Glasgow Riverside Museum

It's coming to the end of the school's summer holidays. My children have been off for eight weeks in total which is a long time to keep them entertained. It can be a struggle to keep them amused but a few days out can break the routine quite nicely. One of my favourite trips out used to be Glasgow's Transport Museum. It had a fascinating collection of transport related exhibits and it appeals to a wide age group from the very young to very old - it was also quite handy to get to, being located across the road from the Kelvingrove Museum. However, this was closed down a year ago to move to bigger and better premises - it has reopened this summer as the "Riverside Museum" on the banks of the Clyde. I took the boys there on Friday.

First of all I had to get there - there have been rumours of the car park being full to bursting due to the popularity of the museum. It was very full when we got there although there did appear to be a few spaces free. As it was, I decided that we would take the train to Partick and walk the rest of the way. The museums website said to follow the signs to the museum: however, there aren't any - at least not in the station itself. I'm reasonably familiar with that part of Glasgow so I did find my way around but I think it would be quite possible for a new visitor to take completely the wrong exit. I also thought the "10 minutes" walking time with children was a tad optimistic and, even then, I didn't think it was the most pedestrian friendly route with crossings over several major roads. Anyway, we did get there and I did stop griping - there is an awful lot to see.

I suppose I would have to make comparisons with the old museum. The first thing to notice is that it is a lot less cramped. The exhibits are given much more space to themselves and this works especially well with the trains and trams which need to be seen at a fair distance to be fully appreciated. The other thing to notice is that this is a thoroughly modern visitor attraction with many of the exhibits having interactive displays and games to go with them. In one way, this does take a bit away from the displays themselves as I noticed the boys were more interested in pressing buttons on the screens than actually looking at the cars and bikes. However, the displays with the subway trains and trams actually gave a good impression of what they would have been like to travel on.

One thing I didn't think worked as well was suspending some of the exhibits high above view. The Bicycle Velodrome might have been a cute idea - a circular track suspended from the ceiling with the bikes "racing" around - but it actually prevents close inspection of the bicycles' working parts: it's quite surprising how little they have fundamentally changed in the last 100 years. This habit of hiding from view was particularly noticeable with the "wall of cars" - curious models such as the Messerschmitt and BMW Isetta bubble cars were far from view and this really prevents one getting any idea of their scale. In fact the Isetta was so high up it was not actually visible from the floor. I also noticed that a few interesting exhibits from the old museum were missing, such as Jackie Stewart's F1 car and the old Glasgow trolley bus. I seem to recall that they varied the old museum's exhibits so it's possible that these may be shown again in the future.

I think one thing that worked particularly well was the reconstruction of old streets from the late 19th Century through to the 1970s. Some of these are themed - the collection of toys was fascinating although, in a way, also rather depressing - the manufacturers included the likes of Triang, Hornby, Meccano and Dinky. As I said to someone at the time, I don't just remember the toys, I can remember people who worked in the factories making them (and they weren't Chinese!) The other shops are themed for their period and so we have saddlers, furniture makers and even a collection of prams over the years - every type of transport is considered. There is a tall ship moored at the back which can be viewed at extra cost but we gave that a miss as we were running out of time.

The boys really enjoyed it - being able to get up close to fire engines and trains, and to actually see what the drivers cab is like when these are normally hidden from view is a real experience. I also think they learned a few things - both in terms of how our transport system came into being and also how people used to live in the past: even if this is only back as far as my own childhood. Given the scale of the building I think it would be quite possible for us to go back in a year's time and still find it new and interesting.

So maybe a couple of minor gripes but I think Glasgow Museums have done a great job with The Riverside - it's a facinating day out and genuinely educational. What's more, it's still free to go in.