The Titan Crane at Finnieston (adjacent to the SEC complex) is one of four Titan cranes which have been preserved on the Clyde out of the numerous cranes which used to be seen on the Clyde. The Titans were the biggest!
The Finnieston crane was used to load newly produced railway engines onto ships for shipping worldwide.
If you look further down the river, you will see another Titan crane which was situated at the Barclay, Curle & Co. Clydeholm Yard at Whiteinch. In 1912, Barclay, Curle & Co. built a ship called the Jutlandia, for the East Asiatic Company, a Danish business with headquarters in Copenhagen. Two sister ships were built in Denmark at the same time (the first was Selandia). These three were the first large sea-going ships in the world to have diesel engines.
Rudolf Diesel, a German, patented his engine in 1892. Almost immediately the Glasgow shipbuilders negotiated a licence and by 1914 had the first works in the world for building large marine Diesel engines.
Three members of the Mirrlees Watson company from Scotland Street, Glasgow, visited Rudolf Diesel in Germany in 1896. For a few years the company had the exclusive licence for the manufacture and sale of the diesel engine in Great Britain. The first engine was completed in November 1897. This was the third diesel engine in the world and after extensive testing by Professor Watkinson of the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, it was used on the company’s premises and can now be seen in the Anson Engine Museum in Cheshire. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Mirrlees_Watson_Co
The Titan Cranes https://gbarr.info/2011/06/01/and-the-there-were-four-titan-cranes-of-the-clyde/
Jutlandia Ship promotional booklet cover image: https://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSE00083&t=2
Walking Route Instructions: To walk on to the Riverside Transport Museum, you can walk from the Finnieston Crane mostly along the Clyde Walkway alongside the Clyde. You need to pass the Clyde distillery but once past that you should begin to see the Museum and will be able to walk towards it.
