There was no Glasgow Tower the only time I was lucky enough to get a preview visit of the Science Centre and Imax theatre before they opened, so I never had the chance of a look before they opened it, and closed it, and opened it, and closed it, and…
It really was sad to watch this fiasco develop around a supposedly landmark attraction for Glasgow, meant to be the highest thing visible for miles around, and rotate to face into the wind.
Glasgow Tower is designed to move in the wind. Some visitors find the swaying sensation in windy weather unnerving. As a result, the tower closes when the wind speed exceeds gusts of 25 mph (40 kph) at cabin height (127 m).
The good news is that in the event of an emergency, visitors to the tower cabin can be evacuated via the 523-step spiral staircase (assuming they are not stuck in the lift).
I don’t know if access is still seasonal – the tower is currently closed for maintenance, with no opening details shown on its web site.
Since it was closed when I passed it, all I could get was pic of the cellar.
Sadly, not the actual bearing that caused all the problems – just a couple of motors and drive belts, or are they racks? It was too dark to see by then.
Oh. My mistake, a look at the processed image revealed SIX motors, three per side.
I’ve no idea what they’re for – maybe someone is thinking of building a giant Van de Graaff generator, and putting on lighting shows from the cabin at the top!
Now THAT would be impressive (maybe even to a certain Mr N Tesla).
Below Glasgow Tower
I suppose this is not even really ‘below’ to be accurate.
I was standing on the raised base at the bottom of the tower to take this pic. Since that base is about 5 metres high, what’s seen here is probably just at ground level, placing the bearing well below what can be seen.
Secret Scotland 