The making of a Gardner straight eight diesel engine,part two.

This engine really facinates me,I never knew the name Gardner was from an original Liverpool family,my ex home town of course.Gardner engines still match up for total economy,they have a large weight penalty but on some displacement boats this may not be an issue? The two engines below are on a local charter boat,they are the originals and  date back to 1943  Click on the factory picture to view the full size of the Gardner factory. My thanks to boat owner Mike for the chance to take a picture inside his engine room.If you want to experiance a trip on Mikes boat over the season,please contact me and I will give you a contact phone number.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Gardner_and_Sons check the link out for a full story on the engines.
http://www.woodenboat.net.nz/Stories/mrgardnerfolder/mrgardner.html this one I love!

They made things big and strong in Manchester in those long gone days.

Trafford Park was the hub of heavy engineering in Manchester even when I was working there, they made all sorts of things from motors to transfomers to huge generators for power stations.

The only problem at the time was the soot that every factory churned out as many of the old factories were still powered by coal fired steam engines. I can remember, on cold icy mornings on the way to school, we would stop to warm ourselves outside the open fronted boiler room of Wilsons Hat Factory where we watched the stokers throwing coal into the open mouths of three or four grate boilers. Most of the machinery then would be belt driven from overhead pullies all driven by a huge low revving steam engine near the boiler room.

Romatic days indeed if you were a steam buff.

Notty.