IF you are used to public transport in Glasgow and partake of the subway or the bus, be reminded of a train journey from the past.

This trip would take you to the heart of the Botanic Gardens in the leafy West End.

It would be a train journey on the Central Railway line where the carriages ran underground, with the station building above.

Botanic Gardens Station opened in 1896 but was closed only 20 years later with the outbreak of the First World War.

After the Second World War, the gates were simply shut and it was left to linger and decay.

The station building itself was an ornate red brick structure with two towers sporting a clock and Caledonian Railway monogram, topped by domes reminiscent of a Russian orthodox church.

It was to subsequently find new life with a popular café called 'The Silver Slipper', a nightclub called 'Sgt. Peppers' and a plumbers shop called 'Morton's'

By 1964, the railway lines were lifted and after a fire some six years later, what was left of the old station building was demolished.

The Evening Times of March 23, 1970 reported the fire started after a 'Battle of the Bands' contest had been held in the nightclub and it was likely someone had left a cigarette burning in the attic as it was primarily the roof space that had burned resulting in the decision of the fire brigade to pull down the two domed towers for safety reasons the following day.

Still, the tunnel and the platforms remain and at a point in 2007, there was a plan to create a nightclub on the site.

This horrified local lovers of the tranquil setting of the Botanics and it was subsequently shelved in 2008.

The actor Robert Carlyle was among more than 1,000 people who staged a protest in the Botanic Gardens to show their opposition to this plan for a nightclub in the park.

He was with his wife and children and spoke of his "anger" at the proposal.

The star of Trainspotting and The Full Monty, who grew up on one side of the gardens in Maryhill and now lives on the other side with his family in Dowanhill, said at the time: "My family and I use this park about three or four times a week, but it's not about me, it's about the thousands of people who regularly use the gardens.

"I am really interested in the history of Glasgow and it angers me so much that anyone could try to claim ownership of even just one square foot of this park; it belongs collectively to the people of this great city."

The millionaire businessman Stefan King described the decision as "a great shame" after his G1 Group was told its £7million proposal for a disused piece of ground in Glasgow's Great Western Road was being rejected.

At the time, Jean Charsley, of Hillhead Community Council said: "I'm relieved and delighted the council has listened to the massive outcry against the commercial exploitation of our beloved Botanic Gardens."

There was dancing, not in the proposed nightclub or indeed the tunnel at the old station, but on the streets of Maryhill.