AS was the case with the opening of the Queensferry Crossing recently, the opening of Glasgow’s Kingston Bridge excited a great deal of interest.
Watched by cheering crowds, the Queen Mother declared the £11.5 million bridge open on Friday, June 26, 1970. That night, an estimated 800 cars an hour were using the new facility, and everything was running smoothly. The RAC said motorists were treating it with some respect, though many “are daunted no doubt by its scale and grandeur.” The RAC spokesman went on to caution weekend sightseeing motorists that any attempt to stop, or to get out of their car, would be dangerous. Fairly obvious advice, you might think, but the organisation nevertheless felt obliged to offer it.
At some point that day the endless stream of cars, vans and lorries (none of whose drivers, one trusts, had stopped in order to get out and admire the new bridge) included this distinctive passenger aboard a low-loader. Sadly, the Glasgow Herald’s coverage of the opening makes no mention, alas, of the engine, far less of its destination, but it was evidently a striking enough subject for one of the paper’s photographers.
Forty-seven years later, of course, the Queen Mother’s daughter would find herself on bridge-opening duties in Scotland when she did the honours at the Queensferry Crossing.
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