WHEN Dalmarnock Power Station opened for business in September 1920 it was said to be the largest electricity power station in the UK.
It belonged to Glasgow Corporation, and while some corporations in England were contemplating stations of their own, none of them, said this paper, “will exceed the Dalmarnock scheme, when fully completed, in extent or capacity of output. Through its agency, Glasgow may confidently depend upon an adequate service of electricity at all times, and under all but the most abnormal conditions.”
The station, which stood close to the River Clyde, did indeed serve the city well for decades, and became a highly familiar landmark in the city, but it was closed down in 1977, and was subsequently demolished.
In May 1969 it was announced that a remnant of the power station was itself going into official retirement.
The so-called ‘Thermos Flask’, alias Number 1571, the proud old locomotive that had been shunting wagons at the power station for the last 50 years, was handed over by the South of Scotland Electricity Board, the station’s operators, to the Glasgow Museum of Transport.
Read more: Herald Diary
The locomotive’s place in the annals of transport history was assured, the Glasgow Herald noted, and in the museum it would be “preserved and cared for in a manner befitting its proud history.”
No 1571 was a fireless steam locomotive and was possibly the last of its kind in Britain.
It was built in 1917 by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co, Ltd, at its Caledonia Works in Kilmarnock, for the Ministry of Munitions, and it was bought for Dalmarnock on the closure of the Gretna munitions factory in 1919.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here