Salvaged Garrett steam engine shines at Newark show

Salvaged Garrett steam engine shines at Newark show

For Nottinghamshire engineer James Ragsdale, bringing the Garrett steam engine named Invincible back to life has been a true labour of love.

What began 15 years ago as little more than a discarded boiler has now earned him the top prize in the Steam Engine class at this year’s Newark Vintage Tractor and Heritage Show.

When James first found the remains of the engine, it was far from a working machine

“All I bought was a boiler and the wheels,” he said. “Everything else had gone.” The boiler had been repurposed as part of a central heating and sterilising system in a row of garages in Swaffham, Norfolk. “It was producing heat for the garages. The rest of the engine had been scrapped.”

Built by Richard Garrett & Sons of Leiston, Suffolk, the engine originally worked in threshing and later timber haulage. Founded in the late 1800s, Garretts produced engines and machinery until 1963 and earned a reputation for building particularly solid machines.

“They were heavier than most,” James explained. “There was a seven-ton limit in place at the time, but Garrett didn’t seem to care much about that. They just built them strong, which is why so many have survived.”

James grew up around steam, describing it as something that runs in the family. “I was six days old the first time I went to a steam rally,” he said. His father is a pattern maker and helped produce the moulds for replacement parts, while James, a machinist and fabricator, made and fitted the components. Together they rebuilt the engine piece by piece in their workshop over 12 years. “If I added up the hours, it would probably be half my life,” he joked.

The finished engine, which was polished to within an inch of its life for the Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show, earned its name Invincible because of its remarkable resurrection story. “It was cut up and buried,” said James. “When we brought it back, the name just seemed to fit.”

Maintaining it is no small task. “Getting it ready for a show is a day’s work in itself,” he said. “When it’s in steam, you can’t leave it. It’s like looking after a live bomb.” On the road it manages around 12 miles per hour and burns through eight 25kg bags of coal a day, covering roughly 10 miles per bag.

Despite the workload, James wouldn’t part with it for the world. “She’ll never be sold,” he said. “It’s part of the family.”

Now fully restored, Invincible is a showpiece that travels the length of the country – from Dorset to Whitby and even Ireland.