How it All Began

This article was published in Waterline International Vol V11, number 23 in the Spring of 2003. The Museum of Transport will move to a new £50 million purpose built building in 2010 located at the Braehead Centre on the Banks of the river, near Clydebank.

GLASGOW MUSEUM OF TRANSPORT –

a personal reflection.

Iain McGeachy

I am old enough to remember sailing down the Clyde from the city centre past docks filled with merchantmen from Blue Funnel, Clan Line, and many others, view liners from Canadian Pacific or Cunard, past shipyards building tankers, freighters and warships - all bar the later scenes from the past. The other joy was to visit the Ship Court of the Art Gallery and Museum and view models of these very ships, in many cases the models being larger than myself. These models and their successors are now to be found in the Clyde Room of the Glasgow Museum of Transport, the most visited Transport Museum in Britain [2002].

This room contains a large and fascinating collection of models of vessels associated with the Clyde. It includes sailing ships, passenger liners and paddle steamers, cargo liners and tankers, dredgers, tugs, a floating dock, steam and sailing yachts and an oil rig. A complete model of Govan Shipbuilders of 1977 shows just how recent is the demise of merchant shipbuilding on the upper Clyde. Thereby it is not just a collection of models but also a display of ship design and evolution over the last two hundred years. As most of the models have been donated by the shipyards whose products they represent or by the shipping companies that owned them, they have an unrivalled authenticity. The result is the museum, with over seven hundred models, has one of the finest exhibitions to be found anywhere in the world. Most are to the traditional imperial scale of ¼inch=1foot(1:48), although there are also a number at 1:32, 1:96 scale and the occasional more complex e.g. the Queen Mary is 1:57.9.

The Clyde Room. Case shown - Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth with QE2 behind and Arcadia visible bottom center of case (now removed).

On entry one sees the first ships of the age of steam and is made aware of how ship development and shipbuilding on the Clyde are intertwined. Thus we start with a number of models, including a fine 1:24 scale model, of the 1812 Comet, the first steam driven passenger vessel in Europe. This vessel built for trade on the Clyde set a pattern in which many pioneering ideas were first tried out in small ships designed for Clyde traffic and when proved were then adopted for their ocean going equivalents. The small, 1:96 scale Arcadia of 1840 falls into this category as the pioneer paddle steamer ordered by Samuel Cunard for service across the Atlantic.

The case continues with some of the sixty Clyde steamers in the collection on show. The display, like all in the museum, is rotated but always with a cross section of age and type. Some are in 1:32 scale allowing for minute detail to be revealed as shown in the photograph above of the 1955 Maid of Argyll. In this scale is a quay level river ferry of 1938 with an elevated deck that could be raised or lowered depending upon the state of the tide. [Indeed I can remember during one of my first driving lessons being asked to drive onto this platform suspended twenty feet above water level.] A number of cross channel vessels are displayed including the Norsea (1987), the last large passenger vessel to be built on the Clyde.

Opposite this display is a fine grouping of sailing ships including some of the earliest true scale models produced for the Board of Admiralty and dating from the late 17^th century. Many show the vessels unplanked so that one may see the interior construction. Models to be noted here are HMS Oxford (1674) as she appeared after rebuilding in 1727 and the Cutty Sark, the last of the great tea clippers, which may be seen at Greenwich. Both these models are 1:48. One group that always fascinated me was the Prisoner of War models made by French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars. Many were skilled craftsmen and began to carve the bones from the meat they were given. They soon discovered that their carvings could be exchanged for favours and that models representing warships of the Napoleonic navy were especially prized.

(detail of City of Rome – see below)

As one passes to the next cases one moves both in time and size. There can be no better way of seeing the evolution of the warship than to pass from the Napoleonic sailing ships to the wide range and specialization of the warship of the twentieth century. The evolution of the capital ship may be traced, from the post-Dreadnaughts HMS Colossus, to the King George V class battleship, HMS Howe. The latter, at fifteen and a half feet, (4.75m) dominates the case. No line drawing or painting can rival the perspective of walking round a model where each step can only allow you a focus of part of the ship, whether it be the main armament or bridge detail. It is only by trying to step back that you can see how these ships were the titans of naval warfare of their time. In a separate case a model of HMS Hood may be seen, and it easy to see why she was regarded as combining both beauty and power. The smaller ships are well represented with the move from the sleek 1890 torpedo boat destroyer HMS Hornet, through WWI ‘V’ and ‘W’ class to those of WW2 and on to the guided missile destroyer of the present day. Likewise escort vessels from Flower and Black Swan Class to modern day Type 23 Class frigates allow one to see the evolution of these ships over this century. Other vessels also present include a MTB, LCT and four aircraft carriers (HMSs Ocean (1944), Ark Royal (1955), Hermes and the Merchant Aircraft Carrier, Empire MacAndrew).

The top corner relates to the Clyde estuary as a renowned centre for sailing. Many of the wealthy Victorian and Edwardian merchants had steam and sail yachts built on the Clyde. The collection includes many examples of them plus a number of royal yachts including Britania, which may be visited at Leith, and the Livadia. A royal yacht built for Czar Alexander II of Russia that had a length of 229 feet and a beam of 153 feet. This was supposed to give stability and allowed for a spacious ballroom.

If the cases of warships were impressive then those of the liners, especially the one devoted to the three ‘Queens’, are spectacular. The scales of 1:57.9 for Queen Mary, 1:64 for Queen Elizabeth and 1:53 for the Queen Elizabeth 2 may make comparative sizing more difficult but the resultant models at around seventeen feet (5.5 meters) can only inspire awe. The superstructure of the QE2 was built by museum staff on the original tank testing hull giving the exhibit an extra interest. However for me the adjoining cases on either side of the ‘Queens’, one showing the early liners and the transition of sail to steam; the other, liners from final period of sea passenger transport, are of equal interest.

{for a 1/1200 scale model see Kevin Stewart’s photographs}

The early steamships with full rigging are well represented and in my eyes, those such as the Inman Line’s City of Rome (1881) illustrated, have a special grace, (1:96 scale). Likewise the case that includes three of the Canadian Pacific Empresses, as well as liners of Anchor, Union Castle and other famous lines reveal the quality of workmanship of the model maker. Used by both shipbuilder and ship owner to advertise their wares it is no surprise that every effort was made to display the quality of their product. The period of construction plays apart in the style of these models. The earlier models use a number of woods for the superstructure, French polished, with fittings made of metal and silver plated or of lacquered copper or brass, and the paint work in gloss. Ships boats, deck lining and riggings add to the overall impression. The results are works of art requiring careful study and attention, although not necessary giving total accuracy in colour or style. The more recent finished in flat paint may be more authentic in colour but it is up to the individual viewer as to their personal preference. Nowhere are these added details more apparent than in the merchant ships whether it be tanker or freighter. The case of 1:96 models allows a large number and variety to be displayed, while maintaining detail. See photograph below, Baron Farlie, 6,000 ton cargo liner Hogarth’s Shipping.

Of the other cases, the ones devoted to harbour and miscellaneous craft were always of interest because these strange looking or more exotic craft could always arouse ones imagination. Whether it be the models of bucket dredgers where one can imagine the clanging of the moving chain clearing a path in the upper Clyde [which I watched on my way to school] or that of the Tongha Harbour Company, panning for tin in Southern China. Similarly the river paddle steamers built on the Clyde, dismantled for passage and reassembled on the rivers Africa or Asia to spend their days passing through tropical rainforest carrying all the goods and personnel associated with a world wide empire and trade, create visions from Conrad or the real world of Livingstone.

Indeed the gallery has something for everyone whether it be model maker, historian or simple a lover of ships. All this and not even mentioning the subway (underground) station, the trams and buses, cars and caravans, railway and trains, makes this a museum not to be missed.

Finally I would wish to acknowledge the assistance and help of the staff at the museum and in particular that of Mr Alistair Smith who provided me with the now out of print ‘Ship Models – the Clyde Room and the Glasgow Museums’ Ship Model Collection’ from which the photographs have been taken. {Note: the museum does rotate the ships on display, while maintaining a representative cross-section.}

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