Tour Scotland photographs and videos from my tours of Scotland. Photography and videography, both old and new, from beautiful Scotland, Scottish castles, seascapes, rivers, islands, landscapes, standing stones, lochs and glens.
Old Photograph Arrol Johnston Motor Car Factory Scotland
Old photograph of the Arrol Johnston Motor Car Factory at Heathhall just outside Dumfries, Scotland. Arrol-Johnston, later known as Arrol-Aster, was an early Scottish manufacturer of automobiles, which operated from 1896 to 1931 and produced the first automobile manufactured in Britain. The company also developed the world's first " off-road " vehicle for the Egyptian government, and another designed to travel on ice and snow for Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole. George Johnston was by training a locomotive engineer from Neilson, Reid and Company Limited of Springburn, Glasgow. Johnston was commissioned by Glasgow Corporation Tramways in 1894 to build an experimental steam-powered tramcar to replace their fleet of horse drawn trams. In 1895 Johnston formed a joint venture with Sir William Arrol, an engineer of the Forth Bridge to form the Mo-Car Syndicate Limited, which was to produce his car. Sir William was Chairman and Johnston was Managing Director, and the Syndicate included a Mr. Archibald Coats, and a Mr. Millar of Paisley, while Norman Fulton was Works Manager. Sir William's main interest in the business was as the financial backer. The first Arrol-Johnston car was a six-seater " Dogcart " a vehicle with two transverse seats placed back to back, which went into production at a factory at Camlachie, in the East End of Glasgow. The company's Camlachie premises were destroyed by fire in 1901, and production was moved to Paisley. In 1913 Arrol Johnston bought land at Heathhall, just outside Dumfries, and commissioned an American firm to build a factory. This is said to be the first factory in Britain to use ferro-concrete, concrete reinforced with metal bars, and was designed by Albert Kahn, architect of the Ford factory at Highland Park, Michigan, USA, where the Model T was produced.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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