1933-1943 - Williamson-Buchanan Steamers

At the end of 1935 this hitherto independent company, itself a merger of two private fleets, was absorbed by the Caledonian Steam Packet Company, the subsidiary of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. From 1936 until 1943, the Williamson-Buchanan vessels remained in a CSP subsidiary, Williamson-Buchanan (1936) Ltd.
As Williamson-Buchanan had no connection with the railway companies whose fleets dominated the Clyde and owned the piers with railheads, they had traditionally concentrated on "all-the-way" sailings to the coastal resorts from Central Glasgow - a longer day out, but traditionally cheaper for passengers. Queen Mary brought unheard of luxury to what had traditionally been the poor relation of Clyde services and remained closely associated with this route throughout her career.  

1943-1973 - Caledonian Steam Packet Co

Although she effectively came under the Caledonian Steam Packet Comapny from the 1936 seson, it was not until 1943 when the Williamson-Buchanan subsidiary was wound up and Queen Mary was re-registered with her parent company. The Caledonian, which had been established in 1889, retained its name through railway amalgamations, and when, in 1948, most of Britain's railways were nationalised and operated as "British Railways", it became a subsidiary of this new organisation. During this period, Queen mary was reboilered and emerged for the 1957 season with only one elliptical funnel. The CSP's ships were removed from railway control when, on 1st January 1969 it became a subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group, whose main activities were running buses and whose task was to cut the losses being incurred on maritime operations.  From 1973, the CSPs Clyde operations and the Western Isles services of David MacBrayne Ltd services were combined into a new entity, Caledonian-MacBrayne.

1973-1977 - Caledonian MacBrayne

When the CSP was merged with David MacBrayne Ltd (whose remaining private shareholders had been bought out) the new state-controlled entity embarked on a rapid programme of modernisation. This involved providing fast and frequent point-to-point services for car ferries - a lifeline for remote communities and essential to handle the growing motorised traffic to the main resorts. They were left with two large passenger-only "cruise" boats on the Clyde and paddle steamer Waverley was withdrawn after only one season. Excursion cruises, with such a strong tradition on the Firth of Clyde could not be abandoned completely and, with nobody expecting Waverley to survive other than as a static exhibit, Queen Mary was retained for further service. With Waverley back on the Clyde in 1975 under preservationist owners and both ships fighting for the dwindling customers  and precious local authority tourist development grants available, Caledonian-MacBrayne decided, after three seasons, to withdraw Queen Mary. They tried, with limited success, to maintain a cruising programme with their reserve car-ferry Glen Sannox which was, despite being cheaper to operate, poorly suited to the task.

1978-1988 : The Wilderness Years

Photo courtesy of John Jones

1988-2009 : A floating restaurant in London

Late October / early November 2009 : Preparations for removal

Photo courtesy of Ben Mann

On tow through London : Monday 9th Nov 2009

Photo courtesy of Mike Jackson

Photo of builders' plate kindly supplied by Andrew King

FOUNDATION CONTENT

EXTERNAL INTERNET RESOURCES

1969 : Queen Mary's regular Clyde roster
Queen Mary in commercial Postcards and the Press 

Entry in Lloyds Register for 1933-34

Wikipedia article
Clydesite / Clydebuilt Database
National Register of Historic Vessels entry
Ships of CalMac



Photographs and photo galleries on internet

Simplon Postcards : Website of Ian Boye with numerous views
QM on July 15th, 1961 by tamthebam
QM leaving Largs in 1977 by cessna152towser
QM in early 1960s (Hugh Spicer)
QM in mid 1960s (Hugh Spicer)
QM leaving Dunoon in the late 1960s by Amy's Antics
QM passing Braehead heading up the Clyde late 1960s (Neil F King)
QM at Rothesay in mid 1970s (Hugh Spicer)
QM as portrayed in Cal-Mac's 1973 timetable (Hugh Spicer)
QM retired at East India Harbour, Greenock in 1978 (Hugh Spicer)
QM retired at East India Harbour, Greenock in 1979 (Hugh Spicer)
QM retired at East India Harbour, Greenock in 1979 (Hugh Spicer)
At her old Glasgow Bridge Wharf base, late 1950s (Hugh Spicer)
Thomas Goold's Photos presented by Al Goold
Photo from c.1950 added by Marcel Gommers (Ships & Harbours)