| Author |
Message |
    
Kyle Johnstone
Member
Username: aero2k
Post Number: 75
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, July 2, 2006 - 1:38 am: | 
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Hello
I was at the former John Brown shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland on 4 June, 2006
Please take a look at my photos for a look at how the yard appeared on this date, within a couple of days of one hundred years of Lusitania being launched there. One Titan crane remains, and is protected, as is the fitting-out basin. The site of the slipways will not be developed, but a large building is under construction for the Clydebank College adjacent to the filled-in slipways. The end of the slipways going into the Clyde are still visible. The slipways will not be developed as a monument to the great ships built on that site.
Also, please take a look at my photos of Charles Parson's TURBINIA, on display at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle. We all know how revolutionary TURBINIA was...
http://freespaces.com/kjgallery/
click on the bottom box "ocean liner photos" to get to the albums.
While you're there...take a look at the other albums to!
Enjoy. |
Jim Kalafus
Member
Username: jak
Post Number: 2553
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, July 2, 2006 - 5:15 am: |
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Welcome back to the US, and ET, Kyle!
Just because I am paranoid does not mean that they are not following me.....
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Linda Sherlock
Member
Username: marina
Post Number: 10
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, July 2, 2006 - 12:14 pm: |
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Thank you for the link to your excellent pictures of the John Brown Shipyard, Kyle. I hope you don't mind, but I had a good wander through all your photos while I was there. Your pictures are wonderful! |
Leo Farnsworth
Member
Username: kj0928
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2009
| | Posted on Thursday, October 1, 2009 - 8:42 am: |
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http://travel.webshots.com/album/574825511lqHDrq
The former John Brown shipbuilding yard and the Titan crane as seen on 26
September 2009, exactly 75 years to the day after the launch of the Queen Mary.
The Queen Elizabeth was launched from here four years and one day after the
Queen Mary on 27 September 1938, the QE2 on 20 September 1967.
Other famous ships built and launched here were the Lusitania, Aquitania, the
Royal Yacht Britannnia, the P&O liner Empress of Britain, the Swedish
American liner Kungsholm, and HMS Hood
The steel-mesh deck at the top of the Titan and the wire fence along the edge
were of course added for the sake of visitors. There is unfortunately no access
to the crane driver's cab.
The Clydebank College buildings are built over the where the tops of the launch
ways were. As seen in the photos, a green belt was retained along the main
launch way where the great liners were built upon. Bordering the green belt is
a wood fence with images of the ships built at the John Brown yard and scenes of
the yard.
The foot of the launch ways remain in the water.
The floral wreath seen in photos is a memorial to the crew of the tug Flying
Phantom which sank last year near this spot. There were no survivors.
Future development plans for the rest of the site include residential units and a
shopping/entertainment complex. In other words, condos and a mall.
The small building with the silouette of the Queen Mary is the visitors center
for the Titan Crane, visitors are then transported in a minibus along the
esplanade and around the fitting out basin to the crane. Or they can walk.
The round columns seen going up the crane are the elevator shaft and a emergency
escape stairway added for visitors.
Visiting the Titan is well worth it, a thrilling experience, as was viewing the launchways and the surrounding countryside familiar from studying so many photos and film footage of the construction and launching of these great ships.
They could do well to have much more to offer on the history of the shipyard and the great ships built there. There is so much interesting material. A good video of Clydebank shipbuilding from the 1960s is shown at the top of the crane in the cable room.
Enjoy |
