Indeed, why do they? Well, it’s because the north-east side of the Gallery was used to calibrate land chains. A series of brass plates were embedded in the base of the building to facilitate calibration of land chains manufactured to measure distance in links or feet. For more information on this see here.
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Donation of Tellurometers
The museum has just acquired a pair of Tellurometer MRA3 distance measurers used by the British Antarctic Survey in the early 1970’s (see here).
Giant Cranes built by Sir William Arrol & Co Ltd – a Unique List
A unique list of giant cranes built by Sir William Arrol & Company Ltd (titled Sir William Arrol Giant Cranes [undated]). compiled by the late Dr Brian Newman was recently added to the collection. The list provides [Completion] Year, Customer, Max Load, Height of Lift, Working Radius, Slew Roller Path and Remarks. See here.
Enjoy a stay in Dalkeith Water Tower
Dalkeith Water Tower is a significant Scottish historical civil engineering landmark built in 1879. The tower was internally stripped and converted to a dwelling in the late 1980s. Today (2024) it can now be rented as a holiday let. All levels in the tower are accessed by a spiral staircase located on one side of […]
Japanese Visitors following in the Footsteps of Kaichi Watanabe
Dr Manako Yabe from Japan is currently a Research Associate at Heriot-Watt University’s Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies and has taken a keen interest in the Forth Bridge. This interest has been generated by her awareness of Kaichi Watanabe’s association with the Forth Bridge. Professor Paxton on a visit to Japan met a number […]
Museum’s website attracts 12,000 visitors so far this year
Each month the museum’s website attracts hundreds of visitors from all over the world. So far this year (1 January – 14 September) there have been 12,000 visitors representing 155 of the 195 countries in the world. Selected countries and visitor numbers are: Africa South Africa 115 Kenya […]
ICE President Visits the Museum
Professor Anusha Shah the President of ICE visited the museum on 3 September. Professors Paul Jowitt and Roland Paxton in the company of Professor Muhammed Basheer (head of EGIS at Heriot-Watt University) introduced her to a number of our more interesting exhibits including the Forth Bridge Hydraulic riveter, the Queensferry Crossing model and the portraits […]
Donation from CILT Scotland
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Scotland recently donated a medallion of office, chain-of-office and badges. For an article on this donation see http://ciltscotland.com/sr18112023.php. See 2023/009, 2023/010, 2023/011 and 2023/013
Visit by Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Scotland
Fourteen members and guests of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Scotland visited the museum on Tuesday 16 May. To read more about the visit click here.
UK Slide Rule Circle
The UK Slide Rule Circle is reaching out to the wider public particularly engineers to let them know of the Circle’s existence and to enable anyone who felt so inclined to join. Many civil engineers of a certain vintage who visit the museum go gooey-kneed at the sight of a slide rule. For those familiar […]