The Herald, by Alison Chiesa
It's coming home. A famous Scottish steam engine is nearing the end
of a remarkable 6000-mile journey to Glasgow after being in South
Africa for more than 60 years.
The Mountain Class engine - designed and built in the Scottish
city in 1945 for South Africa's harsh terrain and vast distances -
pulled the renowned Blue Train from Johannesburg to Cape Town until
being mothballed in 1988. The locomotive arrived in the Humber port
of Immingham yesterday in the latest stop on its journey home. In a
complex operation the engine, weighing around 200 tonnes, was
lifted ashore to be stored in Hull before returning to Glasgow.
It will reach the city by road around the end of August before
undergoing painstaking restoration. The process is scheduled for
completion by the opening, in 2010, of the new Riverside Museum.
The steam engine will be the focal point for the Riverside, on the
banks of the Clyde.
Built by the North British Locomotive Company at Polmadie, it is
widely regarded as one of the finest examples of British
engineering, underpinning the city's former dominant role as a
manufacturer of steam engines. John Burnie, museum committee chair-
man of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, based in Bo'ness,
said the organisation was "delighted" the steam engine had been
recovered.
Reproduced with the permission of The Herald (Glasgow)
© Newsquest (Herald & Times) Ltd.