Williamwood railway station

Williamwood railway station is a railway station in the Williamwood area of the town of Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, Greater Glasgow, Scotland. The station is managed by ScotRail and lies on the Neilston branch of the Cathcart Circle Lines. The line here forms the boundary which separates Clarkston and Giffnock.

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A727 road

The A727 road in Scotland runs from East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire, through East Renfrewshire, to Junction 3 of the M77 motorway in Glasgow.

East Renfrewshire

East Renfrewshire (Scots: Aest Renfrewshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It was formed in 1996, as a successor to the Eastwood district of the Strathclyde region. Clockwise, East Renfrewshire borders Glasgow to the northeast, South Lanarkshire to the southeast, East Ayrshire to the southwest, North Ayrshire to the west and Renfrewshire to the northwest. Many of the council area's northern settlements fall into the Greater Glasgow urban area. Until 1975, the council area formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas of Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. These three council areas together still form a single lieutenancy area called Renfrewshire.

Clarkston, East Renfrewshire

Clarkston (Scots: Clairkstoun, Scottish Gaelic: Baile Chlarc) is a suburban town in East Renfrewshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. A dormitory town with a population of around 10,000, Clarkston is on the southern fringe of the Greater Glasgow conurbation and directly adjoins the neighbouring suburban villages of Busby and Netherlee, as well as the towns of Newton Mearns and Giffnock. The White Cart Water flows to the east of the town. On 21 October 1971, the main shopping building was the scene of the Clarkston explosion, which killed 22 people and injured around 100. A plaque on the site commemorates the event. The building was rebuilt. Greenbank Garden, a National Trust for Scotland property, is located on Flenders Road, on the outskirts of Clarkston.

Clarkston explosion

The Clarkston explosion was a disaster that occurred on 21 October 1971 in a row of shops on the main street of Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. Sources from the time state the death toll as 21, whilst modern sources state 22. The explosion followed a build-up of gas in an underground space beneath the then six-year-old Clarkston Toll shops, caused by a gas main leak later ruled to have been accidental. Customers and shop staff had on 20 October complained of a strong smell of gas in the centre and Scottish Gas Board engineers had attended to investigate, but had identified no source for the smell. The engineers were still in attendance at around 2:50 pm on the following day when the gas ignited and exploded, killing 22 people and injuring around 100. The victims included many shop staff and people on shopping trips, and the passengers of a bus that had been passing the scene. The explosion destroyed 10 shops and a car park above them. An inquiry was held, and a jury on 11 February 1972 returned a verdict that no fault for the explosion lay with any organisation or individual. No cause was identified for the ignition of the leaked gas, and the leak itself was deemed the result of an accidental gas main fracture caused by "stress and corrosion". The main had been insufficiently supported to withstand vibrations from traffic, and a large crack was found in it during the investigation. The victims of the disaster are commemorated in a plaque erected in 2002 near the site of the explosion. There is a further tribute to those who lost their lives situated in the entranceway to the Clarkston Halls. Scottish Television produced a programme on the Clarkston disaster which aired on 20 November 2017.