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On the road with George

There is usually a story behind an engine’s name and George is no exception. George, or more correctly, Lord George, is Garrett showman’s tractor No 33358 - which was owned by the late George Swann but is now with his son Kevin.

Driving another Garrett tractor was something I had been hoping to do for some time. As the owner of one, I was interested to discover if it is true that every engine is different. No 33358 and my own engine, No 33296, both left Leiston in 1918 with a difference in delivery dates of only five months.

The first Garrett No 4 compound tractor (4CD) was built in 1907 and by 1928 514 tractors had been produced. The 4CD tractor was the most successful tractor built by any traction engine manufacturer with Burrell being the other large producer, building 203.

Over the years there were many minor variations in design with three distinct periods being 1907-1911, 1912-19 and 1920-1928, the latter having a boiler pressure of 200psi. The Garrett tractor does not weigh five tons but just over seven. How it could be taxed as a 5-ton tractor is something of a mystery. The final result is really a small traction engine.

During WWI there was a shortage of transport with railways working to full capacity. The Ministry of Munitions, under the control of Lloyd George and later Winston Churchill, placed contracts for steam tractors with several engine builders. The largest contract was awarded to Garretts, who eventually supplied 80.

No 33358 was one of these Ministry of Munitions engines. Sometimes people mistakenly think they were shipped to France but most of them were used for transporting war materials with one used to haul trailer loads of coke to a number of factories.

Once the war was over, these engines were sold at public auctions at Slough and Kempton Park. No 33358 was purchased by Malcolm Bloomfield of Debenham, Suffolk,
and then converted for use on the fairground. Malcolm Bloomfield was a well-known agricultural engineer, having served an apprenticeship at Garretts.

After the engine was converted into a showman’s engine, it was sold to Fred Harris of Clare in 1922 and was used by the Harris family until after WWII. The last ride it powered was a set of Dodgems - no mean feat for a small engine as the Dodgems would require about 240 amps.

The engine lay out of use until it was discovered in 1954 by a group of friends including Kevin’s late father, George Swann. The engine was purchased and brought back
to Taylor Brothers’ yard at Wimbish near Saffron Walden. Over the years, George was able to buy out the other three owners until he finally owned the engine. At one time the engine was known as George’s Pride but is now perhaps more appropriately named
Lord George in memory of George Swann - a ‘man of steam’.

George started life with a set of ploughing engines owned by Drage & Kent and then joined Taylor Bros as a roller driver, well able to carry out maintenance and most repairs to engines. As steam was in decline after WWII, the Taylors and George Swann were among the earliest preservationists in East Anglia.

For a number of years, Taylor's yard had both commercially operating steam rollers and a number of preserved engines. Kevin has many fascinating stories from his childhood and teenage years when he was allowed to be involved with the engines. At a very early age he was allowed to drive engines and was able to learn from the many drivers employed at Wimbish.

Knowledge and experience in no small measure have been passed down to Kevin, not only by his father but also by Ben Taylor. Nowadays, very few engine drivers can spend more than a day or two each week out on the road with their engine but in those days many of the drivers were out on an engine six days a week. It is good that Kevin is now using his expertise to operate a business undertaking engine restoration work.When I arrived, Lord George had been rolled out in readiness for our day’s journey. The engine is normally kept at Taylor’s Yard at Wimbish (now administered by a trust and home to a number of engines). Currently the engine is being kept on an industrial estate which is conveniently close to Kevin’s home.

After a short chat, Kevin said: “You know what to do, so it’s over to you. The tubes have been swept and the ashes have been cleaned out. There’s firewood in the tender.”

I didn’t need further encouragement and soon had the fire laid and then lit. Once there was a good fire, I noticed a difference to my own Garrett. The dampers are not the same. Lord George has a very efficient damper, so efficient that the fire becomes quite dead when it is closed. My own damper does not make a perfect air seal and limiting combustion does not have complete control over the fire.

Once we had some steam showing on the pressure gauge, I started oiling round. Again there are small differences between our two engines. We don’t seem to have any oil pots that are the same pattern and where we lubricate the rear axle with oil, Kevin uses grease. Some of the oil pots are also in different places - near enough to be familiar but just slightly different. The cylinder lubricator is a Manzell, a rather better type than the original. The Vacuum Co was usually fitted and does not hold enough for a full day’s steaming. With this completed and pressure now over 100psi, Kevin ran the engine out of gear to draw the fire. He added more coal to the fire so it was much deeper than I would have expected.

The coal bunker was filled and with the fire now built up even further, we set off in low gear with Kevin driving and me steering. This would give me an opportunity to watch Kevin driving and learn something about his technique for firing the engine. The steersman’s left foot is well protected by a guard, which is not original but stops the steersman’s foot being caught in the rear wheel.

As soon as we reached the perimeter road, we stopped to change gear with me blocking the rear wheel. Now running in high gear, we set off and turned onto the A1307 Cambridge-Haverhill road. This is a busy road with a lot of fast-moving traffic. Not an ideal road for a traction engine but we only had a mile or so to cover before we turned off onto some quieter roads.

I had expected Kevin to drive Lord George faster than my own Garrett but I estimated the speed to be much the same. The noises of the engine were quite similar with more ringing of the gears than I’m used to. Some years ago I lined the inner flanges of the gears on the second shaft with wood and sealed them with builder’s mastic. One noise which was missing was the pinions on the end of the crankshaft which are quite noisy on my engine. The end of the crankshaft where the gears slide in and out of mesh is a square section which is easy to manufacture. Some engine builders such as Burrells used a splined shaft which is less prone to wear unlike a square shaft.

Lord George rocks quite noticeably when going over any bumps but this is typical of a showman's engine. This is caused by the extra weight of the dynamo on the front.

I needed to concentrate on the steering which is tighter than my engine and was not able to watch Kevin as closely as I would have liked. He spends a lot of time adjusting the pump and damper, balancing one against the other and with such a deep fire does not need to add coal. I have always fired on the principle of ‘little and often’. However, if the engine is being driven by one man this requires the engine to stop often. Kevin clearly learnt from the roller drivers who usually were single manned, that stopping so often limited their average speed, hence running with a deep fire.

Once off the main road, we changed over. I checked the water level and the fire was still very deep. I dropped the reversing lever forward and noticed this is a slightly different pattern to the one fitted to my engine. I unwound the brake and yes, that was just the same, but the regulator is in a different position. Several times during the day I placed my hand to where I thought the regulator was going to be, to discover it wasn’t there!

We set off at a steady pace into Babraham over a hump back bridge and turned off onto a side road. Kevin assured me the fire would not need any attention until we were approaching Sawston. I found it hard to keep pressure just under the red line – that is, between 150 and 180psi – as this is of course a 180psi boiler. I normally add coal and as soon as pressure rises use the injector but today we were running on the pump.

Garretts have always had notoriously noisy pumps but Kevin’s runs very quietly. On my Garrett, the pump has been modified so it can be taken out of gear when it is not required. During the journey I did use the injector. It is a Premier rather than a Penberthy and does not work in quite the same way. It does not work if the steam is turned full on. It works best when the steam is turned on full, shut off and then opened gently. A Penberthy does not require such a delicate touch.

As soon as pressure started to fall I opened the damper - perhaps not soon enough as it took a little while for pressure to build up. I closed the damper and as soon as pressure got close to 180psi, I had the pump on. I had boiler pressure fluctuating from 120 to 180psi which I agree is not ideal. I will say, as mitigating circumstances, I’m not used to using a pump and running with a deep fire and perhaps my reactions could have been faster.

The engine runs very well and responds almost instantly when the regulator is opened. The differences in regulator control are not the same on the two Garretts. Kevin’s requires little movement of the regulator to have a big effect. I ran with the engine in second notch most of the time. Unfortunately, there were no hills but on one or two of the sharp rises I tried putting the reversing lever into the fully forward position to see if there was any noticeable alteration in the way the engine was running. I was pleased to note that as soon as the revs dropped going up a rise, with the reversing lever fully forward the revs picked up straight away.

The Garrett tractor is the heaviest of all the tractors that were built. It is not as fast as many because it has a long stroke of 10in and a large flywheel of 3ft 3in which gives it enormous pulling power. A Tasker tractor by comparison is much faster on the road but has only an 8in stroke and a 2ft 6in flywheel, therefore able to rev much faster but not able to handle such heavy loads as a Garrett. Many engines working in hilly areas will need to stop to change gear on hills but a Garrett can manage in high gear on all but the steepest hills.

Sawston is a much larger place than I expected and quite busy. Traffic lights are often interesting when motorists try to squeeze in front of engines at the last moment. I think some car drivers imagine traction engines are fitted with disc brakes and can stop on a sixpence. Over mini-roundabouts and pedestrian crossings brought us out of Sawston to the more tranquil roads of Pampisford where we made a stop for a late lunch.

After our stop, pressure had dropped back to 80psi and there was little fire. The fire was gradually built up with the engine ticking over and we set off with 120psi showing on the pressure gauge. Kevin seemed confident it would quickly rise once we were out on the main road.

I set off at a steady speed waiting for pressure to increase so I could get the pump working. By this time water was low in the glass and I like to see the water in the top half of the gauge rather than the bottom half. Travelling along the A505 was not too difficult, as the engine was close into the side of the road making it easy for other vehicles to overtake. We didn’t go far before being back on minor roads.

For most of the return journey, I had the damper open and started to fire more frequently. As pressure rose I was able to use the pump and increase the water level. All the way back I was watching the water gauge carefully as at no time was there more than half a glass of water. Lord George is fitted with two reflex water gauges which appear to be original. However, on my Garrett, the gauge glasses have been replaced with a larger size of Klinger on the left and an even longer glass tube type on the right. Both the gauges on my engine are easy to see from standing position but on Lord George it is necessary to bend down to get a clear view.

This was a most enjoyable and instructive day. The next time I have my own engine on the road, I shall want to try running with a much deeper fire, but perhaps I will have to improve the damper first. If I find I can manage this technique, then I will be able to cope more easily when I’m single manning.

My own engine is the same as Lord George but there are many minor differences. Garretts made minor changes to their engines. However, over the working life of an engine, many changes take place and original parts are replaced with what is available. This all adds to the history of an engine although some people try to restore an engine to the exact specifications it had on the day it left the factory.

Lord George has only recently undergone a major restoration and is in excellent condition. Throughout our journey of almost 10 miles, the engine ran well and if there were any problems, they were down to my poor engine management.

My belief that a Garrett is a wonderful machine has been confirmed. It is an easy engine to drive and particularly suitable for road use in modern traffic and also economical in water and coal.

I must thank Kevin for allowing me the chance to drive his engine. This was the first time I have driven a Garrett tractor other than my own and the experience has been enlightening.

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