreciable that he uses Glesga Patter; Glasgow’s famous dialect and that’s laced with a healthy dose of Glaswegian humour. Glasgow’s famous dialect has been aptly showcased at yet another fantastic attraction… the People’s Palace at Glasgow Green .

Paul Lyons also opens up about his wish to see more statues dedicated to women in Glasgow (for an enlightened city, Glasgow has only 4 statues dedicated to female luminaries) and a proper museum for the Central Station. He also wants a Victorian steam locomotive and a vintage news stand to be installed in the lower level Victorian Platform… plans are already underway for these. At the end of the tour most visitors end up enthusiastically rooting for his goals.

The Glasgow Central Station website makes no mention of where the group meets the guide but Paul Lyons with his movie like long grey beard and bowler hat is hard to miss anyway!!

Duration & Timings

The tours are usually one hour long and happen on weekends and selected weekdays. The tour starts off near the information kiosk right at the heart of the station. There is a huge clock in Glasgow central station and the information kiosk is right near it.  There is a Banner announcing ‘Glasgow Central Experience’ here so you can’t possibly miss the location.

Indicative Prices & Booking

The dates for Glasgow Central tours are published about 6 weeks in advance and you will find the dates on the calendar on the official website. The white dates are all unavailable ones and the pink dates are all sold out ones. All other dates are available ones and you can click on a date of your choice to book it.

The price per adult is 13 pounds. The money earned from the tour goes back into making the tour and station even better. A beautiful memento booklet is presented to the visitors at the end of the tour.

The tour is amongst the top tours of Glasgow and is almost always fully booked. You need to book it only through the official website and well in advance.

Here is the Booking Website .

Note: Minimum age is 12 years old. The tour takes visitors along dark cramped places. Also the tour takes visitors to places well below the platforms via steep flights of stairs into abandoned tunnels. There is a lot of stair climbing involved and it’s not suitable for people with mobility issues. Even healthy adults would need to wear comfortable walking shoes to get on this tour.

Location & Contacts

• Best places to visit in Glasgow
• Glasgow Tourism
• Scotland Tourism
• Europe Tourism

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