New museum opens at Glasgow Central Station

GLASGOW School of Art students have helped create a new museum at Glasgow Central which details the work undertaken at the station over the years.

It comes as part of the return of the popular behind-the-scenes tours of Scotland’s busiest rail station, which had been paused since March last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The third year interaction design students worked alongside museum curator, Jackie Ogilvie, to ‘painstakingly’ create the new museum which gives a visual history of the station from its construction in 1879, the 1905 expansion, through to present day works.

Further to this is a Roll of Honour of Glaswegians lost in the First World War, created by programme leader of GSA’s school of design, Jackie Ogilvie. It is located in the area of the temporary WW1 mortuary in the depths of the station, where some servicemen will have arrived on their final journey home.

Jackie Ogilvie, Central Station tour guide and museum curator, commented, “While creating a museum for Central Station was a difficult and complicated process, every new artefact and piece of memorabilia provided such an amazing insight into this wonderful place.

“We can’t wait to welcome people back to Central and take them on a wonderful, historical journey, which is only possible due to the kindness and support of so many people for which the station and the railway are such an important part of their lives.”

Paul Maguire, GSA interaction design programme leader, added, “I would like to thank Jackie and the team at Central station for the opportunity to work with them on this project. Gaining experience of engaging with clients and developing ‘live’ projects is hugely important to our students and allows them to see their work in a real-world context. The brief was ideal: clearly thematic but open to interpretation – allowing students to explore and experiment with media and meaning. They responded extremely well to the brief, producing a powerful and considered immersive audio-visual installation.

“It was a great privilege to be personally commissioned to develop the ‘Role of Honour’ piece. I found the experience of working with the database to be deeply moving, reinforcing the personal cost of war and reframing it within a city context, referencing familiar Glasgow addresses. I hope viewers feel this same emotional engagement with the work.”