Today I went to George Square to see an unusual homecoming – a 179 tonne steam train! The train was designed and built in Glasgow. It had spent it’s life as a legendary ‘Blue Train’ in South Africa, pulling luxury carriages between Johannesburg and Cape Town until 1988.It is the largest ever acquisition by Glasgow Museums and destined to be the focal point within the new Riverside Museum – another iconic object, designed by internationally celebrated architect Zaha Hadid, and scheduled for completion in 2010.
The locomotive was never named – but was numbered 3007. A Class 15f, it was dubbed the “Mountain Class” locomotive. It was built at Polmadie, Glasgow as part of a 60-strong order. The steam engine with tender is some 74ft long and the height just half-an-inch short of 13ft. The tender could carry 14 tonnes of coal and 6050 gallons of water.
Here are a couple of photos I took today.
There is currently a fund raising campaign for the new riverside museum and details on how you can help can be found at:
http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/showNews.cfm?venueid=7&itemid=594&infoid=61
