Merkland Street station was one of the 15 subway stations in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is the only station on the system that has closed permanently. The station opened in 1896. It was located to the south-west of its replacement,

Partick station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , symbol2 = glasgow , image = Partick station new facade.jpeg , caption = The new façade of ''Partick station'' after a lengthy renovation , bor ...

and about to the south of

Partickhill railway station Partickhill railway station was a railway station serving the Partick area of Glasgow. The station was opened by the North British Railway Company in 1874 on the north side of Dumbarton Road. At some periods during its existence it was describe ...

. It closed permanently in 1977 when the rest of the network was closed for modernisation. The modernisation had been announced in 1974 by the subway's then operators, the

Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is a regional transport partnership for the Strathclyde area of western Scotland. It is responsible for planning and coordinating regional transport, especially the public transport system in the are ...

(GGPTE). Although converted to electric traction in 1935 the systems infrastructure and rolling stock was virtually unchanged from its opening in 1896, and improvement to the subway was seen by the GGPTE as an essential part of plans to eliminate transport bottlenecks in the city. As part of the process, which began in 1977, all 15 stations were to be rebuilt. However it was planned to link the subway to the national rail network's newly reopened

Argyle Line The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. The line serves the commercial and shopping districts of Glasgow's central area, and connects towns from West Dunbartonshire to South Lanarkshire. Named for Glasgow's Argyl ...

at Partick via an interchange station. This meant permanently closing Merkland Street and opening a new station a short distance away. Thus, when the network reopened in 1980, it was replaced by a new station nearby named

Partick Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to t ...

, offering direct transfers to the rail station of the same name. There is evidence of Merkland Street station's existence due to a long straight and humped stretch on the underground with large diameter tunnels, although the platforms and station buildings no longer remain. On 18 September 1940, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a German bomb, which dropped during a night raid on Glasgow and may have been intended for nearby naval facilities, landed on a bowling green to the south of the station. The explosion this caused resulted in damage to both tunnels and closure of this part of the system until repairs were completed in January 1941. Merkland Street is one of the stations mentioned in

Cliff Hanley Clifford Leonard Clark "Cliff" Hanley (28 October 1922 – 9 August 1999) was a journalist, novelist, playwright and broadcaster from Glasgow in Scotland. Originally from Shettleston in the city's East End, he was educated at Eastbank Ac ...

's song ''The Glasgow Underground''.

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Merkland Street station on navigable OS map

SubBrit article on the Merkland Street
Glasgow Subway stations Disused railway stations in Glasgow Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1896 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1977 1977 disestablishments in Scotland Partick {{Glasgow-railstation-stub