Clockwork Orange

The Glasgow Subway first opened in 1896 and is generally recognised as the world’s third oldest underground railway, after London and Budapest. In 1923, the Subway passed into the hands of Glasgow Corporation Transport Department, and in the following decade the railway was converted to electric traction, introducing a third live rail for the purpose.

The Subway was closed in 1977 for tunnel repairs, new power supplies and station enhancements. 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.