Glasgow quayside crane transferred to heritage company for restoration

THE restoration of the 90-year-old Stobcross Crane, which once hoisted steam locomotives built in Glasgow from the quayside on to ships for worldwide export, has taken a significant step forward thanks to a transfer of ownership of the historic structure to the heritage-focused Big Cran Company.

Cranes are known as ‘crans' in Glaswegian patois. Owners Peel L&P have donated the crane to the community benefit company charged with restoring the structure to its former glory.

The Scottish Government has weighed in with a £452,000 grant from its Clyde Mission fund, to help the £7-million restoration, which includes a museum and visitor centre, telling the story of the riverside crane, as well as a restaurant at the base of the 152ft tall steel titan.

Constructed by Cowans & Sheldon and the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company in 1931, the crane, which dominates its Stobcross site, hoisted its last steam locomotive aloft in 1962, and has remained ever since as a powerful and locallyvalued reminder of Glasgow's locomotive-building past.

Big Cran Company chairman Alan Wilson said: “We are extremely grateful to Peel L&P for transferring the crane to our ownership.

"That, and the funding from the Scottish Government's Clyde Mission, will allow us to embark on carrying out essential repairs to allow us to progress to the first phase of turning the crane into an award-winning tourism and heritage attraction, as well as generating local jobs and playing our part in the post-Covid economy recovery.”

Consideration is to be given to stationing a Glasgow-built steam locomotive at the foot of the crane as a key feature of the museum. North British-built 8F No. 45170 was displayed there in 2014.

The museum will celebrate the engineering and maritime heritage of the crane and tell the story of how it played a key role in Clydeside's heavy engineering economy and maritime export trade, before becoming a powerful symbol of the city's railway engineering past.

Left: When the Scottish Railway Preservation Society unveiled its repatriated North British-built exTurkish State Railways Stanier 8F No. 45170 on November 13, 2014, it chose the crane as the venue, making the 2-8-0 the first locomotive to have been at the giant's foot for 52 years. The 1942-built locomotive is to be restored to working order for use on the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway after an exile of over 70 years. HUGH DOUGHERTY Below: An Indian State Railways YP class Pacific, one of 100 built by the North British Locomotive Company, is lifted by the Finnieston Crane on to a ship in 1952. GLASGOW MITCHELL LIBRARY/BIG CRAN COMPANY