Did anyone notice the football park at the beginning of the video was the broadwood stadium in Cumbernauld instead of the almondvale stadium in Livingston After checking the comments a few people did 😂 😂 😂
@@badhippopick one that hasn’t been done yet and start strolling. Every. Day. I’d recommend the A627(M) on the basis it’s quite very short and has maybe one bridge which is surely the spot to film from.
@@MikeMakesUK And the pyramids are to make it easier to catch them. Since the haggis has shorter left legs than right legs they're fine walking round the pyramids anticlockwise, but if you startle them so they turn around they'll roll down the slope into your nets.
Yup it is indeed a single seater F1 style kit car, the owner uses it regularly as a daily driver and brings it to local car meets, I seen it quite often
It was indeed shite and dangerous. Coming north from East Kilbride the route from the A725 onto the main route to Edinburgh was a right turn across a very busy road onto a two way single carriagway slip road that was also taking the eastbound exit from the A8.
Will there be a part 2? The abandoned Glasgow Ring Road, abandoned Marhyill motorway, ghost junctions and bridges to nowhere. These are all worth a mention.
I'm sure there will - there'd be no complete Scotland Motorway Series without covering the M8 through the centre of Glasgow! Thinking of Woodside, Charing X, Anderston, Kingston and Plantation - bring it on! It was my favorite motorway as a child!
When the project of Motoway art was being discussed on the BBC, West Lothian to Lanarkshire was described as MAMBA country: miles and miles of bugger all
The Forrestburn hillclimb is where the opening shots of the Volvo rolling in "Deadwater Fell" were shot. The Volvo actually rolled clean over and landed safely back on it's wheels, and had to be put back on it's roof to match the script!
I vaguely remember a programme on BBC1 in the 1970s hosted by James Burke who was explaining the situation with a large model of Glasgow and it explaines how the absolute knightmare transpired. I have no idea I'd any of the programme survived.
I've never seen it since evn on bbc4 I wonder if it was wiped they seemed to do that in the early 70,'s. I remember it was set in an office block quite high up with a public audience participating building the layout and then explaining how it all went wrong because those in power changed their minds at the last moment which meant bits didn't join up and the roads in the city were having to cope with traffic they were not supposed to. What you would all this days a massive planning cock up.
7:45 - yeah, poor bastard realised he was in Glasgow and made a beeline for the exit ramp, but the shite junction layout meant he just looped back on himself...🤦♂️...😂👍🇦🇺
The other thing about the art pieces is that at the time the Infrastructure for the town was being done by the Livingston Development Corporation, which was set up by the government to build the town up. Giving the Council (Which was West Lothian since Livingston never had its own council because of said corporation) the money was always kind of pointless so the little roundabout decorations came instead.
The plans for a Motorsport Centre were to include Hotels, entertainment , restaurants, etc. Jackie Stewart was also involved it in. They were also considering building a new National Football stadium to replace Hampden in Glasgow. Glasgow District Council took fright at the loss of this from Glasgow and refused to even talk about in. This caused others to withdraw and the whole thing fell apart
The Forrestburn circuit failed because of a lack of money, and also there was significant local opposition, leading to some people refusing to sell their land to accommodate the circuit. This was also the reason for the extensive re-drafting of the layouts as the circuit was trying to route around land that it could not obtain. The hillclimb was also used in the remake of The 39 Steps. It was run in the reverse direction, and you can see the giant aerial towers at Kirk o'Shotts, which would definitely not have been visible at the time.
Interesting fact, J7: coming off the A725 onto the A8 eastbound was wicked, about 100 yards of slip road on a bend and you had to go from a few mph up to motorway speed... it was always a heart-pumping moment trying to get onto the A8 in such a short piece of road!
@@dxg999 Yeah, remember that well using that exit to nip down to the M74 southbound. The whole thing was a mental mess of roads. But I really hated that return trip, a right turn and follow the sweeping left leading to the 100 yards of go-go-now! tarmac.
Not to mention coming from Coatbridge towards Bellshill and the immediate merging of two lanes right after the north side roundabout, as there were dual carriageways either side, but only room for three lanes over the bridge. Whoever designed that was clearly a huge fan of road rage.
Harthill services (no one calls it Heart of Scotland) is the only services I have come across where there is no charge for staying longer than 2 or 3 hours. The Pyramids have poppies painted on them in November - the grazing sheep (cheaper than grasscutters) don't seem to mind
Forrestburn's a brilliant wee venue but it almost seems to be a secret. You'd think it's just for races but they do trackdays too and it works great even though it's not a full lap, you can loop back round and get out again pretty fast. Cheap day out and if you keep going all day you get a lot of track time on a lovely technical circuit and never need to worry about other cars on track. Brilliant place for a first time on track.
We need to find someone on the inside of Auto Shenanigans that we can bribe to find Jon’s timetable / Plans. That way, we can share it between us all to be “that person” who walks past during filming 🤣🤣🤣 Brilliant as always.thank you.
They used to graze sheep on the Pyramids, the animals wool was dyed in novelty colours. Also, just past Harthill the Kirk o' Shotts transmitter towers are a landmark along the M8
Hello Jon, the Heart of Scotland services, you mentioned the park and ride. What you didn't mention is, Scottish Citylink route 900, Glasgow to Edinburgh, which during the day runs every 15 minutes, calls into Heart of Scotland both ways, for passengers in Harthill. A rare example in Scotland of a coach route calling in at a motorway services. rare, because two bus routes call in at Kinross on the M90, Stagecoach East Scotland routes 201 and 202. The construction of the M8 motorway, and the plan by what was then the Scottish Bus Group express division (now Citylink), for an express coach service linking Edinburgh and Glasgow using the M8, was what led to the Scottish Region of British Rail upgrading their Edinburgh - Glasgow Queen Street express service, upgrading from 60mph DMUs to 2x class 27 locomotives, one each end of a rake of six Mk2 coaches, running at a top speed of 90mph, reducing the journey time by 27 minutes, from 75 minutes to 48 minutes. I wrote about this in 2013 for Traction magazine, looking at the 1971-1979 push pull trains.
You missed the Horn installation just after junction 4a on the Westbound carriageway, it actually looks like something from the set of the Telly Tubbies.
You missed the original junction at Whitburn where the origiginal M8 from West termitated prior to thge section to Edinburgh being constructed in the 70's
Another fab video - thanks Jon! The image at 0:54 might be from the "Abercrombie Plan" which was drawn up as long ago as 1948. The plan included demolishing all the buildings on Princes Street and making the street itself into a double-deck roadway. The whole of the rest of the city centre would be turned into the roadway hellscape shown on the 1967 map. That plan blighted big areas of the city well into the late 1980s. Flats in Tollcross, where the huge roundabout is in the bottom Centre of the map, were worth about 500 quid in the 1970s because there was still the possibility that they would be demolished.
Those flats were also in dire need of modernising, hence the price. You could only buy them if you had a solid plan on how they would be turned into something actually livable going forwards - quite a lot of the city centre went for a song on that basis (the grassmarket, lawn-garden and so on were much the same). It took a while, but those flats are now worth ~1,000 times what they were bought for.
Yet again visiting close to my ‘gaff’ but you never call or let me know you are in the area.. YOU DON’T LOVE ME ANYMORE! Anyhoo after my emotional outburst yet another interesting haunt around the local area.. keep these coming and ONE day I will video bomb a video..
Hopefully there’s a a part 2 for this since you’ve missed out some of the most interesting bits of motorway design in the UK going through Glasgow. The next junction after you stopped has 2 slip roads from a junction merging onto the motorway from the centre of the carriageway and then M74, M77 and M8 all running parallel after the Kingston bridge.
I remember being a relatively new driver and driving through Glasgow and suddenly find myself merging onto the M8 straight into the fast last. Terrifying. I’d guess this is perhaps the only example of a merge into the fast lane? Or at least one of very few. Would like to see this covered in a part 2. Not least to ensure I didn’t just imagine it.
@@gordonjohnston8321I think that's still there, not technically a fast lane any more as it's 50 all the way through the worst of it but there's at least one merge onto the right lane that I can think of.
Oh man, that parallel motorway stretch really threw me when I was heading back home to Manchester after a holiday in Glencoe. I managed to get so confused I missed the M74 junction and had to drive round the M77 and through the centre of Glasgow in order to get back to it. Took me ages!
@@gordonjohnston8321 That slipway has been "under repair" now for several years along with the rest of the section between Townhead and Charing Cross, so difficult for him to cover it. Pity, because it is nuts and is matched by an exit slipway from the outside lane at Townhead (which is still open)
The Monkland Canal fascinates me. It’s still piped along the embankment between Easterhouse and Fort Dundas as it’s supply of water is vital to the operation of the Forth and Clyde Canal. It has open sections between Calderbank (where it is fed from the North Calder Water) and Carnbroe, before being piped, then again between Coatbridge and Bargeddie, but at Bargeddie it vanishes into a pipe for the last time and under the motorway embankment until Port Dundas, where it spews out at a watersports centre. In the centre of Coatbridge, there is an interesting art piece where the canal formerly passed under the railway (now in pipe at a slightly deeper level), a big plug hole, complete with removed plug. And, if you have images of a vast underwater canal tunnel, like those found in Paris, think again, it’s just a big iron pipe.
Sometimes in the USA, public work projects have a set aside of 10% of the budget for art. A guy I know got a contract to make decorative concrete pillars for the decorative fencing on overpasses on a highway in Kansas City. On Streetview, you can see some where The Paseo crosses over US 71. The neighborhoods along there are blighted, so it helps by not adding the usual ugly freeway design.
Great summary, Jon. As someone who has lived within the traffic noise between J4a and J5 for most of my life, it's good to see it like this. I remember the night Harthill's new bridge was lifted into place. They shut the M8 for an hour roughly to do it.
1:00 "We'd've found the M8 extending further to the west, right into the middle of Edinburgh." I'm glad I'm not the only person who can't tell the difference between east and west when looking at a map. I don't know why I always get it wrong...
Fun fact about that wee yellow f1 car, it’s owned by a fella in the north east. I remember bumping into him taking it off the back a trailer; said he bought it from a scrapyard or something and uses it now just to drive about in 7:45
Those sawtooth ramps are next to Pyramid studios (which is visible in the satellite image you use). Fun fact: that’s where they filmed Good Omens. They built a huge set on the soundstage that basically was full size streets.
Loads of things have been filmed in the studio there, which used to be in the Motorola plant. I was an extra in Outlaw King there, and the uberhun pub scene in Trainspotting 2 was filmed there. Also got my first 2 Covid jags in that building.
@@stevekelly5166 ha ha and the alleged nurse was a cabin steward or hairdresser anyone they could find unemployed and dumb enough to not understand they were liable for culpable manslaughter when a patient died after injecting them with the poison 📌😂😂😂😂
As I again observe the sheer mess of Junction 15, it reminds me how you've occasionally mentioned the tightening of motorway regulations over the years. After filming the majority of motorways across GB, would there be enough material to make another video, telling the story of how and why the rules have changed?
Yeah, I recall coming down that slip road the first time and unexpectedly finding myself in the outside lane and being undertaken at crazy speeds. Madness!
I take it there’s a part two coming? Glasgow to Langbank? There’s some landmarks or history worth mentioning along this stretch. For instance the site of the former Pinkston Power Station a little ways past Jnc 15 that powered the city’s tram network in the early to mid 20th century and dominated the Glasgow skyline with its tall cooling tower, for a time the tallest in Europe. It ended up outliving the trams it powered by 16 years and was demolished in 1978. Later on when the motorway crosses the Clyde one can see the iconic Finnieston Crane. After that you’ve got Glasgow Airport (scene of the world’s pettiest terrorist attack in 2007 infamously made fun of by Billy Connolly). Aways further on close to Jncs 29A and 30 is Bishopton and the former site of a Royal Ordnance Depot. Just a few things I figured worth mentioning in a part 2 should you make it. 😊
Sawtooth? Never heard it called that in thousands of passes over daily commute. Always the toblerone to us. And what the heck is that yellow thingy at 7:42?
I like those art pieces. It's a difficult thing to get right, but make anything out of stone and you can't really go wrong. It's very expensive though, but it lasts forever
Totally fascinating to see the original plans for both ends of the M8. I was unaware the original plan for the Edinburgh section was to run right through to Haymarket, the phantom "Glasgow Ring Road' being a bit more famous and was even physically signposted until the late 1990s.. Is interesting to consider both what Edinburgh would be like had they ploughed a motorway through it Glasgow style, and also what Glasgow would have looked like had the M8 terminated outside the city like in Edinburgh. Is probable the M8 was the biggest thing in both 20c Glasgow AND Edinburgh planning, but for the differing reasons of acceptance and refusal. A tale of two cities..and the traffic's awful in both.
Really appreciate people like yourself making excellently produced, high quality videos about niche shit like this. Made for an excellent and satisfying watch. I wouldn't be arsed to even go, let alone make a video this good about it
The saw-tooth ramps are a wonderful, understated artwork that fit perfectly into its location, alongside the west bound carriageway, as it nears it end.
Missed opportunities there at Junction 15. The west bound exit takes you to the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow Cathedral and the old Blind Asylum. All amazing buildings and great landmarks.
Brilliant as always. Suspected this might need to be a multi-parter, due to the Central Glasgow section having more junctions per mile than is in any way sane...
As someone who has spent many years driving the whole length of the M8 (and most of the other motorways in Scotland), it’s a shame there were no sheep on the pyramids the day you were there. They’re usually dyed bright pink, red or even rainbow coloured. Also you missed some of the motorway art, like the Teletubby horn in Polkemmet Country Park, near J4. Apparently it plays sounds (poetry?) for the passing traffic, but I’ve stood at the base of it and couldn’t hear anything. Maybe it’s broken. Or the heavy horse at Baillieston. Or the joy of some of the junctions in Glasgow, where you either drive alongside the motorway for ages, almost in touching distance, before you’re allowed to merge, or exits that come off on the right hand lane and then cross flyovers, or the remains of many mysterious looking slip roads, bridges and stretches of tarmac that are blocked off and go nowhere. Or is there going to be a part 2 covering Glasgow to Greenock?
The teletubby thing used to play (I recall music at one point.). However to be loud enough to be heard by drivers it was VERY loud for the local residents who complained. Considering it was on 24/7.
PETA kicked off every time the "dipped" coloured sheep were put on the Motorola pyramids to mow the grass, a shame really as I thought they were cool. The farmer regularly defended the decision saying they weren't harmed or stressed in the process. I agree there's room for another episode to mention the plans that the Glasgow stretch of M8 might have become the first freeway in the UK to allow overtaking in any lane since there were on and off ramps on the "right" side of the motorway. No mention either of all the dead-end slips including the bottom of the Kingston bridge where the recovery vehicles camp out now. Or even the 50m stretch of motorway above the M8 that had buildings at both ends, that eventually got turned into an office block after the millennium.
Thanks Jon. That explains the eastern end which I always though as a bit of a gulux connecting to the Edinburgh by-pass at right angles and usually causing queues in all directions. Glasgow end I knew something of as it had featured on a TV program about urban motorways and how only a few bits had ever got built (not only in this country!) leaving us with bits of disjointed roads and continuations to nowhere. Talking Heads where are you now? 😀
Junction 15 is unique in that the slip roads on the west side linking to the southern section of the A803 involve drivers joining and leaving the motorway from the outside fast lane. Probably one of the most dangerous junctions on the entire UK motorway network.
I can confirm they made a complete horses arse of the Bellshill bypass. I have used this stretch for many years and thebold system worked way better. The road they built adjoining the north road is a death trap, looking forward to part 2 Jon!!
Tbh, you've covered so many roads that link with the M8 I thought you'd already done it! Harthill services used to be a bit more substantial on the north side, which was another use for the footbridge, however, I recall it being a bit of a greasy spoon and in decline for some years. Cheers
Harthill was a bit better in the 80s. You could at least get something to eat. It went downhill though, mainly because most traffic is not doing a long enough distance to warrant a stop there.
Harthill used to be a great little services in the 80s/90s when Road Chef owned it. There was a proper sit-down restaurant that would serve you a beautiful big plate of chips for a quid, a small but select choice of arcade games (Fighting Vipers!) and a decent little shop selling the usual motorway services fare. They used to put on Christmas concerts in the entrance area with local kids singing carols and playing instruments, and it even featured as a location in the ITV morning kids show Ghost Train in the late 80s! It’s absolutely nothing like it used to be now, in fact Heart of Scotland barely qualifies as a service station imo… a Wild Bean Cafe does not a motorway services make 😉
Fantastic video once again John. Wish I could thank you more for your dedication and how much effort you put into making these videos. Hope you are well and I look forward to another episode. 😊
Might be worth a revisit to do a video about middle lane drivers. No matter what time of night, no matter how empty the road, you can guarantee someone is there driving on the middle lane (M8 west, Junction 8, 7).
Thee M8 has another very rare feature, slip roads exiting on the right. Update And it is in episode 2! M60 J25 has a slip road joining on the right, which results in slow lorries coming from a roundabout merging into the outside lane.
Did anyone notice the football park at the beginning of the video was the broadwood stadium in Cumbernauld instead of the almondvale stadium in Livingston
After checking the comments a few people did 😂 😂 😂
I certainly didn't!
you just saved me from posting that it was the wrong football stadium
@@AutoShenanigans I've actually been to Broadwood Stadium, using the M8 to get there!
It's not the Tony Macaroni Arena is it?
@@stevekelly5166 Yes, but it will always be the Almondvale to the rest of us.
It's my goal in life to casually walk between John and the camera whilst he's half way through a sentence.
Well, he's gradually running out of motorways to talk about. I imagine it's easier to blunder into him now than it was before...
@@badhippopick one that hasn’t been done yet and start strolling. Every. Day. I’d recommend the A627(M) on the basis it’s quite very short and has maybe one bridge which is surely the spot to film from.
200k meet, we all just walk past cam and John, looking forward and say nothing
@@MattyMonk Perfect!
@@MattyMonkOr, we all just say "hello and welcome to auto shenanigans, how the devil are you?, have you had a good week?".
That old chap was strolling on down to The Clansman to catch up with his pals
7:47 Is that a yellow racing car in amongst the usual traffic? Perhaps it's driver is looking for the missing world class racing circuit.
Those pyramids along the M8, after driving past numerous times I convinced my family that this is where the UK stored all its nuclear weapons 😂
Shuhhhh Thats suppose to be a secret!
😂👏
Nah, it's a haggis reserve. "Officially". 🤪
@@MikeMakesUK And the pyramids are to make it easier to catch them. Since the haggis has shorter left legs than right legs they're fine walking round the pyramids anticlockwise, but if you startle them so they turn around they'll roll down the slope into your nets.
There are nukes *genuinely* stored off a motorway junction, dealt with in an earlier episode - ua-cam.com/video/KiuH4SA9bWc/v-deo.html
If they had been in the northwest of England all you'd see would be tyre Mark's and a burnt out scrambler edge of shot 😂
Is that a single seater racing car on the slip road at around 7:45 🤔
Great film as always 👍
I saw that too. I didn't think there would be road legal ones. At that point it'd be a bit crap as a race car too
Yep, noticed it as well
Proof positive that for some, the M8 is a road, and to others, a Scalextric track...
Yup it is indeed a single seater F1 style kit car, the owner uses it regularly as a daily driver and brings it to local car meets, I seen it quite often
Thank Christ.... Genuinely thought I was seeing things for a minute....
I tell you one thing absolutely no-one calls it Heart of Scotland services, It's Harthill and will always be.
I love the honesty and slight sarcasm...." the junction was by all accounts shite"😂😂😂
Engineers will love that😅
It was indeed shite and dangerous. Coming north from East Kilbride the route from the A725 onto the main route to Edinburgh was a right turn across a very busy road onto a two way single carriagway slip road that was also taking the eastbound exit from the A8.
Will there be a part 2? The abandoned Glasgow Ring Road, abandoned Marhyill motorway, ghost junctions and bridges to nowhere. These are all worth a mention.
I'm sure there will - there'd be no complete Scotland Motorway Series without covering the M8 through the centre of Glasgow!
Thinking of Woodside, Charing X, Anderston, Kingston and Plantation - bring it on! It was my favorite motorway as a child!
Lol right, i was like, wait a minute, the m8 continues!!
To be fair he's still to finish the M6, so maybe he's got some master plan of what ones he wants to finish the series off with.
I thought the same but then who could blame him for but wanting to hang about Glasgow 🤷🏻♀️
M8 part 2, 3 and 4 please! There’s far too much insanity in a mile and a bit in Glasgow to make just one extra video about.
When the project of Motoway art was being discussed on the BBC, West Lothian to Lanarkshire was described as MAMBA country: miles and miles of bugger all
Oh no you forgot the teletubby horn along from the heartlands
I didn't.. be sure to subscribe so you dont miss that video :D
The Forrestburn hillclimb is where the opening shots of the Volvo rolling in "Deadwater Fell" were shot. The Volvo actually rolled clean over and landed safely back on it's wheels, and had to be put back on it's roof to match the script!
Volvos (or saabs for that matter) can be crashed with safety, you brush them off and carry on.
I vaguely remember a programme on BBC1 in the 1970s hosted by James Burke who was explaining the situation with a large model of Glasgow and it explaines how the absolute knightmare transpired. I have no idea I'd any of the programme survived.
It'll be buried in an archive somewhere no doubt
I've never seen it since evn on bbc4 I wonder if it was wiped they seemed to do that in the early 70,'s. I remember it was set in an office block quite high up with a public audience participating building the layout and then explaining how it all went wrong because those in power changed their minds at the last moment which meant bits didn't join up and the roads in the city were having to cope with traffic they were not supposed to. What you would all this days a massive planning cock up.
The first Krispy Kreme in Scotland was at the Edinburgh end of the M8 and when it opened it caused havoc with traffic.
M6 North of Warrington yet?
Coming very soon.
You can see how confusing the M8 is, there’s a racing car lost in Glasgow after taking a wrong turn at the hill climb circuit 😂
7:45 - yeah, poor bastard realised he was in Glasgow and made a beeline for the exit ramp, but the shite junction layout meant he just looped back on himself...🤦♂️...😂👍🇦🇺
I spotted that! I immediately paused the video to come straight to the comments to see if anyone else had clocked it.
Thought i was going mad for a second. Glad somebody else clocked it
We need a video about that yellow mystery car.
What if that car has been in every video and you are the first one to spot it?
The highlight of my Sundays. Before the long dark teatime of the soul before work on monday.
7:44 Why is there what seems to be a yellow F1 car coming up the slip road???? 😂😂
I was just about to ask this!!
The reason I'm in the comments is about this.
I had to rewind to watch that bit again!
Why and where was it going??
Let's hear it for the Jordan Team!!!
Remember the distinctive F1 Jordan cars in a couple of decades back?
@@luxorjr Westbound on the M8, apparently.
We have similar pyramid-shaped "art" near our highways.
We call them "landfills."
These ones were probably a homage to the pit bings of West Calder.
The other thing about the art pieces is that at the time the Infrastructure for the town was being done by the Livingston Development Corporation, which was set up by the government to build the town up. Giving the Council (Which was West Lothian since Livingston never had its own council because of said corporation) the money was always kind of pointless so the little roundabout decorations came instead.
The plans for a Motorsport Centre were to include Hotels, entertainment , restaurants, etc. Jackie Stewart was also involved it in. They were also considering building a new National Football stadium to replace Hampden in Glasgow. Glasgow District Council took fright at the loss of this from Glasgow and refused to even talk about in. This caused others to withdraw and the whole thing fell apart
What a shame!
Been waiting for this one. Travel it daily and it's nice to see it done. Also, noticed there appears to be a randon F1 car on the junction 15 part.
Glad you saw it too I thought I was going mad. Yellow one on a slip road.
Came here to type the same thing! Thought I’d gone mental!
Yes, I spotted that as well.................@7:43
The Forrestburn circuit failed because of a lack of money, and also there was significant local opposition, leading to some people refusing to sell their land to accommodate the circuit. This was also the reason for the extensive re-drafting of the layouts as the circuit was trying to route around land that it could not obtain.
The hillclimb was also used in the remake of The 39 Steps. It was run in the reverse direction, and you can see the giant aerial towers at Kirk o'Shotts, which would definitely not have been visible at the time.
Interesting fact, J7: coming off the A725 onto the A8 eastbound was wicked, about 100 yards of slip road on a bend and you had to go from a few mph up to motorway speed... it was always a heart-pumping moment trying to get onto the A8 in such a short piece of road!
It was never that much fun coming off the M8 onto the A725 in the other direction.: ua-cam.com/video/FOfCLnIsB0I/v-deo.html
@@dxg999 Yeah, remember that well using that exit to nip down to the M74 southbound. The whole thing was a mental mess of roads. But I really hated that return trip, a right turn and follow the sweeping left leading to the 100 yards of go-go-now! tarmac.
Not to mention coming from Coatbridge towards Bellshill and the immediate merging of two lanes right after the north side roundabout, as there were dual carriageways either side, but only room for three lanes over the bridge. Whoever designed that was clearly a huge fan of road rage.
Westbound junction 27 is pretty nasty too. Trying to get onto the viaduct can be a game of Russian Roulette at times
7:45 why does it look like there is a Jordan F1 car using the sliproad at junction 15 😂
Harthill services (no one calls it Heart of Scotland) is the only services I have come across where there is no charge for staying longer than 2 or 3 hours.
The Pyramids have poppies painted on them in November - the grazing sheep (cheaper than grasscutters) don't seem to mind
He missed the Teletubby horn just after junction 4a on the south side in polkemet park.
or did he..... watch this space.
I love the fact you left the chap casually walking past you. Just added to the whole experience 😂
We might as well try and get some enjoyment out of it :D It's also once less edit/cut to make.
Forrestburn's a brilliant wee venue but it almost seems to be a secret. You'd think it's just for races but they do trackdays too and it works great even though it's not a full lap, you can loop back round and get out again pretty fast. Cheap day out and if you keep going all day you get a lot of track time on a lovely technical circuit and never need to worry about other cars on track. Brilliant place for a first time on track.
We need to find someone on the inside of Auto Shenanigans that we can bribe to find Jon’s timetable / Plans.
That way, we can share it between us all to be “that person” who walks past during filming 🤣🤣🤣
Brilliant as always.thank you.
I dont even know myself half the time where I'll be.
Always enjoy passing the pyramids on the M8 especially around rememberance day as i am sure they have a poppy on them as well.
Never heard them being called Sawtooth’s before,everyone calls it The Pyramids
Please fellow M8 travellers. Can you get out of lane 2 unless overtaking. Thanks
This is just a message for all motorways.
@@aoxby8037 indeed. M8 is infuriating. People see a Lorry a mile in the distance, pull out and try and overtake at 60mph..
Don't get me started...
@@AutoShenanigans Thank you for all the content. Love the videos!
They used to graze sheep on the Pyramids, the animals wool was dyed in novelty colours. Also, just past Harthill the Kirk o' Shotts transmitter towers are a landmark along the M8
They still appear every now and then.
Blackhill you mean, Kirk O' Shotts is the smaller one that stands alone further along.
Also missing is the "Save the M8 Church "landmark aswell coming from the east thats when I knew was getting close to Glasgow when was younger
@@michaelporteous3083 Kirk o Shotts church as it's really known was saved long ago by lottery grant.
Lots of other art along the M8 - the ‘Tellytubbies’ trumpets, the Clydesdale Horse at Easterhouse
Hello Jon, the Heart of Scotland services, you mentioned the park and ride. What you didn't mention is, Scottish Citylink route 900, Glasgow to Edinburgh, which during the day runs every 15 minutes, calls into Heart of Scotland both ways, for passengers in Harthill. A rare example in Scotland of a coach route calling in at a motorway services. rare, because two bus routes call in at Kinross on the M90, Stagecoach East Scotland routes 201 and 202. The construction of the M8 motorway, and the plan by what was then the Scottish Bus Group express division (now Citylink), for an express coach service linking Edinburgh and Glasgow using the M8, was what led to the Scottish Region of British Rail upgrading their Edinburgh - Glasgow Queen Street express service, upgrading from 60mph DMUs to 2x class 27 locomotives, one each end of a rake of six Mk2 coaches, running at a top speed of 90mph, reducing the journey time by 27 minutes, from 75 minutes to 48 minutes. I wrote about this in 2013 for Traction magazine, looking at the 1971-1979 push pull trains.
No bus services call into Kinross services. Abington services is only other with bus services
You missed the Horn installation just after junction 4a on the Westbound carriageway, it actually looks like something from the set of the Telly Tubbies.
I began to wonder if it had been removed.
It's still there, didnt miss it, just saving it for another day.
I'm not gonna lie, it feels like I've been waiting my whole life for the M8 one
Saved the best til last!
You missed the original junction at Whitburn where the origiginal M8 from West termitated prior to thge section to Edinburgh being constructed in the 70's
There are lots of artworks along the M8 now, not just the pyramids. There's the big horse, the brick heads, the teletubbies...
You missed the massive horn sculpture Near Heartlands services, it used to play music until the locals complained
Another fab video - thanks Jon! The image at 0:54 might be from the "Abercrombie Plan" which was drawn up as long ago as 1948. The plan included demolishing all the buildings on Princes Street and making the street itself into a double-deck roadway. The whole of the rest of the city centre would be turned into the roadway hellscape shown on the 1967 map. That plan blighted big areas of the city well into the late 1980s. Flats in Tollcross, where the huge roundabout is in the bottom Centre of the map, were worth about 500 quid in the 1970s because there was still the possibility that they would be demolished.
Those flats were also in dire need of modernising, hence the price. You could only buy them if you had a solid plan on how they would be turned into something actually livable going forwards - quite a lot of the city centre went for a song on that basis (the grassmarket, lawn-garden and so on were much the same). It took a while, but those flats are now worth ~1,000 times what they were bought for.
The Glasgow plan was known as the Bruce plan
Yet again visiting close to my ‘gaff’ but you never call or let me know you are in the area..
YOU DON’T LOVE ME ANYMORE!
Anyhoo after my emotional outburst yet another interesting haunt around the local area.. keep these coming and ONE day I will video bomb a video..
Hopefully there’s a a part 2 for this since you’ve missed out some of the most interesting bits of motorway design in the UK going through Glasgow.
The next junction after you stopped has 2 slip roads from a junction merging onto the motorway from the centre of the carriageway and then M74, M77 and M8 all running parallel after the Kingston bridge.
Yes. The Kingston bridge is essential
I remember being a relatively new driver and driving through Glasgow and suddenly find myself merging onto the M8 straight into the fast last. Terrifying. I’d guess this is perhaps the only example of a merge into the fast lane? Or at least one of very few. Would like to see this covered in a part 2. Not least to ensure I didn’t just imagine it.
@@gordonjohnston8321I think that's still there, not technically a fast lane any more as it's 50 all the way through the worst of it but there's at least one merge onto the right lane that I can think of.
Oh man, that parallel motorway stretch really threw me when I was heading back home to Manchester after a holiday in Glencoe. I managed to get so confused I missed the M74 junction and had to drive round the M77 and through the centre of Glasgow in order to get back to it. Took me ages!
@@gordonjohnston8321 That slipway has been "under repair" now for several years along with the rest of the section between Townhead and Charing Cross, so difficult for him to cover it. Pity, because it is nuts and is matched by an exit slipway from the outside lane at Townhead (which is still open)
The Monkland Canal fascinates me. It’s still piped along the embankment between Easterhouse and Fort Dundas as it’s supply of water is vital to the operation of the Forth and Clyde Canal. It has open sections between Calderbank (where it is fed from the North Calder Water) and Carnbroe, before being piped, then again between Coatbridge and Bargeddie, but at Bargeddie it vanishes into a pipe for the last time and under the motorway embankment until Port Dundas, where it spews out at a watersports centre. In the centre of Coatbridge, there is an interesting art piece where the canal formerly passed under the railway (now in pipe at a slightly deeper level), a big plug hole, complete with removed plug.
And, if you have images of a vast underwater canal tunnel, like those found in Paris, think again, it’s just a big iron pipe.
Thanks John, didn't know about our local hill climb track💛🍻
Due to the lack of trees and vegetation, it's one of the better ones to be a spectator at, as you can see so much of the track from one position.
Thanks for watching!
Sometimes in the USA, public work projects have a set aside of 10% of the budget for art. A guy I know got a contract to make decorative concrete pillars for the decorative fencing on overpasses on a highway in Kansas City. On Streetview, you can see some where The Paseo crosses over US 71. The neighborhoods along there are blighted, so it helps by not adding the usual ugly freeway design.
Great summary, Jon. As someone who has lived within the traffic noise between J4a and J5 for most of my life, it's good to see it like this. I remember the night Harthill's new bridge was lifted into place. They shut the M8 for an hour roughly to do it.
Pretty slick operation, the bridge was built off site wasnt it?
@@AutoShenanigans Yes it was fabricated elsewhere. Then lowered into position. Quite a crowd gathered on the BP forecourt that night.
1:00 "We'd've found the M8 extending further to the west, right into the middle of Edinburgh."
I'm glad I'm not the only person who can't tell the difference between east and west when looking at a map. I don't know why I always get it wrong...
East/West... yep I always mess that up.
Is that a lost yellow F1 car joining the motorway at 7:44 😂
I don't know, but everybody is talking about it.
Fun fact about that wee yellow f1 car, it’s owned by a fella in the north east. I remember bumping into him taking it off the back a trailer; said he bought it from a scrapyard or something and uses it now just to drive about in 7:45
Excellent credit sequence- Loch Lomond is an absolute belter of a tune
I like the recurring theme: there were plans, there were more plans, none of which of course were built :-)
Prior to upgrade the junctions from A725 at Coatbridge were a nightmare.
7:44 is that a formula one racing car on that slip road? 0.o
😲
How do we not have a definitive answer to this yet?
Those sawtooth ramps are next to Pyramid studios (which is visible in the satellite image you use). Fun fact: that’s where they filmed Good Omens. They built a huge set on the soundstage that basically was full size streets.
I’m glad you called the so called pyramids that the people wrongly call them by the correct name the sawtooth
Loads of things have been filmed in the studio there, which used to be in the Motorola plant. I was an extra in Outlaw King there, and the uberhun pub scene in Trainspotting 2 was filmed there.
Also got my first 2 Covid jags in that building.
@@gordon1545 Are they E-Type jags or F-Type?
@@I_Don_t_want_a_handle C-type f course. The salesman was a nurse.
@@stevekelly5166 ha ha and the alleged nurse was a cabin steward or hairdresser anyone they could find unemployed and dumb enough to not understand they were liable for culpable manslaughter when a patient died after injecting them with the poison 📌😂😂😂😂
This is the episode I've been waiting for.
As I again observe the sheer mess of Junction 15, it reminds me how you've occasionally mentioned the tightening of motorway regulations over the years. After filming the majority of motorways across GB, would there be enough material to make another video, telling the story of how and why the rules have changed?
My favourite bit of the M8 is when you traffic coming in on the right hand side. What fun!
Yep, absolutely terrifying joining especially when despite it being a 50 through that section everyone’s doing more like 80
Yeah, I recall coming down that slip road the first time and unexpectedly finding myself in the outside lane and being undertaken at crazy speeds. Madness!
Whaaat?!
Good stuff, thanks M8 🙂
How did this get me to laugh 😅
Casual single seat racecar at 7:43 - nice!
I take it there’s a part two coming? Glasgow to Langbank?
There’s some landmarks or history worth mentioning along this stretch. For instance the site of the former Pinkston Power Station a little ways past Jnc 15 that powered the city’s tram network in the early to mid 20th century and dominated the Glasgow skyline with its tall cooling tower, for a time the tallest in Europe. It ended up outliving the trams it powered by 16 years and was demolished in 1978.
Later on when the motorway crosses the Clyde one can see the iconic Finnieston Crane.
After that you’ve got Glasgow Airport (scene of the world’s pettiest terrorist attack in 2007 infamously made fun of by Billy Connolly). Aways further on close to Jncs 29A and 30 is Bishopton and the former site of a Royal Ordnance Depot.
Just a few things I figured worth mentioning in a part 2 should you make it. 😊
Could do a whole episode just on the mess that is 20/21/22.
I was waiting for the Dumbarton Castle drone shot.
There's also the straight section that was the runway of the original airport...
I hope pt2 is coming. Otherwise bit of an abrupt end
@@dxg999That and Tesco in Renfrew built on the terminal building site.
There are also pyramids when you come off the M8 at the Crowood roundabout between Stepps and Muirhead.
7:46 - the F1 car is a commomly seen on the streets of Glasgow
We need more coverage of that thing.
Really hoping for a part two to this . Most notably, the section on the M8 between J26 and J27. Used to be a runway
There is a part 2 :)
Sawtooth? Never heard it called that in thousands of passes over daily commute. Always the toblerone to us. And what the heck is that yellow thingy at 7:42?
Yeah, seriously, what _is_ that thing?
The official name is Sawtooth Ramps, but most go with "Pyramids"
I like those art pieces.
It's a difficult thing to get right, but make anything out of stone and you can't really go wrong.
It's very expensive though, but it lasts forever
101,000 subscribers and rising! go John go!
Totally fascinating to see the original plans for both ends of the M8. I was unaware the original plan for the Edinburgh section was to run right through to Haymarket, the phantom "Glasgow Ring Road' being a bit more famous and was even physically signposted until the late 1990s.. Is interesting to consider both what Edinburgh would be like had they ploughed a motorway through it Glasgow style, and also what Glasgow would have looked like had the M8 terminated outside the city like in Edinburgh. Is probable the M8 was the biggest thing in both 20c Glasgow AND Edinburgh planning, but for the differing reasons of acceptance and refusal. A tale of two cities..and the traffic's awful in both.
Errm, Is that a yellow F1 style car driving about the slip road at time stamp 7:43 ?
Nobody seems to know.
Really appreciate people like yourself making excellently produced, high quality videos about niche shit like this. Made for an excellent and satisfying watch. I wouldn't be arsed to even go, let alone make a video this good about it
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Jon's channel is doing so well, he is now hiring extras to walk into shot. 😉
No need to pay for such things, the public do a reliable job.
I have no idea why I'm watching this but it's great. Especially when he said 'shite'. Nearly spat out my beans on toast.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Great video as always M8! 👍
Thanks m8
The saw-tooth ramps are a wonderful, understated artwork that fit perfectly into its location, alongside the west bound carriageway, as it nears it end.
A hillclimb track with a concrete barrier halfway up. Quite the challenge!
That's to stop us folks in nearby villages having unofficial runs when there are no events on.
Missed opportunities there at Junction 15. The west bound exit takes you to the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow Cathedral and the old Blind Asylum. All amazing buildings and great landmarks.
Jon why didn't you talk about the horn on the left side of the M8. Also we have part 2 coming up next week!
Dalziel and Scullion, environmental artists - it's a shame the horn didn't really work but a nice idea.
We want the horn
I will give you the horn at some point, I promise. hang on a minute...
Right so we get the horn on Wednesday?
Thank you, Jon. I can take my nap now, got my Auto Shenanigans' fix. Have a great week.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Brilliant as always. Suspected this might need to be a multi-parter, due to the Central Glasgow section having more junctions per mile than is in any way sane...
All that lovely art work! Just what you need when you are wizzing through a city giving all of it's little children asthma!
Absolutely.
Brilliant as always John always full of humour and facts. I bet a lot of your followers are truckers like me. 👍
Thanks a lot mate! Yes I think so!
jon, your full of 😮😮 information , humour and brutal honesty, your presentation style is what keeps us clicking for more 😀😀
Thanks a lot mate!
As someone who has spent many years driving the whole length of the M8 (and most of the other motorways in Scotland), it’s a shame there were no sheep on the pyramids the day you were there. They’re usually dyed bright pink, red or even rainbow coloured.
Also you missed some of the motorway art, like the Teletubby horn in Polkemmet Country Park, near J4. Apparently it plays sounds (poetry?) for the passing traffic, but I’ve stood at the base of it and couldn’t hear anything. Maybe it’s broken. Or the heavy horse at Baillieston.
Or the joy of some of the junctions in Glasgow, where you either drive alongside the motorway for ages, almost in touching distance, before you’re allowed to merge, or exits that come off on the right hand lane and then cross flyovers, or the remains of many mysterious looking slip roads, bridges and stretches of tarmac that are blocked off and go nowhere. Or is there going to be a part 2 covering Glasgow to Greenock?
The teletubby thing used to play (I recall music at one point.). However to be loud enough to be heard by drivers it was VERY loud for the local residents who complained. Considering it was on 24/7.
If the teletubby horn plays poetry, I hope its something by McGonnagle ? 😉
@@Kevin-mx1vi 😂
PETA kicked off every time the "dipped" coloured sheep were put on the Motorola pyramids to mow the grass, a shame really as I thought they were cool. The farmer regularly defended the decision saying they weren't harmed or stressed in the process.
I agree there's room for another episode to mention the plans that the Glasgow stretch of M8 might have become the first freeway in the UK to allow overtaking in any lane since there were on and off ramps on the "right" side of the motorway.
No mention either of all the dead-end slips including the bottom of the Kingston bridge where the recovery vehicles camp out now. Or even the 50m stretch of motorway above the M8 that had buildings at both ends, that eventually got turned into an office block after the millennium.
Yeah, but it's Vogon Poetry...
we need a full version of the scottish theme, it's amazing!
It's not bad is it :D
Thanks Jon. That explains the eastern end which I always though as a bit of a gulux connecting to the Edinburgh by-pass at right angles and usually causing queues in all directions. Glasgow end I knew something of as it had featured on a TV program about urban motorways and how only a few bits had ever got built (not only in this country!) leaving us with bits of disjointed roads and continuations to nowhere. Talking Heads where are you now? 😀
Thanks for watching!
Junction 15 is unique in that the slip roads on the west side linking to the southern section of the A803 involve drivers joining and leaving the motorway from the outside fast lane. Probably one of the most dangerous junctions on the entire UK motorway network.
I can confirm they made a complete horses arse of the Bellshill bypass. I have used this stretch for many years and thebold system worked way better. The road they built adjoining the north road is a death trap, looking forward to part 2 Jon!!
Drove up that for the first time the other day.. took me a solid 20 seconds to work out the junction 😅😂
Until this series I had no idea there were this many motorways in Scotland, particularly around Glasgow!
Same for me mate!
Tbh, you've covered so many roads that link with the M8 I thought you'd already done it! Harthill services used to be a bit more substantial on the north side, which was another use for the footbridge, however, I recall it being a bit of a greasy spoon and in decline for some years. Cheers
Harthill was a bit better in the 80s. You could at least get something to eat. It went downhill though, mainly because most traffic is not doing a long enough distance to warrant a stop there.
As crap service stations go, Harthill/Heart of Scotland is the crappest.
Harthill used to be a great little services in the 80s/90s when Road Chef owned it. There was a proper sit-down restaurant that would serve you a beautiful big plate of chips for a quid, a small but select choice of arcade games (Fighting Vipers!) and a decent little shop selling the usual motorway services fare. They used to put on Christmas concerts in the entrance area with local kids singing carols and playing instruments, and it even featured as a location in the ITV morning kids show Ghost Train in the late 80s!
It’s absolutely nothing like it used to be now, in fact Heart of Scotland barely qualifies as a service station imo… a Wild Bean Cafe does not a motorway services make 😉
Thanks for the entertaining uploads, and congratulations on your recent 100k!
Thanks a lot mate, I really appreciate that
Fantastic video once again John. Wish I could thank you more for your dedication and how much effort you put into making these videos.
Hope you are well and I look forward to another episode. 😊
Thanks a lot mate!
Might be worth a revisit to do a video about middle lane drivers. No matter what time of night, no matter how empty the road, you can guarantee someone is there driving on the middle lane (M8 west, Junction 8, 7).
The pyramids sometimes have sheep grazing - on occasion, they have been dyed pink
colorful sheep are likely unrelated to the art-it’s a common anti theft measure
I assume you mean the sheep, not the pyramids!?
@7:46 there seems to be a yellow single seater on the slip road 😆😳😮
There does!
Hi Jon, will you be covering the A167(M) central motorway in Newcastle at any point?
Probably will yes.
Love the racing car on slip road @ 7:48
Hello Jon, how the devil are you, have you had a good week?
My mother’s postcode is one of three addresses and Harthill service station is one of them my dad was born on the other side of forrestburn reservoir
Thee M8 has another very rare feature, slip roads exiting on the right.
Update
And it is in episode 2!
M60 J25 has a slip road joining on the right, which results in slow lorries coming from a roundabout merging into the outside lane.
Yep, a very silly idea if you ask me.
Intentionally humorous and interesting
Thanks mate!