Riverside Museum

The Museum of Transport was opened on 14 April 1964 by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[2][3] Created in the wake of the closure of Glasgow's tramway system in 1962, it was initially located at the former Coplawhill tram depot on Albert Drive in Pollokshields, before moving to the Kelvin Hall in 1988.[4] The old building was subsequently converted into the Tramway arts centre.[5]

The museum was then situated inside the Kelvin Hall opposite the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum in the west end of Glasgow. The Kelvin Hall was built in 1927, originally as an exhibition centre, but was converted in 1987 to house the Museum of Transport and the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena.

The Kelvin Hall site itself closed in April 2010, with the Museum moving to its third home at the Riverside Museum in 2011.[6]

The current Glasgow Museum of Transport (Riverside Museum)

The museum at Kelvin Hall closed on 18 April 2010, with most of its collections moved to the purpose-built Riverside Museum in Glasgow Harbour on the Clyde, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and engineers Buro Happold.[7] The current museum opened on Tuesday 21 June 2011.

The Riverside Museum building was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and engineers Buro Happold.[8] The internal exhibitions and displays were designed by Event Communications, a specialist London-based museum design firm.[9]

The purpose-built Museum replaced the previous home for the city's transport collection, at the city's Kelvin Hall.

The location of the museum is on the site of the former A. & J. Inglis Shipyard within Glasgow Harbour, on the north bank of the River Clyde and adjacent to its confluence point with the River Kelvin. This site enabled the Clyde Maritime Trust's SV Glenlee and other visiting craft to berth alongside the museum.[10]

interior of building

Outside space at Riverside Museum

Detail of south elevation

Of the £74 million needed for the development of the Riverside Museum, Glasgow City Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund have committed £69 million. The Riverside Museum Appeal is a charitable trust established to raise the final £5 million in sponsorship and donations from companies, trusts and individuals for the development of the museum. The Riverside Museum Appeal Trust is recognised as a Scottish Charity SC 033286.[11] Major patrons of the project include: BAE Systems Surface Ships, Weir Group, Rolls-Royce plc, FirstGroup, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Caledonian MacBrayne, Arnold Clark, Scottish and Southern Energy, Diageo, Bank of Scotland and Optical Express.[12]

Construction, Feb 2009 & Feb 2010

On 13 November 2007 the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Bob Winter cut the first turf.[13] The main contractors for the project were BAM Construct UK Ltd[14] with a range of trade subcontractors including the services installations being delivered by BBESL's team of Jordan Kerr, Gordon Ferguson & Jamie Will and FES, project management being the responsibility of Capita Symonds and Buro Happold providing Resident Engineering Services. The building was completed on 20 June 2011 and the next day it opened to the public.[15]

The Riverside Museum with The Tall Ship Glenlee berthed outside

The museum housed the oldest surviving pedal cycle and the world's leading collection of Scottish-built cars and trucks, including pioneering examples from Scottish manufacturers Argyll, Arrol-Johnston and Albion. More modern Scottish-built cars, namely the Rootes Group's Hillman Imp, Chrysler Avenger and Chrysler Sunbeam were represented too along with many other motorcars in a large showroom-type display sponsored by Arnold Clark.

All forms of transport were featured, from horse-drawn vehicles to fire engines, from motorcycles to caravans, even toy cars and prams.

In the Clyde Room was a display of some 250 ship models,[18] representing the contribution of the River Clyde and its shipbuilders and engineers to maritime trade and the Royal Navy, including the Comet of 1812, the Hood, the Howe, the Queen Mary, and the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2.

Locomotive manufacture was also an important Glasgow industry and the museum celebrated the city's railway heritage, including locomotives such as:

• The Caledonian Railway - Caley No. 123 single driver
• Highland Railway - No. 103, the Jones Goods
• Great North of Scotland Railway - Gordon Highlander No. 49 (On loan to the Scottish Railway Preservation Society)[19]
• North British Railway - 256 "Glen Douglas" (on loan from the Scottish Railway Preservation Society).[20]
• Glasgow & South Western Railway - 5 Class 0-6-0T no. 9
• Andrew Barclay 0-6-0 Fireless locomotive, South of Scotland Electricity Board, No. 1
• First ScotRail - Class 380 EMU (full-scale model)

Model of the old St Enoch station at the Transport Museum (Kelvin Hall)

Other main exhibits displayed the evolution of Glasgow's public transport system and included seven Glasgow Corporation Tramways tramcars from different eras, Glasgow Corporation trolleybuses, and the reconstruction of "Kelvin Street", which aimed to recapture the atmosphere of 1930s Glasgow, including full-scale replicas of a pre-1977 Glasgow Subway station and the Regal Cinema, which played Scottish transport documentaries such as Seawards the Great Ships.