The Hidden Glasgow Forums

I paid a visit last week and as previously stated it's too busy to form a proper opinion however the only aspect I liked of the external part of building is it's nod to the SECC in the zig zag design and the Tall Ship reflected in the glass on the Clydeside.
The layout inside was a bit flat- design wise and a bit packed in especially the bit btw the Street and the cafe - which I didn't dare to go too. The Street was a bit bland too a bit more imagination needed with the re creation of the internal part of the shops. The best example I've ever seen is the Victorian Village in Flambards Cornwall and the London Dungeon.
The historical reinactment market is a field of models and manufactured smells
Why not have people (out of work actors) dressed in uniforms etc walking around the place or sitting in the subway train. I know it's not a theme park however a little more imagination to attract the young and not just the nostalgic or the transport buff.

Just back from my first visit and have to say despite some of the opinions in this thread I actually quite enjoyed it. Layout wise - didn't really know which way to go next - it was a very random wander around but it's a bang up to date museum and clearly very popular with the masses given how busy it was. However, the kids really enjoyed it and I'll definitely return at a later date.

The biggest let-down of the day wasn't the museum but the behaviour of people in their quest to find an all-important parking space for the car. In fact, today was a first for seeing woman and children standing in empty spaces waiting for their car-driving counterparts to arrive through the chaos. One woman told me that the space she was standing in was taken. I politely apologised and explained I never realised that was how car parking worked these days. Reminded me of an argument I had with a couple in Morrisons in EK a few years ago when it appeared that you were supposed to queue at the checkout with one or two items whilst waiting for your other half to jump the queue with the rest of the shopping.

Anyway, coming back to topic, there's a strip of land with free parking closer to the SECC and only a few minutes walk to the museum.

I had a short visit to Riverside Museum on Sunday morning.

BLOODY BRILLIANT !!!!!!!!!

I am sure a lot of the negative comments are valid in their own context. But I loved it.

Serious enjoyment from kids talking (yes talking) with their Mum & Dad about what they were seeing, had a great laugh with a bunch of pensioners at the model ships, took all the wrong photos and wished I had the whole day and the place was twice the size !

Bravo.

yeh Dave that's the problem the place should have been at least twice the size then all the cars and Motorbikes would have been on the ground and we''d have been able to have look at them inside and out, as it was most of the bikes and cars wre out of view, and when I was there some little B**gar was playing with the ship display and would let anyone else on to the controls to look at a particular boat/ship. All I could see was the undersides of the boats flying past at a rate of knots.

Just back in from the Seafood Festival Weekend at Riverside - excellent! Totally pigged out on the free samples and spent a fortune on the fish and seafood.

Had a walk through the museum and thoroughly enjoyed it, chatted with a couple of older ladies who were captivated with the 'Tram Dancing' video presentation, so I went and watched it and it was very good in my opinion. I love how they used one of the tram windows to show the projection on, struck a real note with me.

All in all a good day out.

I honestly can’t fault the new museum. Parts are certainly quite cramped when busy and the car parking is inadequate. But overall, a big improvement on the Kelvin Hall. My favourite feature are the stunning views of the Clyde from the large windows.

I do have question though. Why is Jackie Stewart’s F1 Tyrell Ford now on display in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh? This was always my favourite single exhibit. Have we returned it to our cousins in the capital after a loan period or have the thievin’ east coast bastards nicked it from us?

Seems to be on loan to MoS.

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/nation ... 1_car.aspx

darrel wrote:
There are a lot of exhibits that have nothing at all to do with transport what is a
zebra doing there? Yet there are many transport exhibits no longer there the model
of the blue train for example.

I have made hundreds of visits since I was young but I will never be back again.
Whoever is responsible for this complete shambles and waste of money should be
sacked I could have done a better job for half the price.

Went along at the weekend on the back of the Seafood Festival. Mobbed, but not too bad to not be able to see anything. I had been several times during construction, so hadn't seen the zebra, but even the quickest look at the exhibits there, from behind a group of excited children and adults, it was easy to see that the zebra was tying in with the dazzle pattern ship models on the other side of the glass case. So it was teaching about the link between nature and the origin of camouflage. If someone comes away with a new bit of knowledge I think this is better than 'the model of the blue train' being plonked out as at the old museum.

Perhaps it is only a complete shambles in your mind because you are approaching it from the position that nothing should have changed from the old place, and all exhibits that were there should now be here in the new place?

Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Preservation Group and Strathclyde Fire & Rescue have a show at Riverside this weekend, some nice appliances there, about 20 in total.

A couple of World War Two Austin Auxiliary Towing Units really caught my eye, as did the Glasgow Fire Service 'Scoosher'.

A bit damp to begin with, but picked up as the afternoon went on - it must have been good, I'm at home now nursing a pair of sore feet!

Paid a vist wednesday along with my daughter and her partner.............huge disappointment!

I spotted me a Springbok, Zebra, caseful of pistols and not to forget..... Audrey Hepburn's dress. Would much rather have seen the Royal Coach, Atlantean LA1, The trolley bus TBS13 and Jackie Stewart's car among other things. The wall of cars seemed a ridiculous idea. We were also left with the impression that the exhibits were installed last minute and in such a way that if you had planned a visit to compare the exhibits of a particular mode of traffic you'd be left skipping from one location to another...............the trams & model ships being two good examples.
I also found the Subway display a great dissapointment.
The whole affair looks like it's been put together by a group of people that have very little interest in Transport whatsoever, that coupled with the fact that they ignored local talent and bought in the design makes it all the more infuriating.
Another great chance blown by the city fathers.

I enjoyed the link of the zebra to the dazzle pattern ships - a particular interest of mine (camouflage, not so much the zebras although as I get older I do feel strangely drawn to them also)

I also thought the beast leaping out the way of the locomotive was a humourous touch that talks of the history of the machine on display.

See the thing is I enjoyed the displays. I had no particular interest in the exhibits before this, yet now am enthused by the prospect of going back. Yes, things are different from previous displays, but is that such an issue? What is the problem with approaching the layout from a different point of view? Instead of grouping all trams together, and all cars together, why not integrate them all? Is walking between exhibits such a problem that it invalidates the museum as a whole?

Transport didn't evolve, nor does it now exist, in a vacuum.

The problem I have with the new building & layout is that in my humble opinion things haven't improved. Fewer heavy transport exhibits, displays that would be better suited in the kelvingrove, attractions such as the subway station replaced by a very poor relation and a building costing upwards of £74,000,000 when they could have the taken over the whole of the Kelvin Hall, would that not have been a better deal? The commonwealth game venues would have taken up the slack produced by the loss of the sports arena surely. And all that before you even talk about the scandal of the ignoring of city based architects who could have given us another reason to be proud of the city!

My opinion isn't born out of a feeling of loss of an old friend, but more of a..........What The Fuck Is This!

Fair enough apple. If we take the moving location out of the equation for the minute, did the exhibits that were there not do it for you? Surely the whole thing wasn't ruined by the lack of some?

I am genuinely interested - not looking to attack or start a fight I have for years been bemused by the esteem in which the transport museum was held.

Having read a lot of the above posts, and with my visits to both the transoprt museum(s) and Kelvingrove. I feel that the situation can be presented thusly: The old transport museum was designed with the enthusiast more in mind. Just as the old Kelvingrove relied less on technology to tell a story, so the old transport museum relied upon the user to have a knowledge of context of exhibits.

The increasing prevelance of technology allows new museums to show and interact with the context / past / human relationships with an object, and when this is combined with a shift in focus of museum design you get the resulting split in oppinion.

Many of the people on this esemed forum who dont rate the new museum are knowlegable people who are aware of the basic facts surrounding items ((to borrow an example)I know what the decoration on the side of the ship is for so what do I need this zebra for, now where did this ship sale and how many people did it sleep?) and would be intersted in comparing items in groups, or reading technichal information.

The people who rate the new museum seem either to be families or people who lack the specialist knowledge of the above group. Families like to explore the connections between artefacts, whilst interactivity appeals to a younger generation.

You Cant please all of the people all of the time but at lease they have tried here.

Mr Sam

P.S. as a depressing footnote visit Kelvingrove to see the state of the interactive displays 5 years down the line...

I am all in agreement that generally, interactive displays are a steaming pile of gash.

I was also aware of the dazzle/zebra/camouflage/animal + nature connection but it was still interesting to see the full zebra there and then.

I do think you hit the nail on the head with the explanation. It is just interesting that personally, I don't have a family to drag round with me but have a fair bit of knowledge of the exhibits.

Cheers