New Glasgow shipbuilding museum wants to get on the right railway track
THE Ship Yard Trust, formed by a group of maritime history experts and enthusiasts, is planning a state-of-the-art £80 million museum to celebrate the work of the Clydeside shipbuilding yards – and it wants to install a railway presence.
At their height in the early 1900s, 19 yards employed 70,000 workers and turned out one-fifth of all ships built globally.
However, the yards could not have functioned without railways, which brought in raw materials and workers, used standard and narrow gauge tracks to move components around internally, and were connected to a variety of goods yards and street tramways.
Ship Yard Trust trustee Gil Paterson said: “We want this exciting new museum to be interactive and to include all aspects of the heritage of the Clydeside shipyards. Railways are very much part of that story.
“The location is still to be determined, as is exactly what we will display and how we will display items, but we are determined that this won't be a ‘look-and-see' museum – it will really involve visitors from all walks of life. We may well include a working railway.
“We are currently consulting on what the project should look like, and we'd be delighted to hear the views of Heritage Railway readers, as well as receiving any memories, photographs and artefacts anyone has of the railways that served the Clydeside yards. We can be reached by e-mail at contact@theshipyard.scot, and we would like to hear as wide a range of views as possible.”
Survivor
The trust has noted the existence of former Fairfield Engineering English Electric steeple-cab locomotive No. 1131 of 1940 as a possible runner. It is currently housed in the Museum of Scottish Railways at Bo'ness, and connected Fairfield's shipyard with Govan goods station, running along tram tracks on Govan Road, hauling wagons carrying steel plate and components.
The locomotive operated until 1965, using trolleybus overhead wires to take its power after 1958, when the trams were withdrawn.
Donated to the fledging Scottish Railway Preservation Society after withdrawal, the Type 3B locomotive was originally based at its Falkirk depot, where it was occasionally operated using batteries on open days.
Its use was also considered on surviving tracks within the Fairfield yard as part of the Fairfield Govan Heritage project, which opened in 2014, but although the tracks were repaired, the railway part of the heritage project failed to get off the ground.
Trustee Tom McKendrick, who served as a lotfsman in John Brown's, Clydebank and is now a well-known artist specialising in engineering heritage, said: “The railway theme is a strong one when you're recalling the story of the Clydeside shipyards for, as well as the yards using railways during ship construction, they also built ships for railway companies such as Denny Bros of Dumbarton, who built many of the Clyde steamers, as well as ferries for railway companies, while PS Waverley, built for LNER by Inglis & Co at Pointhouse, on the site of the current Riverside Museum, is, of course, still with us.”
Tom and Gil stressed that the new museum's location would depend on the results of the consultation, while the board of trustees is determined to work positively and co-operatively with all current museums and enthusiast bodies involved in maritime, railway and industrial heritage to bring the story of Clyde shipbuilding to life.”
Visit www.theshipyard.scot for more details.