An aerial view of Pinkston Power Station on North Canal Bank Street, from the east, 1957. The stretch of the Forth and Clyde Canal from Port Dundas to the sharp bend at Speir's Wharf is in the middle distance.
The brick building was built 1900-1901 to generate electricity for the city's municipal tramways and in 1957 the camouflage paintwork applied during the Second World War is still clearly evident. The cooling tower was the largest in Europe when it was built in 1952-1954.
By 1957 Pinkston was providing electricity for the city's trolley buses, as well as trams, and was contributing 17 million units of electricity to the national grid.
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
aerial views, cooling towers, Glasgow Corporation Transport, Pinkston Power Station, power stations, trams, trolley buses