After more than 60 years in South Africa a  Southside-built steam engine has returned home  to mark the launch of the fund-raising appeal for the new Riverside Museum.

The engine went on display in Goerge Square for a weekend at the end of August to launch the drive to raise £5 million of the £74 million cost of the new museum designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid.  It is ‘parked’m at a secret location in Glasgow till it becomes a star attraction piece in the new museum.

The North British Locomotive Company (NBLC) built the 15F class engine, named locomotive 3007, in Polmadie in 1945 for export to South Africa. It pulled passenger trains, including the famous Johannesburg to Capetown Blue Train, until 1988. The 15F was considered the backbone of South Africa railways in the age of steam, and the example brought back to Glasgow cost £22,000, £3000 more than its 1945 price.  

The new museum will replace the Transport Museum when completed in 2010. The engine, which had been exposed to the elements for 20 years in a Bloemfontain rail yard, is the largest ever acquisition by a Glasgow museum and is considered the best remaining example of a Glasgow-built steam locomotive. It will be restored and used as the centrepiece of the new Clydeside museum, near the SECC.

Transport company FirstGroup is the sole ‘founder patron’ of the Riverside Museum Appeal and has partly funded the transportation and restoration of Locomotive 3007.

Moir Lockhead, Chief Executive of FirstGroup, said, ‘It is fantastic to see Locomotive 3007 on display here in Glasgow back where it belongs. Glasgow’s transport collections are of international importance and it is fitting that Locomotive 3007 will be at the heart of the new museum. I am thrilled that First is able to support this very worthwhile cause. I am sure it will attract interest from afar.’

Another two engineers, former NBLC employees and native Southsiders Alex Semple and Hugh Hackett, joined Mr Lockhead at the launch. The men were a part of the 2000-strong workforce in Polmadie that built 204 15F class locomotives.

Mr Semple, left, (84), from Oatlands, worked at NBLC from 1939 to 1947. He started as an apprentice building Matilda tanks during WW2, before working on the motion assemblies on the locomotives as a fitter after the war. 

Mr Semple told the LOCAL NEWS, ‘This brings back a lot of memories and nostalgia for me. The engine has lasted almost as long as me!’

His former colleague at NLBC, Mr Hackett (87), who worked marking off cylinders on the trains for machining, agreed, ‘It’s good to see it back in Glasgow. It brings back a lot of happy memories for me. It was a great place to work and I wouldn’t have left it if the work hadn’t dried up.’  

Mr Hackett worked at Weir in Cathcart after leaving NLBC, and took the opportunity at the launch to tell Weir’s current boss and Chair of the Riverside Museum Appeal, Sir Robert Smith, his thoughts on the company’s 1950s wages.  He added, ‘I told him that the wages at Weir were rubbish. He said sorry, and I told him he could always make it up now!’

Sir Robert, who chairs a board of trustees which includes Sir Tom Farmer and Sir Arnold Clark, said, ‘This city gave ships and locomotives to the world. I am delighted to be chairing this appeal and it is a privilege to be leading such a distinguished board of trustees. Their experience, commitment and enthusiasm are matched only by the p ride Glaswegians have in their heritage.’

Leader of Glasgow City Council, Steven Purcell, added, ‘We should be rightly proud of our industrial past and this locomotive is an example of a time when Glasgow was an engineering giant supplying the world with ships and locomotives. I know that the new Riverside Museum will pay testament to the hard labour of the working men and women who made this city great.’