Went with Reu for a boy's day out to the Clydebank Titan crane.

There are 5 of these huge cranes on the Clyde, this was the first, built in 1907. It stands 150ft high, and could lift 200 tons. Very slowly. Amazingly, it was electric, whereas other such cranes were steam powered, which meant that it could be controlled by just 1 man.

It was designed and built by the same company that built Tower Bridge in London. 1 of the major challenges was apparently to make sure that the platform for the jib (arm) was completely level – otherwise there would always be this tendency for the arm to drift off to the side. The other issue I hadn't thought of was communicating with the driver – they used hand signals or a whistle!

It stands in what used to be John Brown's shipyard. Its most famous products were the Queen Mary and the QE2. The Queen Mary was older, and bigger, over a thousand feet. The slipway is gone but marked by a path of cobbles leading up into the new Clydebank college, a nice touch. Once the hull was intact, the ship was launched into the Clyde, then brought round into the Fitting Dock, where the Titan stands. For the Queen Mary, the fitting dock had to be extended. The heavy lifting was not to do with the hull, but with the engine components, and with weapons eg guns (for building battleships); and there would probably be only half a dozen big lifts for 1 ship.

The Crane is grade A listed, in view of its historical value. It was restored at a cost of £3million, after consultation with the community… There's not a patch of rust on the whole thing, it lights up at night and the lift/stairs can be easily removed if it is ever decided to return the crane to its original condition.