The full programme for Renfrewshire's doors open days weekend is now available to download from the doors open days website here.
This is a screenshot of our entry in the programme:
The eagled eyed among you will note that we are said to provide a resume service for business archives! This looks to be another example of the pesky autocorrect at work and should of course read rescue service.
We are preparing our own leaflet to circulate locally and hope to welcome many people into our offices on the 11th.
This is a screenshot of our entry in the programme:
The eagled eyed among you will note that we are said to provide a resume service for business archives! This looks to be another example of the pesky autocorrect at work and should of course read rescue service.
We are preparing our own leaflet to circulate locally and hope to welcome many people into our offices on the 11th.
The steamer Queen Mary is up for sale today in an online auction by Capital Boats, sale details here. She was built by William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton in 1933.
There's a news article on STV about it here and in the evening times here.
There's a news article on STV about it here and in the evening times here.
The National Maritime Museum is looking for help with its Warship Histories Project. They are looking to harness the knowledge their users have about their collections to enhance the existing information they have on over 20,000 British warships from about 1500 to 1950. This information includes:
You can read more about it on their blog.
The data includes the name, type and launch date of almost every British warship in the time period concerned. For many ships there is also data on the shipyard which built a vessel, and details of the service history and captains of the ship concerned. For some ships further technical details (for instance, construction materials or dimensions) are available.However, it is not complete and they are going to work with wikipedia to capture knowledge from experts in the wider community.
You can read more about it on their blog.
Today's photo is of the Renfrew Ferry, this ship was built by Fleming and Ferguson of Paisley in 1952. She was a river chain ferry and took cars which was a new development in the 1950s until then the renfrew ferry had been passenger only.
Specification details are available from the Clydebuilt site here.
I think she now operates as a static leisure venue at Anderson Quay, known as The Ferry.
We've started the preparations for our doors open day on Sunday 11th September, just over three weeks away now!
As part of that, we're going to be distributing flyers locally to encourage as many of our neighbours and residents of Johnstone to visit us at some point on the day. You can download the flyer here and it has a map of how to find us on it as well.
Today's photo is of the Rosslyn, a bucket dredger built by Lobnitz and Co. of Renfrew in 1912.
A bucket dredger is equipped with a bucket dredge, which is a device that picks up sediment by mechanical means, often with many circulating buckets attached to a wheel or chain. Very detailed information on bucket dredgers, how they work, their history and plans is available here.
Specification details are available from Clydebuilt database.
A bucket dredger is equipped with a bucket dredge, which is a device that picks up sediment by mechanical means, often with many circulating buckets attached to a wheel or chain. Very detailed information on bucket dredgers, how they work, their history and plans is available here.
Specification details are available from Clydebuilt database.
In a month's time on Sunday 11th September, the Ballast Trust will be opening its doors as part of Renfrewshire's doors open day weekend. We'll be open from 10 am to 4 pm.
We'll be welcoming you into the courtyard and behind the big red doors to find out what we do here, see some of the treasures we're currently working on and learn a bit about technical archives and why they are such an important part of the bigger picture of Scottish economic and social history.
I'll be blogging more about the exact collections we'll have on display in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.
Today's Friday photo is the Rivercloy, a Clyde puffer built in Larne, Northern Ireland by Larne Shipbuilders in 1910.
She was built for G & G Hamilton of Brodick.
The August batch of photos have been scanned and are up on our flickr pages. We're up to the 'Rs' which is a small batch but includes one of my favourites of the puffer ROMAN unloading potatoes at Kilchattan Bay. I've blogged about it before so can't use it as a Friday Photo for this week and will have to pick something else for tomorrow.
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| Image from here |
The National Archives announced today that the records of railway workers are now available online via Ancestry. At the Ballast Trust the railway records we are working on tend to be the production drawings and often all you get of the person who drew them is a set of initials in the title box.
The information now online has come from the TNA's Railway Employment Records, 1833-1963. This is a collection of over 2 millions employement records from a number of historic railway companies in England, Scotland, and Wales.
The information now online has come from the TNA's Railway Employment Records, 1833-1963. This is a collection of over 2 millions employement records from a number of historic railway companies in England, Scotland, and Wales.
All of the railways included in this database were once private companies that later came under authority of the British Transport Commission with the 1947 Transport Act. The collection features selected records from the following companies:Read more about it here on the TNA site or start searching here with Ancestry.
RAIL226: Great Central Railway Company
RAIL264: Great Western Railway Company
RAIL397: London and North Eastern Railway Company
RAIL410: London and North Western Railway Company
RAIL411: London and South Western Railway Company
RAIL414: London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
RAIL415: London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company (formerly the East Kent Railway)
RAIL426: London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company
RAIL463: Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company
RAIL491: Midland Railway Company
RAIL1156: Special Collections: Retired Railway Officers' Society
Approximately 50% of the books cover the Great Western Railway, while the books covering the London and North Western Railway are more dense with records. Most records are prior to 1949, though some date later.
The most common record type in the database is a staff register. Others include station transfers, pension and accident records (which can include death date), apprentice records (which can include father's name), caution books, and memos.