This article is about Germiston in Glasgow, Scotland. For the Germiston in South Africa, see Germiston, Gauteng

Germiston, Gauteng

Germiston is a city in the East Rand of Gauteng in South Africa. Germiston is now the seat of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality which includes much of the East Rand, and is also considered part of Greater Johannesburg.-History:...

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Germiston is a district

District

Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...

 in the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 city of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. It is situated north of the River Clyde

River Clyde

The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....

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The area forms part of the suburb of Springburn

Springburn

Springburn is an inner city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, home to various working and middle-class households.Springburn developed from a small rural hamlet at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its industrial expansion began with the establishment of a chemical...

 for political purposes, but is more commonly referred to as part of the Royston corridor,its location midway between Blackhill & Garngad earns it a position as the 'wee sister' of both of those larger neighbourhoods.
The recent construction of new private housing injected some much needed life into what was a decaying area, combined with new developments on the old railway yards on Royston road, have done much to breathe new life into the area.

During Glasgow's growth during the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

, it was a vital part of the city's locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

 manufacturing industry, as well as sitting upon a major railway junction. Germiston Works, one of such locomotive factories was sold onto the Cape Asbestos Company

Cape plc

Cape plc is a United Kingdom energy services company based in Uxbridge, West London. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.- History :The company was founded in 1893 as the Cape Asbestos Company with the objective of mining asbestos in the Orange Free State and importing it into European...

, who used it to manufacture fireproof insulation materials. The plant still exists to this day, under the ownership of Promat, and now uses the safer Calcium Silicate

Calcium silicate

Calcium silicate is the chemical compound Ca2SiO4, also known as calcium orthosilicate and sometimes formulated 2CaO.SiO2. It is one of group of compounds obtained by reacting calcium oxide and silica in various ratios e.g. 3CaO.SiO2, Ca3SiO5; 2CaO.SiO2, Ca2SiO4; 3CaO.2SiO2, Ca3Si2O7 and...

 for such material.

A narrow gauge underground railway used to exist at Germiston, however the majority of the path it once took as now been "filled-in" to develop the land for house building. The tunnel, which runs from Darnick Street Tunnel to Royston Road Forge Street has long since fallen into disuse. The Tunnel, known locally as the "Blind Tunnel", access is not the experience it one was, thanks to new lighting. It is often confused with an adjacent tunnel that has now been blocked completely by metal fencing to ensure no unauthorised access to the local Provan gas Works. The underground railway from Germiston was used to transport coke

Coke (fuel)

Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...

 to nearby Provan Gas Works

Provan Gas Works

Provan Gas Works is an industrial gas holding plant in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The plant is in the Provanmill area of the city, and was built by Glasgow Corporation between 1900 and 1904...

 for the manufacture of gas

Methane

Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...

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