I served my apprenticeship at NBL Springburn during the final years as a heavy machinist and the knowledge gained stood me in good stead until my retirement in 2021. My skills were inherited from some of the finest craftsmen in Glasgow.
These are the men who built Britain, extended to the rest of the World. Fantastic film and may God bless them and their families now carrying their name. Pride in the job. A job well done.
Mind blowing, I think I need to lay down in a darkened room! I suspect all this skill and expertise is now long lost to us! What amazes me is the fact that, whilst we are seeing all these items being manufactured, you have to consider all the effort and skill which went into manufacturing the tools and machinery that makes this possible! Another stand alone story!
I concur. All this skill and amazing expertise used to be passed from generation to generation and is all lost forever. Sadly, these truly remarkable and brilliant people are no longer with us.
@@NJTDover I have often considered this growing up in Glasgow from those days, It must have been the same in many great manufacturing cities throughout our land.
Some techniques are still with us (i'm trying to get classes in way scraping since i feel like i've hit a wall and the 4 or so "masters" in my area are constantly booked) The rest have almost all been replaced entirely by more efficient methods. Some techniques remain purely by tradition (a properly machined horseshoe has no downside compared to a forged one, not even cost) while others remain due to niche functionality (scraped ways get better lubing, less detrimental forces and can hold higher tolerances in exchange for taking weeks or months where grinding might take a day)
The expertise is still there, but unfortunately much less than it was. I did an engineering apprenticeship during the 70s, and since then the advent of computerised manufacturing has removed too many of the skills we used to learn and teach. I worked in engine and transmission manufacturing in car companies in Dagenham, Sunderland and Japan.
Now done by a CNC programmer with greater precision and consistency. For lower pay who can't afford anything. Unlike his predecessors who bought houses, cars, raised families... Who is being robbed here!?
I am of the age where I saw the transition from old to new manufacturing systems. I am a retired engineer and love these films about engineering and the complexities of driving all the things needed to make a society work. And as some noted, beck then 'safety' was considered a joke, but the medical team were some of the busiest people in the factory.
What a excellent film, loved the double heading of the truck and steam traction engine (Clyde) at the end around 35mins the truck EEG 160 is a Diamond T 980/981 witch was a former army tank transporter that went to Road engines and Kerr and then to Pickfords in 1949 when they bought them out. I can happily tell you is still in full working order and has been owned by a mate of mine for many many years, he tells me the guy driving the truck was Jock Higgins
That clip of film was taken outside the Queen Park Works in the Southside Of Glasgow. My father (who lived there) said they had hinged street lights so they could move them out of the way.
Nice, lots of these locos came over to south africa were i live, my late Dad was a fireman on the south african railways! i used to work for south african railways in the 1980,s!
North British failed and closed by 1962 as sales of steam locomotives collapsed and their attempts at building diesel and electric locomotives were found to be shoddy and unreliable by customers. This film was made in 1949 concentrates on NBL’s prowess at building steam locomotives, yet the market for steam was already in steep decline. In the USA steam was being eliminated fast with all 3 US loco builders switching to diesels, and the first major US railroad eliminating steam in October 1949. The truth is that the Directors of NBL would have known that the company was doomed when this film was made. A tragic loss, but I’m not sure what could have been done to prevent it.
Not quite the whole story according to some I have spoken to who worked there and some younger who have studied the case. Story similar to that other Scottish Rolls Royce, Beardmores both built for the Defense Industry. Vickers Armstrong could'nt have been keen on that. I definately know they rivaled Beardmore. No less a person than Montague Norman Lord Invernairns pal and director of The Bank of England at the time said so.
What a great generation of engineers using slidinig rules of a bygone era. For the first time, UA-cam algorithm recommended me something truly educational and amazing to watch. Bravo. This film belongs to a time when "Made in Great Britain" was synonymous with manufacturing of the highest quality and top-notch engineering. What in the name of Jesus happened?
Not that long ago really. I used a slide rule at school in the early 1970's. It was not until I entered the 6th form that I acquired my first electronic calculator, a Rockwell scientific which I well recall cost me over £40, a lot of cash in those days equal to two weeks take-home pay when I started as an apprentice in 1975. I still have the calculator and it still works albeit one of the buttons is a bit unreliable now
Isn't that just how amazing the world is? Times changes, some skills go away with time, and then are replaced with new ones. We have no controll over the change in the world, all we must do is sit back, and buckle in for the ride😂😂
@@sharronneedles6721 or learn them and fight against the tide, some things are timeless skills and knowlege to have in case things go south fast such as during a war or freak accedent, or the like, or at least have some knowledge of how to do, learning how to fire a loco no thats not high on the list but being able to keep a fire can save your life, or knowing the limits and designs of your machines and materials is a good skill to have, how to form metal, weld or run a lathe that is a good skill to have in case you dont have a cnc or have to make a part for something at home or at work, or how electric moters work and how to repair generaters, belive it or not they had them for the lights and applicance in the late steam period if not earlier. but sitting back as a sheep is only one option I prefer to look out and batten down the hatches to challenges out there and try to read the curve coming up .
@@manga12 there is no point in "fighting against" an inevitable future. There are sertain jobs which have sertain skills. For example, not everyone in the steam age knew how to repair those generators, only the electricians and engineers did. Just the same, not everyone now needs to know how to operate a lathe and cnc machine. In our society, we rely on sertain people having sertain skills. If everyone knew every skill, there would be no reason for trade, and society would collapse. To show the weakness of this argument, which I have heard from several people in my feild of domesticated history (I'm a historian btw). Most people in modern times know how to light a fire, but with modern materials. Basically my point is, how far do you want to go back to save these skills? All the way back the ancient times when fire was made with flint and iron, or to the victorian age when matches were invented. Those skills which were once so eccential are no longer eccential to society, and so we remember them in museums. I did not say to sit back as sheep, I said to embrace the modernity which is inevitable. Things come and go, skills, people, ideas, everything comes and goes. To quote one of my mates book "everything is a fad", which is one of the most true things. Society, naturally, will continue to advance in attempt to better its livelihood; that's human nature. Remembering history is important, thats why i am a historian. But to say that we should fight against modernity is not only ignorance, but somewhat dangerous rhetoric. I suppose we embrace the modern world, as humans have done since the beginning of time. Be happy for new innovations, instead of saying that the future is a bad thing and that we should go back to the past.
@@sharronneedles6721 I will however point out newer dont always mean better, and things yes change, but not everything is set in stone till it actually is, and I will point out there are still niche industries that require the older arts, as well as I just said learning about industry and knowing how to do things is a good skill to have, sometimes shit hits the fan and you have to be able to do things for yourself or know how to improvise long enough to finish the job.
If you make the things you need, and steadily improve them over the years, you have stability. If you just sack everybody and buy things from abroad, you have dependency.
Incredible engineering for its time. Absolutely mesmerising watching each stage of production. I remember, as a young boy, watching and hearing the shunting engines operating on the railways in Victoria, Australia. I’ve still got a halfpenny that I put on the railway line in Kyabram that was squashed by a stream train. It brings back lovely memories of my childhood. 👍🏻😁🇦🇺
I was born in Springburn in 1949 and lived close to the rail works. Many relatives were employed there as well as the famous "Cable" company. This brings back so many memories.
I’m a Glasgow 49er too, born in Carlton, and have to concur, sir 😊. Brought up on Clyde-side,I became a structural engineering draughtsman and still love all things engineering. The range of skills shown in this video are amazing.
I've seen locomotives like these in South Africa. Ominous and powerful looking and with a lot of dark European style. What a magnificently done portrayal of the locomotive industry in Glasgow. Watching it reminded that these factories and their manufacturing methods are the result of movable type.
Thank you for posting such an interesting window into the past. It really did move me. It’s wonderful to be able witness the incredible work ethics and the skill sets of the people involved at that time producing such fine machines. Sadly in this day and age a lot of this engineering history tends to gets taken for granted but let’s be honest these locomotive engines in turn created the modern world, hats off to them.
MAN!!! That is a good looking shop! A bit crowded but amazingly clean and brilliantly efficient. There must be a hundred sweepers, though I only saw one. Man and machine working together, well oiled. All those machines are dangerous but procedures appear good for safety. A man could be proud to work there! It's also surprising how many Workers there are, compared to today and how few there are compared to a 1920s factory. I've worked in a lot of small, primitive shops, with some of these very machines, but this is how they were meant to be used. Thank you!
My Father and Grandfather worked for the North British Locomotive Company but always referred to it as "Dubsies", even although the original company had long been part of NBL.
(Sarcasm) I hang my head in shame at how we despoiled the planet with all these products of the Industrial Revolution. No question that we should pay generous compensation to all those nations that were dragged kicking and screaming toward a better quality of life for their peoples. (Not Sarcasm) I spent the first part of my career in such places doing metal analysis (A cushy number) and was always staggered by the range of skills and years of training these hands went through for each step of production. And no small measure of pride in the finished product either. Hats off to you Sirs and Ladies!
Superb film, thank you for posting. Back in 1973, I watched that same dockside crane loading a ship with many items of Terex earthmoving equipment for South America I think. Sadly, another Scottish engineering industry that is no more, but awesome in its day.
Thank you for posting this superb video. What we see here is a highly skilled workforce at their peak. The special machines and the jigs and fixtures all had to be designed by highly qualified engineers. These skills are largely gone and replaced by CNC tooling and methods. When our heritage railways need replacement parts they often have to go to Eastern Europe where the equipment and skills are still available. Still at least we have people leaving college with degrees in law, accountancy, media studies, sociology, philosophy, history of art, drama and other really worthwhile subjects.
... a fascinating and informative video about the long gone era of steam locomotive manufacturing in Glasgow Scotland... as an mech engineering apprentice, us appy's watched many b&w (mainly USA) engineering production films every Friday afternoon in the w/shop classroom... Ahh, great days
Thank you for the posting. They were engineering steam locomotives to last for 50 years or even perhaps a century but just over 2 decades later the steam engine was finished in Britain. How dirty and very dangerous the working conditions were in that factory. But I am sure the high skills and camaraderie of the workers would have compensated to some extent for the grim conditions.
@@nickjervis8123 There were numerous problems with NBL towards the end, propped up by loans from Clydesdale bank, the Treasury, and GEC. I wrote an artcilein the April 2012 Railways Illustrated on their slow demise.
Although it looks grim, when involved in that sort of work it is so totally absorbing, that you only see the wonder of the items produced. Then maybe go sit on the river bank at the weekend fishing to enjoy the other side of life and scenery.
Pretty sure there was the West Australian Pm/Pmr class being assembled in this video. Love seeing these engines being put together for use on the rails of my home state.
Absolutely captivating viewing. The arsenal of skills being deployed, and the fantastic range of specialist tools being used on such a grand scale is almost overwhelming. Magnificent film.
What a gem, as a boy born 1951 steam engines fascinated me and as a child still at junior school it was possible to go to the Great Western loco works at Swindon any Wednesday at 1 o clock during school holidays and join a queue of dozens of other boys and be taken on a tour of the works. That tour included places like the casting shop and erecting shop, questions were encouraged and answered. I have one last question, what do 10 year old boys do now?
Sit in their rooms playing violent video games while the parents do the small chores we used to do as kids. And we wonder why 14 year olds think it’s fun to shoot up,a school?? In USA, anyway!
When I went to the engineering job interview I was asked if I could work with Mike and Vernier, I replied I could work with anyone if they were sociable!
The title "North British" alone is enough to send SNP supporters into a state of apoplexy! A few years ago I stayed at the Loch Lomond Hotel and they had an old map hung on a corridor wall with Scotland shown as North Britain - don't ever show that map to Nicola Sturgeon I thought to myself!!!
I was born in April 1949, quite a long time ago. ☹☹ I still make model railway layouts on commission. Nothing modern though, and no Japanese, or North American, Just British and French.
at the very start of the video it mentions this film was made around 1949. at 23:00 victorian railways r class is mentioned. wikipedia notes that the first order for r class was placed on 21 september 1949. so this film certainly wasnt made in 1948.
garynumerouno, this film will be after 1946. the makers of this film must have used some old footage without realising that the ship had been sunk, that keen eyed observers on a not-yet-invented youtube would one day be able to check on their work. or it could have been another ship with the same name.
The office on Flemington st, Springburn became Glasgow College of Engineering. My second year, 78 the major talking point was there was a girl on the mechanics course! 😁👍❤️🏴!
@@ShainAndrews health and safety would have done their nut if they saw the conditions I served my apprenticeship in. The contrast is so extreme its hilarious, ( working in oil)
It would appear that British industry was quite capable without the wholesale ethnic replacement of its indigenous population. Very sad how things have gone.
@@markherzog9484 No the new Electric "locomotives" ? are produced in Japan , hey i have no problem with this, just making a point, thanks for your comment
No, I don't think it's progress. Rather very sad that the Country which invented the railway is now only capable of, at best assembling trains in kit form from Japan - or buying in locomotives and rolling stock from Europe. What went wrong?
@@robertp.wainman4094 The useall story, Lack of investment and modernisation, Industrial unrest, lack of planning and foresight by industry/government.
Where the 70 R Class locomotives were built for the Victorian Railways in 1951, the first locomotives imported into Victoria, Australia. Between the turn of the century and up to this time, all Steam Locomotives were built in house by the VR at Newport Workshops, the R class never seen their full potential, because less than a year later they were supplanted by the Clyde-GM B class Diesel-Electric Locomotive, A few R class survive running heritage tours.
Post WWII Britain should have ensured the investment in modernising the heavy industry such as the building of railway locomotives and ships etc. By the 1960s British industry was failing due to a lack of investment and modernisation.
Something weird here. SS Clan Campbell is seen in this video apparently in the 1950s yet wikipedia states that SS Clan Campbell was sunk in 1942. Photos match with the ship in this film. What's the truth?
There’s not a conspiracy behind everything you know, sometimes there are simple explanations. Campbell 4 was sunk in 1942. Campbell 5 was built on the Clyde and launched 1943 and worked on the Clan line routes until 1961 when it was sold to Hong Kong.
Impressive look how engineers thought that time. Perfection of something existed a long time : the steam engine. Remember however the low efficiency of even the best locomotive, say 11-13% (triple expansion). So 85-90% of the coals energy is not used, sorry steamers. You have to know where you stand if you design a machine. It is no loss this is all gone. The simplest modern Numerical Control Milling machine has 6 mu accuracy and repeats that. It smiles secretly to all that proud workers.
What a sad waste of years of skill and knowledge, when the whole enterprise came to an abrupt halt in 1962. Sadly the management had failed to modernise successfully and the few diesel and electric locomotives they did produce, were mainly unreliable abject failures and mostly sold at a loss, plus had unsupportable warranty costs. I remember reading about the demise, when at school in Edinburgh.
@@pressureworks Honestly it wasn't as well lit as it looks, we were replacing the system a few years later because it was 1940s vintage. Most of the guys that had safety glasses, the old horrible heavy ones, full of blind spots had already suffered eye injuries. There was one old guy in the casting shop whose whites were blood red, looked like a horror movie actor. I was told it was caused by the black sand? The lenses were like milk bottles!
Driven into the ground by corporate mismanagement in the end. Not that it would have mattered mind as even if it survived into the 80's Thatcher would have allowed it to be flogged off to foreign investors for a fiver. What really astounds me in the modern day is how so many who voted for brexit thought it would bring back british jobs and industry, as if it was all the fault of the EU that only 10% of our economy produces a damned thing any more, rather than the incentives of capitalism which all governments over the last 40 years have bent us over a desk on behalf of.
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq Which makes me scratch my head because under British rail we produced some cracking electric trains, none more so than Electra itself (BR Class 91)
Since the 1970s Britain has lost almost all manufacturing reputation, even RR turbines have been playing up. Perhaps the Ukraine war will propel munitions exports.
Mismanagement aplenty…just as there is throughout the west. However the real problem is investors want the largest return on their money and this doesn’t come from developed countries with unions, taxation and high costs in general. Hence the push to stick their money in “low cost” economies and then open our borders to allow goods produced there to be imported tariff-free under the pretext of globalisation. Having discovered protectionism doesn’t always work, the EU is trying to do the same thing on a smaller scale by their relentless efforts to push East in the search of new low cost countries to “develop.” It isn’t going too well at the moment obviously.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_British_Locomotive_Company All closed down and gone by 1962... Couldn't successfully transition to electric locos...........
This film is a lie. The North British utterly failed to transition to producing diesel and electric locomotives. To quote Wiki: 'Perhaps unwisely, North British supplied many of its diesel and electric locomotives to BR at a loss, hoping to make up for this on massive future orders that never came. This and the continuing stream of warranty claims to cure design and workmanship faults proved fatal...'
A bit harsh to describe it as a lie, very little of this film covers the transition from stem locomotive manufacturing. It paints an optimistic picture which is what you'd expect in 1949. The steam locomotive prowess of North British was evident at the time. That their attempts to carry the success across to diesel locomotives would fail, both in business and engineering terms wasn't known at that point.
It was the truth in 1949... but the writinng was on the wall because in America one railroad had gone completely steam-less.... on to diesels and diesel electric locos..... So the directors of NB appear to have buried their heads in the sand and not developed diesel or diesel electric... and went bust in 1962... only 13 years after this film was made.
I served my apprenticeship at NBL Springburn during the final years as a heavy machinist and the knowledge gained stood me in good stead until my retirement in 2021. My skills were inherited from some of the finest craftsmen in Glasgow.
These are the men who built Britain, extended to the rest of the World. Fantastic film and may God bless them and their families now carrying their name. Pride in the job. A job well done.
Extended? Invaded raped and pillaged more like .
Mind blowing, I think I need to lay down in a darkened room! I suspect all this skill and expertise is now long lost to us! What amazes me is the fact that, whilst we are seeing all these items being manufactured, you have to consider all the effort and skill which went into manufacturing the tools and machinery that makes this possible! Another stand alone story!
I concur. All this skill and amazing expertise used to be passed from generation to generation and is all lost forever. Sadly, these truly remarkable and brilliant people are no longer with us.
@@NJTDover I have often considered this growing up in Glasgow from those days, It must have been the same in many great manufacturing cities throughout our land.
Some techniques are still with us (i'm trying to get classes in way scraping since i feel like i've hit a wall and the 4 or so "masters" in my area are constantly booked)
The rest have almost all been replaced entirely by more efficient methods.
Some techniques remain purely by tradition (a properly machined horseshoe has no downside compared to a forged one, not even cost) while others remain due to niche functionality (scraped ways get better lubing, less detrimental forces and can hold higher tolerances in exchange for taking weeks or months where grinding might take a day)
The expertise is still there, but unfortunately much less than it was. I did an engineering apprenticeship during the 70s, and since then the advent of computerised manufacturing has removed too many of the skills we used to learn and teach. I worked in engine and transmission manufacturing in car companies in Dagenham, Sunderland and Japan.
Now done by a CNC programmer with greater precision and consistency. For lower pay who can't afford anything. Unlike his predecessors who bought houses, cars, raised families... Who is being robbed here!?
I cabbed a North British 2-6-0 tender loco in India in 1972 at Muzaffapor Jnct sheds.
Love the steam tractor helping to bring it out from the factory
I could watch these vintage locomotive shop machining & fabrication operations all day. Very interesting!
I am of the age where I saw the transition from old to new manufacturing systems. I am a retired engineer and love these films about engineering and the complexities of driving all the things needed to make a society work. And as some noted, beck then 'safety' was considered a joke, but the medical team were some of the busiest people in the factory.
What a excellent film, loved the double heading of the truck and steam traction engine (Clyde) at the end around 35mins the truck EEG 160 is a Diamond T 980/981 witch was a former army tank transporter that went to Road engines and Kerr and then to Pickfords in 1949 when they bought them out. I can happily tell you is still in full working order and has been owned by a mate of mine for many many years, he tells me the guy driving the truck was Jock Higgins
That clip of film was taken outside the Queen Park Works in the Southside Of Glasgow. My father (who lived there) said they had hinged street lights so they could move them out of the way.
Nice, lots of these locos came over to south africa were i live, my late Dad was a fireman on the south african railways! i used to work for south african railways in the 1980,s!
North British failed and closed by 1962 as sales of steam locomotives collapsed and their attempts at building diesel and electric locomotives were found to be shoddy and unreliable by customers. This film was made in 1949 concentrates on NBL’s prowess at building steam locomotives, yet the market for steam was already in steep decline. In the USA steam was being eliminated fast with all 3 US loco builders switching to diesels, and the first major US railroad eliminating steam in October 1949. The truth is that the Directors of NBL would have known that the company was doomed when this film was made. A tragic loss, but I’m not sure what could have been done to prevent it.
Not quite the whole story according to some I have spoken to who worked there and some younger who have studied the case. Story similar to that other Scottish Rolls Royce, Beardmores both built for the Defense Industry. Vickers Armstrong could'nt have been keen on that. I definately know they rivaled Beardmore. No less a person than Montague Norman Lord Invernairns pal and director of The Bank of England at the time said so.
What a great generation of engineers using slidinig rules of a bygone era. For the first time, UA-cam algorithm recommended me something truly educational and amazing to watch. Bravo. This film belongs to a time when "Made in Great Britain" was synonymous with manufacturing of the highest quality and top-notch engineering. What in the name of Jesus happened?
Not that long ago really. I used a slide rule at school in the early 1970's. It was not until I entered the 6th form that I acquired my first electronic calculator, a Rockwell scientific which I well recall cost me over £40, a lot of cash in those days equal to two weeks take-home pay when I started as an apprentice in 1975. I still have the calculator and it still works albeit one of the buttons is a bit unreliable now
Politicians and unions.
Yes lads, great British engineering, all in the past .
They couldn't successfully make electric locos....
I was a tool maker apprentice at Metro Cammell in Saltley Birmingham 1956/62 and was involved in the building of the Blue Pullman.
Watching the end of an era all those skills lost to history. Astonishing record but what a great testimony to the men and women of Glasgow.
Isn't that just how amazing the world is? Times changes, some skills go away with time, and then are replaced with new ones. We have no controll over the change in the world, all we must do is sit back, and buckle in for the ride😂😂
@@sharronneedles6721 or learn them and fight against the tide, some things are timeless skills and knowlege to have in case things go south fast such as during a war or freak accedent, or the like, or at least have some knowledge of how to do, learning how to fire a loco no thats not high on the list but being able to keep a fire can save your life, or knowing the limits and designs of your machines and materials is a good skill to have, how to form metal, weld or run a lathe that is a good skill to have in case you dont have a cnc or have to make a part for something at home or at work, or how electric moters work and how to repair generaters, belive it or not they had them for the lights and applicance in the late steam period if not earlier.
but sitting back as a sheep is only one option I prefer to look out and batten down the hatches to challenges out there and try to read the curve coming up .
@@manga12 there is no point in "fighting against" an inevitable future. There are sertain jobs which have sertain skills. For example, not everyone in the steam age knew how to repair those generators, only the electricians and engineers did. Just the same, not everyone now needs to know how to operate a lathe and cnc machine. In our society, we rely on sertain people having sertain skills. If everyone knew every skill, there would be no reason for trade, and society would collapse. To show the weakness of this argument, which I have heard from several people in my feild of domesticated history (I'm a historian btw). Most people in modern times know how to light a fire, but with modern materials. Basically my point is, how far do you want to go back to save these skills? All the way back the ancient times when fire was made with flint and iron, or to the victorian age when matches were invented. Those skills which were once so eccential are no longer eccential to society, and so we remember them in museums.
I did not say to sit back as sheep, I said to embrace the modernity which is inevitable. Things come and go, skills, people, ideas, everything comes and goes. To quote one of my mates book "everything is a fad", which is one of the most true things. Society, naturally, will continue to advance in attempt to better its livelihood; that's human nature. Remembering history is important, thats why i am a historian. But to say that we should fight against modernity is not only ignorance, but somewhat dangerous rhetoric. I suppose we embrace the modern world, as humans have done since the beginning of time. Be happy for new innovations, instead of saying that the future is a bad thing and that we should go back to the past.
@@sharronneedles6721 I will however point out newer dont always mean better, and things yes change, but not everything is set in stone till it actually is, and I will point out there are still niche industries that require the older arts, as well as I just said learning about industry and knowing how to do things is a good skill to have, sometimes shit hits the fan and you have to be able to do things for yourself or know how to improvise long enough to finish the job.
If you make the things you need, and steadily improve them over the years, you have stability.
If you just sack everybody and buy things from abroad, you have dependency.
Incredible engineering for its time. Absolutely mesmerising watching each stage of production. I remember, as a young boy, watching and hearing the shunting engines operating on the railways in Victoria, Australia. I’ve still got a halfpenny that I put on the railway line in Kyabram that was squashed by a stream train. It brings back lovely memories of my childhood. 👍🏻😁🇦🇺
Saw a comment yesterday, that the RAF has steam engines in storage, (for if the oil/electric infrastructure, gets damaged).
When the UK was great and had common sense.
I was born in Springburn in 1949 and lived close to the rail works. Many relatives were employed there as well as the famous "Cable" company. This brings back so many memories.
Where abouts were the works? And do any of the shops remain?
I’m a Glasgow 49er too, born in Carlton, and have to concur, sir 😊. Brought up on Clyde-side,I became a structural engineering draughtsman and still love all things engineering. The range of skills shown in this video are amazing.
I've seen locomotives like these in South Africa. Ominous and powerful looking and with a lot of dark European style.
What a magnificently done portrayal of the locomotive industry in Glasgow. Watching it reminded that these factories and their manufacturing methods are the result of movable type.
So many scrapers no mills really. Lathes and huge scrapers and planers. So cool.
No small angle grinders and not a lot of arc welding, the yanks had gone to welded boilers during WW2.
"What was your last job?"
"Oh, I was the Chief Flanger, you know."
Thank you for posting such an interesting window into the past. It really did move me. It’s wonderful to be able witness the incredible work ethics and the skill sets of the people involved at that time producing such fine machines. Sadly in this day and age a lot of this engineering history tends to gets taken for granted but let’s be honest these locomotive engines in turn created the modern world, hats off to them.
Too true. Without these powerful monsters the Industrial Revolution could not have got off the ground as it did in the 19th century
What a great documentary. There's something magical about steam engines. All that power from boiling water.
MAN!!! That is a good looking shop! A bit crowded but amazingly clean and brilliantly efficient. There must be a hundred sweepers, though I only saw one. Man and machine working together, well oiled. All those machines are dangerous but procedures appear good for safety. A man could be proud to work there! It's also surprising how many Workers there are, compared to today and how few there are compared to a 1920s factory. I've worked in a lot of small, primitive shops, with some of these very machines, but this is how they were meant to be used. Thank you!
Actually Man, it's M.A.N. who took over all this business.
My Father and Grandfather worked for the North British Locomotive Company but always referred to it as "Dubsies", even although the original company had long been part of NBL.
3:29 As a British Rail apprentice in the 70's I attended the Head Offices weekly which were then a College. The building is preserved
(Sarcasm) I hang my head in shame at how we despoiled the planet with all these products of the Industrial Revolution. No question that we should pay generous compensation to all those nations that were dragged kicking and screaming toward a better quality of life for their peoples.
(Not Sarcasm) I spent the first part of my career in such places doing metal analysis (A cushy number) and was always staggered by the range of skills and years of training these hands went through for each step of production. And no small measure of pride in the finished product either. Hats off to you Sirs and Ladies!
The BR K1 2-6-0 is recorded as being built in January 1950 (presumably the date entered traffic).
Superb film, thank you for posting. Back in 1973, I watched that same dockside crane loading a ship with many items of Terex earthmoving equipment for South America I think. Sadly, another Scottish engineering industry that is no more, but awesome in its day.
Thank you for the upload. A superb insight to a little slice of a lost industry. My favourite bit was the caunle task lighting at 28:35. Proper.
Ah yes! A finely engineered candle. Indispensable tool in the production of behemoths.
A boy could get a first class apprenticeship here and be set for life. We gave it all away...!
They couldn't successfully make electric locos....
What a great record of British engineering at it's best. thanks for this video.
Thank you for posting this superb video. What we see here is a highly skilled workforce at their peak. The special machines and the jigs and fixtures all had to be designed by highly qualified engineers. These skills are largely gone and replaced by CNC tooling and methods. When our heritage railways need replacement parts they often have to go to Eastern Europe where the equipment and skills are still available. Still at least we have people leaving college with degrees in law, accountancy, media studies, sociology, philosophy, history of art, drama and other really worthwhile subjects.
... a fascinating and informative video about the long gone era of steam locomotive manufacturing in Glasgow Scotland... as an mech engineering apprentice, us appy's watched many b&w (mainly USA) engineering production films every Friday afternoon in the w/shop classroom... Ahh, great days
Thank you for the posting. They were engineering steam locomotives to last for 50 years or even perhaps a century but just over 2 decades later the steam engine was finished in Britain. How dirty and very dangerous the working conditions were in that factory. But I am sure the high skills and camaraderie of the workers would have compensated to some extent for the grim conditions.
NB were full of industrial strife that resulted in a poor product evidenced by their liquidation in. 1962
@@nickjervis8123 Are you sure?. Beyer Peacock went about the same time, No modern Diesel Loco designs on the books.
@@nickjervis8123 There were numerous problems with NBL towards the end, propped up by loans from Clydesdale bank, the Treasury, and GEC. I wrote an artcilein the April 2012 Railways Illustrated on their slow demise.
Although it looks grim, when involved in that sort of work it is so totally absorbing, that you only see the wonder of the items produced. Then maybe go sit on the river bank at the weekend fishing to enjoy the other side of life and scenery.
Pretty sure there was the West Australian Pm/Pmr class being assembled in this video. Love seeing these engines being put together for use on the rails of my home state.
yes there were!
Absolutely captivating viewing. The arsenal of skills being deployed, and the fantastic range of specialist tools being used on such a grand scale is almost overwhelming. Magnificent film.
Great footage and good to hear the Caley is reopening.
My mother - Catherine McClinton at that time - worked in the office for NB Loco - though I'm not sure when.
I was trying to see how that gentleman fitted the piston ring so quickly. Wow!
Probably using his fingernails :-)
And now the sight of the NB works is a housing estate and no one knows or cares about its past. 😭
Oh I do, and I'm from the south of England
Ah, the grand old days before health and safety and ppe!
Thanks for uploading this 👍
Yes, all those miners, steelworkers etc being killed at work, very inconvenient….. twat.
@@markherzog9484 Irony; does it mean anything to you?
A mighty railway engineering firm bought to its knees my the mad rush for modernisation
They couldn't successfully make electric locos....
What a gem, as a boy born 1951 steam engines fascinated me and as a child still at junior school it was possible to go to the Great Western loco works at Swindon any Wednesday at 1 o clock during school holidays and join a queue of dozens of other boys and be taken on a tour of the works. That tour included places like the casting shop and erecting shop, questions were encouraged and answered. I have one last question, what do 10 year old boys do now?
Sit in their rooms playing violent video games while the parents do the small chores we used to do as kids. And we wonder why 14 year olds think it’s fun to shoot up,a school?? In USA, anyway!
Learn computer skills to enable them to fit into today's society...and tomorrow's....
They just stare into a computer screen , literally from when they can talk ,
The micrometer is one of the finest inventions....
When I went to the engineering job interview I was asked if I could work with Mike and Vernier, I replied I could work with anyone if they were sociable!
Digital vernier is better.
@@snowflakemelter1172 Not in 1949!!!!!
@@John2E0GTU no date was mentioned in your post.
@@snowflakemelter1172 Never mind eh?
The film shows areas of craftsmenship long consigned to history but it also showed what british craftsmanship was capable of.
Love to see this AI enhanced-fixed to colour.😊
Why?
Absolutely brilliant
Very interesting video. Thanks for posting. Similar to 'Study in Steel', an LMS production.
My father’s side of the family, more than one generation employed at Springburn until 1962.
Beautiful ❤️
I love steam Locomotive 💕💕💕
Cracking video!
Fantastic film, a window into past engineering excellence.
The title "North British" alone is enough to send SNP supporters into a state of apoplexy!
A few years ago I stayed at the Loch Lomond Hotel and they had an old map hung on a corridor wall with Scotland shown as North Britain - don't ever show that map to Nicola Sturgeon I thought to myself!!!
North British Railway was a railway company private arily in Scotland but with a presence in Northumberland.
Nicola Sturgeon: you're afraid of that?
lol . . . . . yeah, that'd be salt in her wounds suffered from the 'Yes Scotland' defeat.
I was born in April 1949, quite a long time ago. ☹☹ I still make model railway layouts on commission. Nothing modern though, and no Japanese, or North American, Just British and French.
at the very start of the video it mentions this film was made around 1949. at 23:00 victorian railways r class is mentioned. wikipedia notes that the first order for r class was placed on 21 september 1949. so this film certainly wasnt made in 1948.
garynumerouno, this film will be after 1946. the makers of this film must have used some old footage without realising that the ship had been sunk, that keen eyed observers on a not-yet-invented youtube would one day be able to check on their work. or it could have been another ship with the same name.
No wonder Halifax lost its machine tool industry when companies like this closed down. Repeated across the country time and again.
China takes the credit for western decline. And we can than the Unions for that!
All gone now. Vale British industry.
Was that one of the `Goliath` cranes that are still standing in Glasgow, that picked them locos up to load them onto the ship?
Skills!!!
Such a change to the world today
The office on Flemington st, Springburn became Glasgow College of Engineering. My second year, 78 the major talking point was there was a girl on the mechanics course! 😁👍❤️🏴!
It became Springburn Technical College before that. I spent a while there, but the space occupied by the works was just a barren patch of ground.
Health and safety would do their nut if this was todays workshop.
I'm sure you are trying to make a witty point...
@@ShainAndrews health and safety would have done their nut if they saw the conditions I served my apprenticeship in.
The contrast is so extreme its hilarious, ( working in oil)
It would appear that British industry was quite capable without the wholesale ethnic replacement of its indigenous population. Very sad how things have gone.
A great piece of British history,, when we actually supplied the world with locomotives,, now we buy from Asia,, Progress?
Asia? Do you mean Spain, France and Germany?
@@markherzog9484 No the new Electric "locomotives" ? are produced in Japan , hey i have no problem with this, just making a point, thanks for your comment
No, I don't think it's progress. Rather very sad that the Country which invented the railway is now only capable of, at best assembling trains in kit form from Japan - or buying in locomotives and rolling stock from Europe. What went wrong?
@@robertp.wainman4094 The useall story, Lack of investment and modernisation, Industrial unrest, lack of planning and foresight by industry/government.
Where the 70 R Class locomotives were built for the Victorian Railways in 1951, the first locomotives imported into Victoria, Australia. Between the turn of the century and up to this time, all Steam Locomotives were built in house by the VR at Newport Workshops, the R class never seen their full potential, because less than a year later they were supplanted by the Clyde-GM B class Diesel-Electric Locomotive, A few R class survive running heritage tours.
Post WWII Britain should have ensured the investment in modernising the heavy industry such as the building of railway locomotives and ships etc. By the 1960s British industry was failing due to a lack of investment and modernisation.
But Germany heavy industry was......how can I put it......victorious!
@@hairybear7705 Germany the masters of engineering !
They couldn't successfully make electric locos....gone in 1962...only 13 years after this fim was made.
Amazing even with the number of machines, how much hand finishing is still required.
I presume this was a 35mm recording reduced to 2 in VTR but the VTR is starting to suffer in places!
Something weird here. SS Clan Campbell is seen in this video apparently in the 1950s yet wikipedia states that SS Clan Campbell was sunk in 1942. Photos match with the ship in this film.
What's the truth?
Educated individuals know wikipedia is not a source. Time to grow up and start figuring out the adult world.
@@ShainAndrews Same goes for the whole internet and getting worse. Even with many sources doubt remains.
There’s not a conspiracy behind everything you know, sometimes there are simple explanations. Campbell 4 was sunk in 1942. Campbell 5 was built on the Clyde and launched 1943 and worked on the Clan line routes until 1961 when it was sold to Hong Kong.
Amazing film
I loved the drone-like overhead filming. The advantage of a workshop with many gantry cranes.
Tragic. Now we’re a nation of shopkeepers and bankers without prestige.
We wanted everything on the cheap, so what did you expect?
Would be interesting to know how many Locos are still in service throughout the world.
There are about half-a-dozen NBL-built steam locos still active in New Zealand in preservation.
@@kiwitrainguy thank you.
Everything must be "a company" God forbid not, someone must make money.
Just brilliant, thanks for posting.All that skill set and high quality manufacturing capability lost forever! Intentional deindustrialization?
They couldn't successfully make electric locos....
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq I know they had alot of issues in the transition from steam to diesel electric locomotives but sad none the less.
The loss of this manufacturer is a continuing disaster that can’t be repaired. Easy to close, next to impossible to recreate.
Happy days.
How the hell did we lose all these great skills and machinery ?.. I've heard "lack of investment"
The company failed and closed down in 1962 after failing to produce electric locomotives succesfully.....
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq Robotics.
@@howardsimpson489
Not even thought of then...except perhaps Japan...and definitely not in the UK.
Impressive look how engineers thought that time. Perfection of something existed a long time : the steam engine.
Remember however the low efficiency of even the best locomotive, say 11-13% (triple expansion). So 85-90% of the coals energy is not used, sorry steamers.
You have to know where you stand if you design a machine.
It is no loss this is all gone.
The simplest modern Numerical Control Milling machine has 6 mu accuracy and repeats that. It smiles secretly to all that proud workers.
One person on a laptop with a CAD programme replaces a legion of tracers. Progress?
Well, that and a large format toner printer at 16 'D' size sheets per minute.
@@gilzor9376 And direct input to CNC machines.
Is there a date on the film?
1949 is the closest I can find. Though it was taken over by BR engineering 1948 it seems. So not really sure.
The Queens Park Works in Polmadie.
Springburn.
@@fredyellowsnow7492 The Queens Park Works in Polmadie. www.railscot.co.uk/locations/Q/Queens_Park_Locomotive_Works/
Sadly all gone
This is how it was done before this nation lost its way.
What a sad waste of years of skill and knowledge, when the whole enterprise came to an abrupt halt in 1962. Sadly the management had failed to modernise successfully and the few diesel and electric locomotives they did produce, were mainly unreliable abject failures and mostly sold at a loss, plus had unsupportable warranty costs. I remember reading about the demise, when at school in Edinburgh.
Dark satanic mills and no PPE in sight. Ah, the good old days. Skills long gone sadly....
Hi, have a look at Lion Foundry, Kirkintilloch, on YT. Worked in the place late 70s, apprentice electrician. Scared the $hite out of Me! 😁👍❤️🏴!
I see few folks wearing safety glasses. And the works are well lighted.
@@pressureworks Honestly it wasn't as well lit as it looks, we were replacing the system a few years later because it was 1940s vintage. Most of the guys that had safety glasses, the old horrible heavy ones, full of blind spots had already suffered eye injuries. There was one old guy in the casting shop whose whites were blood red, looked like a horror movie actor. I was told it was caused by the black sand? The lenses were like milk bottles!
@@lesliemackay7853 in the states we call thick glasses---- coke bottle lenses ! Thanks for the info !!
Yeah! Slinging on asbestos insulation! Wot larks!
Am I the only one to have cried through this for what our country lost/ threw away/ had stolen from us...?
Hope you find sobriety in the following year.
Did Britain make things once ??????
Oh how I would have loved to work there.
Not according to the many men I have talked to, it was hard work and long hours,they were not working ther for fun but to support families.
Hmmm - an early CNC machine..interesting. 19:22.
And look at us now ,,,pitiful isn’t it couldn’t produce a bolt now sorry full we had it all then and fucked it up
Norf
lost skills and sad all these machines were scrapped
The economic and political elites pretty much destroyed all this . Threw greed and incompetence .
Driven into the ground by corporate mismanagement in the end. Not that it would have mattered mind as even if it survived into the 80's Thatcher would have allowed it to be flogged off to foreign investors for a fiver. What really astounds me in the modern day is how so many who voted for brexit thought it would bring back british jobs and industry, as if it was all the fault of the EU that only 10% of our economy produces a damned thing any more, rather than the incentives of capitalism which all governments over the last 40 years have bent us over a desk on behalf of.
They couldn't successfully make electric locos....gone in 1962...only 13 years after this fim was made.
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq Which makes me scratch my head because under British rail we produced some cracking electric trains, none more so than Electra itself (BR Class 91)
Since the 1970s Britain has lost almost all manufacturing reputation, even RR turbines have been playing up. Perhaps the Ukraine war will propel munitions exports.
Mismanagement aplenty…just as there is throughout the west. However the real problem is investors want the largest return on their money and this doesn’t come from developed countries with unions, taxation and high costs in general. Hence the push to stick their money in “low cost” economies and then open our borders to allow goods produced there to be imported tariff-free under the pretext of globalisation. Having discovered protectionism doesn’t always work, the EU is trying to do the same thing on a smaller scale by their relentless efforts to push East in the search of new low cost countries to “develop.” It isn’t going too well at the moment obviously.
pathetic film quality. even for those days. as usual with england. low tech.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_British_Locomotive_Company
All closed down and gone by 1962...
Couldn't successfully transition to electric locos...........
my reference to such films is bugs bunny cartoons i watches t in the 80s.
Uk has lost these skills, whilst many other countries are still continuing.
This film is a lie. The North British utterly failed to transition to producing diesel and electric locomotives. To quote Wiki: 'Perhaps unwisely, North British supplied many of its diesel and electric locomotives to BR at a loss, hoping to make up for this on massive future orders that never came. This and the continuing stream of warranty claims to cure design and workmanship faults proved fatal...'
A bit harsh to describe it as a lie, very little of this film covers the transition from stem locomotive manufacturing. It paints an optimistic picture which is what you'd expect in 1949. The steam locomotive prowess of North British was evident at the time. That their attempts to carry the success across to diesel locomotives would fail, both in business and engineering terms wasn't known at that point.
It was the truth in 1949...
but the writinng was on the wall because in America one railroad had gone completely steam-less....
on to diesels and diesel electric locos.....
So the directors of NB appear to have buried their heads in the sand and not developed diesel or diesel electric...
and went bust in 1962...
only 13 years after this film was made.
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq Just like Leyland, Jaquar, Rootes etc same root cause. Empire is a bit like discovering oil, it goes down hill from there.
norf. luvs me films, 'ate the coloreds. simple as