Transport

THE SUMMER of 2019, with the much-loved paddle steamer Waverley out of action because of boiler problems, the Clyde off Helensburgh seemed quiet and a lot less fascinating.

But that was certainly not the case in 1949-50, when the then favourite Clyde steamer had extremely noisy jet engines.

ONE of the more unusual aspects of Helensburgh and district railway history was a fire that destroyed the signal box at Cardross on the evening of April 26 1971.

A very drunk passenger missed his stop, disembarked at Cardross and proceeded to cause mayhem. The signalman, Jack Vickers, fled the box, whereupon the drunk set fire to it.

ON August 6 2012 it will be the bicentenary of the first commercial sailing of Henry Bell’s Comet steamship.

Will celebrations be organised, if so by whom, and what will they consist of? The 100th and 150th anniversary celebrations set a high standard to be followed.

CYCLING in the Helensburgh area is thought to have begun in the 1870s — and there have been several cycling clubs in the town over the years.

Local historian Alistair McIntyre, a director of Helensburgh Heritage Trust, researched the pastime, and what follows is what he has found out.

HELENSBURGH'S first Provost, steamship pioneer Henry Bell (1767-1830), came to live in the burgh in 1806.

Already a successful businessman, engineer and architect, he built the Baths Hotel (later the Queen’s Hotel) in East Clyde Street to run with his wife Margaret as a spa near the marine villas of the wealthy Glasgow merchants who either lived in the town or kept a mansion as a summer holiday home.

THIS exhibition took place from September 13-16 1997 in the Pillar Hall, Victoria Halls, Helensburgh, and was a celebration of the Clyde and all that the river meant to the people of Helensburgh.

A fine working model of the Comet was displayed along with maps, photographs and text tracing the history of the development of the burgh with the coming of steam navigation.