The filling factory closed in 1919, but it had 10,000 workers at it's peak, with special trains bringing all the workers. Explosives were made elsewhere, but shells were filled there in huge numbers.

I'll add more to the page on the Wiki as soon as I get time...

Struggling with the meaning of the word gaines used in the filling factory page. Can't find a definition anywhere.

Is it a local term, or a typo?

A gaine is a booster between the mercury fulminate detonator and the TNT explosive - HE shells has to be very stable so they wouldn't go off by accident, so the booster was needed to make sure the detonation worked properly. Tetryl was usually used as the gaine.

Dug in the wrong place looking for info

Still learning.

I've got a detailed map of Georgetown - problem is, it's acquired from BAE

So I'm re-interpreting it in Google Earth - will put it up once I've worked out what everything is...

Very interesting post,
Spoke on the phone to a greenock Auntie who worked at ROF Bishopton in the Fifties,anyway she was "Chatted up" by one of the Guards/Security.Just fine in her words except the perimeter security dogs there were trained by this gent to recognise scents etc such as that of Blood-not that of Animals.The relationship was a non-starter.Notwithstanding other boasts by said gent.The establishment has a fair few stories to tell.One Involving Paisley gilmour st station.Any...takers.Fascinated by the Gaines query its a common surname in the deep south of the USA.A generic brand name as such.Reminds me of the catheter in the medical World which is names as a Scotsman in the US and thge Yankuur in the UK named I undrstand after the two companies which had distribution rights to the products(Identical) in the respective countries.Incidentally back to ROF you will notice that the establishment has sprouted a mast any takers on this given that the place is in a valley.I dont think its cellular.

Very interesting post,
Spoke on the phone to a greenock Auntie who worked at ROF Bishopton in the Fifties,anyway she was "Chatted up" by one of the Guards/Security.Just fine in her words except the perimeter security dogs there were trained by this gent to recognise scents etc such as that of Blood-not that of Animals.The relationship was a non-starter.Notwithstanding other boasts by said gent.The establishment has a fair few stories to tell.One Involving Paisley gilmour st station.Any...takers.Fascinated by the Gaines query its a common surname in the deep south of the USA.A generic brand named as such.Reminds me of the catheter in the medical World which is names as a Scotsman in the US and the Yankur in the UK named I understand after the two companies which had distribution rights to the products(Identical) in the respective countries.Incidentally back to ROF you will notice that the establishment has sprouted a mast in the middle near the aztec structure any takers on this given that the place is in a valley.I dont think its cellular.

What's the aztec structure?

I've finished the Georgetown map - now linked to in the wiki...

Aztec structure - wall around drum blender (perspective + angle)

Georgetown map is nice.

Are there tools to help create these overlays?

I haven't found any - I just do it in GE by hand.

I've started on the massive job of adding pictures and info to the Bishopton wiki page - NG and NC started so far. Hopefully I haven't made too many mistakes

Your efforts are much appreciated Ben.

Just noticed that Google have got new high-res images of Glasgow - you can see the bicycle I had parked outside my house! More relevantly, it also covers half of ROF Bishopton - teasingly, it slices right through the large drum blender, but there's a good aerial view of the small drum blender and lots of other things.

I see what you mean - the new detail is impressive.

I'm surprised. I'm on the list for updates, and the last major upload was back in April or May - at least one that referred to the UK and Scotland in particular.

There have been some others notified in recent weeks, but no-one mentioned anything about the UK - unless they maybe edited existing notes and didn't generate an alert.

No matter, main thing is we all know now.

Thanks

Checked the data, and the new imagery generally dates from May 2009, which ties in with what I can see locally, as it includes me.

I even looked to see and confirm that both Google Earth AND Googgle Maps show this detail, as GE generally gets the data push first, then it's pushed through the system to Maps at at some later time - it's the same in both for my area.

I've also thrown up a quick Blog entry and example.

I've finally finished my book on Bishopton (and Ardeer) - it's been a lot of work

I'm a bit tired of explosives factories at the moment, but as soon as I recover I'll update the wiki with some of the new info I dug up.



Blurb has a full preview online so you can scroll through all the pages...

Very nice

Was about to have a quick flick through... then saw the number of pages, and realised even that will take a little more than five minutes

Never seen Blurb before either, so I've learnt something interesting, which may be of interest to others, so I will be passing the link on to others as an example, as it may be something they want to use as well.

Radio 4's Costing the Earth did an item on cleaning up the Bishopton site today.

MB

Randomly, I caught that on the radio in the car. The developer has pulled out of Bishopton, so it's all a bit up in the air at the moment.

Noticed that the serious work has started on the ROF Bishopton site. Rows of the large Earth Mover trucks onsite. Shudder to think where they will put the top soil let alone the remainder of the site materials.

Which part of the site was this at, greenock?  Might have a nosey next week.

This is the side nearest to the Railway line and indeed the Gatehouse complex.You cant miss it from the train.The vegitation has been cleared to reveal extensive works.

Yes, they're finally getting serious about demolishing everything

Interesting times - I often marvel at all this housebuilding - but who can afford them?

I don't think they've got a builder involved after the last one pulled out - they're just demolishing for the sake of it.

Quoted from BenCooper

I don't think they've got a builder involved after the last one pulled out - they're just demolishing for the sake of it.

Another slice of history being destroyed.  I didn't manage round the site periphery as planned today, but I did see a large advertising board in a field near North Commonside (east side of M8 ) advertising land for sale.  So much for greenbelt..