Site icon Blantyre Project – Official History Archives, Lanarkshire

1956 High Blantyre Station

P Veverka

 

If you’re a certain age, you may recognise the abandoned High Blantyre Train Station, pictured here in 1956. Looking southwards towards Sydes Brae ,the station is now a modern housing estate beside High Blantyre Old Parish Church, just out the picture to the left.

I liked the VIROL advert on the left. VIROL forced fed to kids to make them “healthy”!  (Was that not processed beef and eggs?!). This was the beginning of the end for the station which fell into rapid decline through becoming overgrown and due to vandalism in the subsequent years.

Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,

Liz Jack What I do remember is having to take Virol haha
Jiae Jiae Yep forced fed is just about right…yuck!

Gillian Cunningham What happened to the Virol sign ? Very saleable….lol

Blantyre Project I’d imagine this whole site was bulldozed, station and all.
Elizabeth Weaver Remember Virol, Brian Weaver? Every night, after the cod liver oil. I’ve found the ingredients…it was full of sugar! “
Virol is a concentrated food of high nutritional value, and provides just those factors most likely to be needed to complete the diet.THE INGREDIENTS of Virol are: malt extract, refined beef fat, maltose, sugar, malto-dextrins, glucose, fructose, egg, orange juice, salt, flavourings, phosphoric acid, calcium phosphate, iron phosphate, sodium iodide, and added vitamins”

Blantyre Project it sounds like marmite! lol. Doesnt sound too appetising.

Elizabeth Weaver Blantyre Project It wasn’t great, to be honest! But after a spoonful of cod liver oil, anything tasted good.

Brian Weaver Elizabeth, I hated Virol

Elizabeth Weaver Brian Weaver But you hated cod liver oil even more. Mum used to give it to you in the bath because you made such a fuss spitting it out 😉 Good to be reminded of the 1950s, isn’t it? 🤣
Elizabeth Weaver Tell you what was yummy though – Delrosa Rose Hip Syrup. Tooth-rotting stuff, but (allegedly) packed with Vit C.
Sandy Wilkie Rose hip sirrup – what a blast from the last that is! It was glorious!

Elizabeth Weaver Delicious, wasn’t it? You can still buy it, but it’s now an expensive “health food” and doesn’t taste quite as syrupy.

Brian Weaver Elizabeth, oh yes, Delrosa! Auntie Betty always had that in her house, but we never seemed to have it in ours!

Elizabeth Weaver Brian Weaver I think we did, but Mum hid it at the back of the pantry because she knew it was irresistible. In beside the condensed milk, the golden syrup and other delicious things 🙂

Jiae Jiae Elizabeth Weaver The dummy got stuck in it….not good for the teeth….

Jiae Jiae Brian Weaver You were either a Delarosa house or a Virol house, I remember my mother saying Virol was better…..she wouldn’t buy Delarosa….my teeth would not have agreed with her on any of these…all full of sugar.

Elizabeth Weaver And here’s an early Virol jar I have; found in a vintage shop.
Stuart Macrae Walk the Hamilton part of the old railway regularly, locally known as the black path it crossed what is now where Wellhall Rd meets Earnock Road.
William Dickson those were the days day trip to portabello from the old station also played there when it shut down remember the local flute band practice there those were the days

Blantyre Project apologies, i have found an additional note that this picture should read ’63 not ’56.

Brian Weaver I think this might be earlier than 1963. We were living beside it by then and I seem to remember that it was more run down than this.

Elizabeth Weaver Yes, I thought so too. We moved into The Glebe in May 1963 and I thought that area was flattened by then.

Iain Sanderson I remember it being on fire when we were in the tenement in front of the church and we moved in 1961.

Jiae Jiae Yep, I would also have thought more run down by ’63

Blantyre Project Im entirely open to that being earlier than 63. A defined and dated picture from 61 shows scenes of dereliction even more than the photo above, albeit on the other platform. The windows on the 61 platform are all gone, where on the above photo they’re still there. Im going to amend it to 61 at latest
Lillias Addison Loved malt when I was young(many years ago)
Henry Hambley I won’t join the argument about he date of this picture. I just love the memories it produces of a long lost and much loved High Blantyre.
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