I ENJOYED Graeme Smith's Agenda article proposing a maritime heritage centre for Glasgow ("A maritime heritage centre would be a trmendous asset for Glasgow", The Herald, October 5).

What particularly resonated with me were his comments about the shortcomings of the Riverside Transport Museum.

I did not enjoy my first visit soon after it opened but I thought that might have been because it was overcrowded with the early rush of visitors. Sadly, my second visit a couple of weeks ago, when it was relatively quiet, reinforced my disappointment. The Transport Museum contains a wealth of superb exhibits but it is a pity so many are displayed less well than in the Kelvin Hall.

As Graeme Smith notes, the new building is too small for what it contains. Its irregular shape wastes a good deal of the space. The promotional literature tells us that more items are on display than in the Kelvin Hall and the largest, the South African Railways locomotive, takes up a huge amount of room.

Many exhibits that should be grouped together, including the ship models, are scattered about the building, making it difficult to obtain a coherent view of the development of different types of transport. The placing of most of the ship models makes it impossible to walk round them and view them properly. There is much merit in his proposal for a separate maritime museum.

To place motor cars on shelves high on a wall, and suspend motor bikes from the ceiling, can only be described as ridiculous. They cannot be seen properly, which defeats the purpose.

People with a serious interest in the exhibits should be able to expect a reasonable amount of technical and historical information, but the labels seem designed just for children.

I must not be too disparaging. The museum has many good features, notably the recreated street scene. Without doubt it has been successful in attracting many visitors, and it is splendid if it interests children in its subject matter; but for me the old exhibition in the Kelvin Hall was better.

The new building puts style before practicality, but its architecture is undoubtedly imaginative; and, having won the accolade of European Museum of the Year, it is evidently widely admired. But I am reminded of the story of the Emperor's new clothes.

RL Marshall,

3 Kirkdene Grove,

Newton Mearns.