In 2019, ScotRail began to withdraw its veteran, and often maligned, Class 314 EMU after 40 years of serving the railways of Glasgow and Strathclyde.
To commemorate this, ScotRail organised a “Farewell Tour” for the 314, where it would get to journey along the rails of Strathclyde one last time. This tour would take it along routes it either had not served for decades, or routes it never served. Starting from Glasgow Central, it would travel to Ayr, Carstairs, Motherwell, Cumbernauld, and Helensburgh Central.
Given I grew up with these trains as a constant in daily life, and have quite the soft spot for them and their almost time capsule-like nature, I could not miss the chance to take part in this event and ride these trains one last time. I joined the journey at the beginning - in the morning, on its first trip down to Ayr, and would stick with it as it passed Carstairs, Motherwell and Cumbernauld and returned to Glasgow in the late afternoon.
I sought to capture what it was like riding these trains, as well as capture this final journey from the 314’s perspective. I dwelled a lot on this idea during the trip; what would this train have to say about its final trip and retirement? What are all the changes it has seen in the city it serves in its 40 years of service? What stories could it tell of its journeys and the millions of passengers it has carried? Fourty years of it joining in the daily commute, school holidays, nights out, gigs, football, trips “doon the water”, friends meeting friends, love, heartbreak, the lowest of moments and the peak of someone’s life… if it could speak, I can only imagine the wisdom it could impart.
I have a thread of some of my images from the day on Twitter/X with some haiku I wrote from the 314’s point of view, if it could speak of its life. https://x.com/rosiestquartz_/status/1207722500995633152
(Click on the images below to see them in full!)
