With travel currently disrupted for millions as the biggest rail strike in decades ripples across the UK network, we look back to 1890 when striking Glasgow rail workers brought Scotland to a standstill at Christmas.
Just like their modern counterparts, rail workers in Glasgow in 1890 were fed up with working conditions and miniscule pay increases.
In those days, the majority of rail employees worked at one of three rival firms: the Caledonian, North British and Glasgow & South Western railway companies.
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These privately-owned juggernauts, who would dominate the industry for decades, were turning in vast profits towards the end of the 19th century as the number of Scots travelling by rail soared.
But while the fat cats continued getting plumper, the average engine driver, signalman and shunter was fed up with busting a gut for 14 and 15 hours on a pittance every single day. Some workers, it was found, were on shift for 20-30 hours at a stretch.
It was simple: the men wanted a 10-hour day.
In December 1890, Glasgow’s rail workers decided enough was enough and came together as one voice through their unions in what would become the largest rail strike ever witnessed in Scotland.
The general atmosphere in the city was certainly ripe for such a strike. Over the course of 1890 alone, Glasgow carters, seamen, tailors and journalists had all taken strike action.
Rail workers had also been threatening to strike since January, but months of wrangling with company directors delayed the inevitable.
Knowing their hand would be strengthened with Christmas fast approaching, the city’s rail workers realised it was now or never.
Picket lines were set up suddenly and without warning (according to contemporary media reports), on the morning of December 22, 1890.
And it wasn’t just Glasgow that was affected - workers in Edinburgh, Dundee and elsewhere had also joined the cause, sparking chaos across the country.
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On that first day, more than 4,500 workers abandoned their posts, with a further 5,000 joining them over the following four days. Passenger services immediately became late and irregular.
The Illustrated London News featured sketches of luggage piling up on the platforms of the city’s three main termini, Queen Street, Central and St Enoch, as travellers faced festive uncertainty.
Trade was affected too, with goods traffic almost non-existent and factories across the Central Belt ceasing production due to a shortage of coal.
The tense situation reached powder keg levels at Motherwell on January 5, when the Caledonian Railway Company terminated the contracts of striking workers who had only recently taken up employment with the firm. The decision meant many young families being forcibly evicted from their homes, which had been supplied by the railway company.
Caledonian bosses said it was their legal entitlement to sack the workers - but this was an irrelevance to the men on strike and their supporters in North Lanarkshire.
Incensed by the evictions, a hostile crowd of around 20,000 assembled to make their feelings clear. Riotous scenes erupted with protesters hurling rocks and causing damage to signal boxes on the railway lines. Mounted police and military were called upon to disperse the crowd, leaving a number of people injured.
The event was not without humour, however. In typical west coast of Scotland fashion, a group of youths commandeered an engine and began revolving it one way, then the other, on a turntable, much to the mirth and amusement of the gathered masses.
Following a six-week struggle, the Scottish rail strike ended on a positive note for the works, with the men winning their battle for better hours.
The Caledonian Railway Company also dropped all actions for damages at Motherwell Station and allowed most of the men who had been fired to return to their company homes.
