"NORTH ROTUNDA REFLECTIONS"

Reflections of Crane number 7 built in 1931 by the Clyde Navigation Trust and capable of lifting 175 tons of cargo from shipping arriving on the River Clyde in Glasgow from all over the world.

The window with red brick surround forms part of the North Rotunda entrance to the Harbour Tunnel which opened in 1895 and now operates as a restaurant.


THE FORGOTTEN TUNNEL: In 1895 Glasgow was in the grip of a kind of tunneling mania. The Central Station low-level line was being dug, the underground railway circuit was nearing completion, and the Glasgow Harbour Tunnel Company's pride and joy was about to be opened after five years of excavating under the Clyde.

Parliamentary approval had been given in 1889 for a pedestrian and vehicle tunnel under the Clyde between Finnieston on the north bank and Mavisbank Quay on the south. Three l6ft diameter tunnels were dug, with shields and compressed air, the centre one being for pedestrians and the others for horse and cart traffic. The entrances on both sides were circular brick towers, which contained not only stairs for pedestrians but also hydraulic lifts for raising and lowering cart traffic to and from the main tunnel level under the river.

In each tower there were six segments of hydraulic hoist, three for up traffic and three for down. The hoists were provided by the Otis Elevator Company of New York, and the chairman of the Harbour Tunnel Company replied to criticisms from the Glasgow engineering establishment about the use of foreign machinery by saying that they were the best available.

It was on July 15, 1895 that the Harbour Tunnel opened for business. This was during the Glasgow Fair holidays, and traffic was light for the first week.

On the following Monday, however, when only half the hoists on each side were working, 218 vehicles used the tunnel during its opening period of 05.00 to 19:00 hrs.

The next day it was 272, and the secretary of the Otis Company's London subsidiary reported that 'the horses generally have taken most kindly to the lifts, and are carried up and down without trouble. Carters said that by avoiding the steep inclines at the nearby ferries they could take five extra bags of flour per journey.