{"id":1422,"date":"2015-10-23T21:52:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T21:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1422"},"modified":"2015-10-23T21:52:32","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T21:52:32","slug":"clydebridge-steelworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/industrial\/clydebridge-steelworks\/","title":{"rendered":"Clydebridge Steelworks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I guess I can tell this story now. Clydebridge steelworks to the East of Glasgow was founded in 1887, and in its heyday produced steel plate for many of the Clyde&#8217;s famous liners. When the M74 motorway extension was being built past the site, I took the chance to make a midnight visit.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4513995783\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2755\/4513995783_696032f48a_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 1\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nipped into one corner of the giant shed, and though it was all lit up, everything was quiet. <a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514637198\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2242\/4514637198_12ea69d67d_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 3\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I was feeling very exposed, so quickly climbed up a staircase and hopped over onto the walkway alongside the huge gantry crane. Very high off the ground with no safety rail.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4513999647\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2780\/4513999647_02fdb4efa5_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 4\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>The crane control cab is slung underneath, climbing down into it is like a scene from Star Wars. <a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514640498\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2017\/4514640498_9cde905e43_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 6\" width=\"427\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Everything was turned on, but I just about managed to resist playing with it.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514642598\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2795\/4514642598_2ffa1be650_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 8\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>I walked along the walkway to the other end of the shed &#8211; keeping as far away from the edge as possible. <a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514004717\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2151\/4514004717_c019750c73_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 9\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514005749\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2404\/4514005749_ca5e6a268a_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 10\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514007093\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2152\/4514007093_30894b8a96_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 11\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Walking around, I could look down on some of the giant plate rolling machines.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514009549\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4049\/4514009549_36c8ee36fd_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 13\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Then down some stairs to ground level again. <a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 15\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514650868\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4011\/4514650868_5064f95701_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 15\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Looking at some giant plate cutting machines.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 16\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cycleologist\/4514651946\/in\/album-72157623713792709\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2120\/4514651946_f85ec46192_z.jpg\" alt=\"Clydebridge Steelworks 16\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This is the last picture I took. I saw movement in the distance, so sprinted back to the stairs and up, then along the walkway. Half way along, suddenly there were a dozen men below me &#8211; I must have got in in a lucky gap in shifts, and now everyone was heading back to work. I sprinted back along the walkway, hopped over the railing to the stairs down, waved hello to a surprised crane driver just settling into the same seat I&#8217;d been sitting in a few minutes earlier, and sprinted out of the building.<\/p>\n<p>Postscript: A few weeks later, I got an email from the head of Health &amp; Safety at Corus Clydebridge. He didn&#8217;t approve of my midnight visit, of course, but liked the pictures &#8211; so he invited me back for an official tour of Clydebridge and Dalzell mills. Pictures of them <a href=\"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/industrial\/active-steelworks\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I guess I can tell this story now. Clydebridge steelworks to the East of Glasgow was founded in 1887, and in its heyday produced steel plate for many of the Clyde&#8217;s famous liners. When the M74 motorway extension was being built past the site, I took the chance to make a midnight visit. Nipped into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industrial"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/4514007093_30894b8a96_z-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3yGoo-mW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1425,"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions\/1425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catchingphotons.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}