A GO-SLOW by some 200,000 rail workers across Britain in April 1972, in pursuit of a pay claim, caused widespread disruption.

The photograph above was taken at Glasgow's Central Station on Monday, April 17. The industrial action had begun at midnight on Sunday.

“Thousands of rail commuters face a difficult journey home tonight as the go-slow ... begins to cause widespread cancellations and delays to Scottish trains – and also endangers road services,” reported the Evening Times. It quoted a British Rail spokesman as saying: “What makes it so difficult is the fact that the situation is changing from hour to hour, and all we can say is that we are hopeful that everyone can get a train”.

This was a period of much industrial strife on this and other fronts: news of it dominated the front page of this newspaper (and, of course, every other paper) for days at a time. On April 19 the Heath government’s National Industrial Relations Court ordered the three rail unions to start working normally again, as soon as possible, for the next 14 days; the pay issue, however, was far from settled, and the work-to-rule flared up again, briefly, in May. The dispute was settled, as Heath himself records, on June 12 with a 13 per cent deal, five per cent ahead of inflation.

There was a happier story at Central Station on May 3, when Agnes Kelly and Cathy Clark, resplendent in the fashions of the time (main image), tried out a new ticket examination and collection system.

Described as the first of its kind in Europe, the system was installed at 19 stations on the Glasgow to Gourock and Wemyss Bay line as a pilot scheme. Passengers could buy tickets for one, two, 10, 20 or 50 journeys for use at any time, with no time limit. Entry to platforms would be through the automatic turnstile barriers only.

Read more: Herald Diary