In August 1894, a Blantyre man wrote anonymously into the Hamilton Herald and Lanarkshire Weekly Newspaper with a rather tongue in cheek dig at a Councillor.
The message was “Waken up John, Waken up, there’s an election coming!” meaning that it was time for that particular councillor to spring into action and get things done. The man’s letter to the paper, was his observation of what had been done for the forthcoming election and what still had to be looked at! He wrote giving a good insight into how things were in Blantyre that month:
“We have now got a bridge over the railway at Low Blantyre Station. – and such a bridge, it just requires an elevator now to make it a miniature Eiffel Tower. Truly the gentleman who manages this department of the Caledonian Railway company must be a genius of the first water. Where he picked up such an old antediluvian bridge is a mystery, unless it has been dug from the ruins of the old Bridge Street station. It is just on the old lines – old and second hand – anything is good enough for Blantyre, so I suppose we must be content.”
He continued, “I notice your correspondent draws attention to the open sewer at the foot of Stonefield Road. If he comes by way of Causewaystanes, High Blantyre he will find something stronger to complain about, first the ash pit at Blackely’s Buildings, second the grating across the road from it a little further down, and third, the ash pit at Aitkenhead Stables (Kirkton). Truly our County Councillor is still asleep. Waken up John, Waken up! An election looms in the distance!”
I think this man was referring to the former pedestrian iron footbridge over the railway, which had to be so high to accommodate locomotives and which replaced today, has to be so high for electrification clearance. This photo in the 1940s shows the iron lattice work which may have prompted the man to compare the structure to the Eiffel Tower!