Clydebank Past & Present.

[The_Clincher]

Here are some pics i took on the Titan Crane at the former John Brown's Shipyard-
View of the lifting gear looking north east

View from the dockside

View looking downstream from the switchroom

View from the top of stairway 1

Main hoist switchgear

A look inside the operators cab

View from the turntable looking north east

[Sharon]

When and how did you get up the crane!???

Great photos!

[The_Clincher]

I was there on official business, Sharon My work (construction) takes me to such places....i will post some more when i shrink them etc
The site is protected by a barbed wire fence etc....but i had free reign by nature of business. Pics were taken today (14/7/04)

[The_Clincher]

Few more pics as promised.........

Looking north from left side of cab

Along the dockside looking west

The crane was built in 1905 by Sir William Arroll. 99 years young!(The Crane :))

[The_Clincher]

Few new pics here from my most recent visit-

View of the switch room from the turntable-


The Clincher at the Wheelhouse..155ft above The Clydeside!


Atop the crane-



View of a passing ship from from the crane-



View upstream from the crane-

[Pgcc93]

Good to see some pics taken from the top of a landmark structure.
Here's my contrabution of crane pics....it was a long way down
NB: Safety rope wrapped around accelerator

[crusty_bint]

Some Random pics of Clydebank........

- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh yes, Clydebank College, Ned Central.


By the way, have you been in one or two of the nearby pubs'??

Your pictures do not quite seem level somehow

[The_Clincher]

Couple of pics from John Brown's Yard in the 1930's....the Titan Crane from earlier posts in this thread are visible-

[Sylvia]

thanks..as with a lot ppl it seems, I think I have a fasination with tunnels! anyway...there is a pipe(large tho, bout 5 foot diameter), that runs through a hill at dalmuir park, altho not sure where it goes...

There is also the pedestrian tunnel under the railway line giving access to the park from the Glasgow Road area.Haven't been there for a while so don't know if its still open.
Clydebank library has a wonderful local history collection and is well worth visiting.
As a postscript to the posts about Singer's Clock,the actual hands from it finished up in Fleming's scrapyard in Yoker.My dad considered buying one but thought better of it.As far as I know they were never recycled from the scrapyard and the people who would be able to tell are now dead.

[Speedbird]

Interesting.

What is to happen to the Titan Crane and, in fact, the whole site??


It would be great if the crane was preserved and restored like the Finneston crane.

[crusty_bint]

Here's a snippet of whats in store for the site

http://www.clydebankrebuilt.co.uk/

and a proposal for the crane



http://www.glasgowarchitecture.co.uk/titan_crane.htm

[Speedbird]

Thanks - nice to know something is being done.

Mr Grandpa (on my Dad's side) was a foreman there at one point during the war.

It is said that their house was the only one in the street that didn't have its windows broken.
It was right there beside the yard on one of the streets apparently, so it must have been protected to an extent by the guns of the warships.

I'll have to ask my Dad about it.

[escotregen]

One of the several responses I got to my recent letter in the Herald on WW2 reminded of a story of censorship over the Clydebank blitz. The office of the Greenock local newspaper was situated right in amongst the bombed out area. However, the editor was instructed by the wartime government censor that he must not identify that it was Clydebank he was writing about when his report was published. Other editors in Scotland were also warned not to identify Greenock as the attacked town. It must have had a weird effect on civilian morale when they realised they were not allowed to read about what they could see with their own eyes. On an incidental point Speedbird, your Grandpa's house would not have been protected by the navy guns... it's much more likely that bombers would be aiming at naval installations and ships with consequent damage and death for nearby civilians. This just shows even more that something must have been on your Grandparents' side for them to have escaped so lightly!

[Speedbird]

I really have to ask my Dad about that when he gets back, but you know how these stories can get embellished with time...........

[DMcNay]

One of the several responses I got to my recent letter in the Herald on WW2 reminded of a story of censorship over the Clydebank blitz. The office of the Greenock local newspaper was situated right in amongst the bombed out area. However, the editor was instructed by the wartime government censor that he must not identify that it was Clydebank he was writing about when his report was published. Other editors in Scotland were also warned not to identify Greenock as the attacked town.

I can confirm this. I've seen the front covers fo the Daily Record for the days concerned and they only go as far as mentioning "Clydeside" and "a town" and "a rural area". All very vague, and almost no pictures whatsoever.