It’s great to see photos by film cameras taken before digital or google street maps. An interesting photo shared here by Rob Gordon. The date is unknown, but I’m not sure though this is the demolition of the toilets(?|), which I think happened in the 1990s. The green facades of the shops further up the street suggest the photo is post Millennium and I see the Clydesdale Bank is still there, before Glen Travel moved there.
The photo looks very similar to today and over the last 2 decades there’s been a lot of construction going on periodically at that very location on the right on the north side of the road. The reason being the main Stonefield Sewer which runs down Stonefield Road, Calder Street, Victoria Street comes out at this location across Glasgow Road into the park. The sewer is now clearly old and has burst and leaked many times. There was a huge operation last year to dig down and repair a massive section into the park. Scottish Water dug a huge new manhole in Glasgow Road and slightly bunded the earthworks, along the path, which I found strange. The road looks wet in this photo, so perhaps it was another burst being fixed? That said, there’s no Scottish Water signage or equipment, so it may have been something else entirely.
Rob has been away from Blantyre for many years, so this photo does have some age.
Have your say. I’m stuck. What was going on in this photo with the excavator and what year was this?