Springburn Virtual Museum

Railway industry

Steam locomotive being loaded aboard ship by the Finnieston crane, 1930s

Transporting locomotives from the works to the docks, loading them aboard ship and unloading them in foreign ports, presented great problems. In the early days manpower was relied upon to both haul locomotives through the streets and to load them aboard ship.

In the mid-nineteenth century the advent of steam traction engines and the use of trailers allowed locomotives to be transported in both an easier and safer manner.

The advent of diesel road haulers in the 1930s meant the beginning of the end of steam road locomotives, although the two did complement each other for a number of years. At first the diesels were not powerful enough and often had to be assisted by steam road vehicles. However by the 1940s, 100-ton diesel Scammels were in regular use for hauling products to the docks.

Source: Glasgow City Archives