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Station Gable Screens

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Scouseinmanc

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I’ve seen many pictures of large railway stations with all of the glass missing from their front gable screens.
Notably Glasgow St. Enoch, Birkenhead Woodside, Manchester Victoria & Bradford Exchange (the latter 2 replaced with corrugated sheeting). I’m sure there’s more.
What was the reason for the glass being removed?
 
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30907

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I’ve seen many pictures of large railway stations with all of the glass missing from their front gable screens.
Notably Glasgow St. Enoch, Birkenhead Woodside, Manchester Victoria & Bradford Exchange (the latter 2 replaced with corrugated sheeting). I’m sure there’s more.
What was the reason for the glass being removed?
What date are these photos? Was it removed or was it bomb blast?
 
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Birkenhead Woodside closed in 1967. Manchester Victoria was rebuilt in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2002 ( there is a Velodrome on top, I think). A lot of overall roofs were removed in the 1950s and 1960s (e.g. Shrewsbury, Leeds City and Chester General).
 

John Webb

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Carlisle Citadel station was built 1880 with screens at each end. These were originally constructed of a wood frame in an ornamental style matching the station buildings. Curiously it seems no glass was removed as a wartime precaution. BR were faced in the 1950s with serious rot in the woodwork of the screens as well as problems with the roof and undertook a complete rebuild in which the roof was shortened and also reduced in width. The screens were rebuilt with Vertical rectangular metal-framed panes in a brick wall - far less ornate!

Likewise York railway station seems to have retained its glass screens.

But I can't find any information on the stations mentioned by the OP - only that Bradford Exchange was demolished in the 1970s after a new station was built to the south of it.
 

Helvellyn

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King's Cross and Manchester Piccadilly appear to have had their original screens replaced. In the case of King's Cross the original was completely cut back.
 

30907

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Bradford Exchange later had the corrugated sheeting removed without replacement, along with a good length of the overall roof glazing/sheeting.
Bomb damage is unlikely in this case, so I suspect wear and tear/pollution were factors - which may also have been the reason for removing the glazing in the first place; it is certainly not unknown for glazed roofs to start shedding panes of glass :(
 

Pinza-C55

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Carlisle Citadel station was built 1880 with screens at each end. These were originally constructed of a wood frame in an ornamental style matching the station buildings. Curiously it seems no glass was removed as a wartime precaution. BR were faced in the 1950s with serious rot in the woodwork of the screens as well as problems with the roof and undertook a complete rebuild in which the roof was shortened and also reduced in width. The screens were rebuilt with Vertical rectangular metal-framed panes in a brick wall - far less ornate!

Likewise York railway station seems to have retained its glass screens.

But I can't find any information on the stations mentioned by the OP - only that Bradford Exchange was demolished in the 1970s after a new station was built to the south of it.

The original end screens of York station were timber and they were removed many years and ago replaced by steel frames. If you look closely at the York screens the cast iron column at the north end projects out to hold the timber screen.
 

Revaulx

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Carlisle Citadel station was built 1880 with screens at each end. These were originally constructed of a wood frame in an ornamental style matching the station buildings. Curiously it seems no glass was removed as a wartime precaution. BR were faced in the 1950s with serious rot in the woodwork of the screens as well as problems with the roof and undertook a complete rebuild in which the roof was shortened and also reduced in width. The screens were rebuilt with Vertical rectangular metal-framed panes in a brick wall - far less ornate!

Likewise York railway station seems to have retained its glass screens.

But I can't find any information on the stations mentioned by the OP - only that Bradford Exchange was demolished in the 1970s after a new station was built to the south of it.
The Carlisle screens were absolutely gorgeous if the few photos I’ve seen are anything to go by. A major loss.

I visited Bradford Exchange not long before it closed. Large parts of it had obviously been derelict for some time, and it wasn’t just the screens that were ruinous.
 
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