Canal & narrow boat vintage engines, repairs & parts

We list suppliers and reconditioners of vintage marine type engines & gearboxes. Working canal boats were traditionally pulled by horses, mules or donkeys but during the 20th century steam and then diesel engines came into use.

Narrowboat bow

  • A slow revving reliable vintage engine is very popular with some boat owners today. But you need space in your boat for an engine room, room beneath the boat for a large propeller and a fairly spacious wallet! A fully restored vintage engine will cost well over £10,000. Russell Newbury still build slow revving engines to a 1930’s design. There is a thriving market in replacement parts and repair services for vintage canal boat engines.
  • Not all working narrowboats had an engine. They were usually worked in pairs, the motor boat which had the engine towing a ‘butty boat’. Steam engines found only limited use but diesel engines became standard, evolving from water cooled single cylinder ‘semi diesels’ like the Bolinder to multi cylinder true diesels like the Lister JP, and air cooled engines like the Armstrong Siddeley Meganser.
  • You can compare the very distinctive sounds of an early single cylinder Bolinder diesel engine, a twin cylinder Lister JP2 and a post war air cooled Armstrong Siddeley. Many of these engines are still running in traditional canal boats after 70 years or more.



Vintage Engines

A.D. Engineering,
Lincs/Notts
Vintage engine repairs, rebuilding, restoring. Replica steel Narrowboat shells built. On site services, cover U.K.
Classic Maritime Diesels
Anson Engine Museum, Bridge 15, Macclesfield Canal
Marine engine erectors & repairers. ‘Gardner’ vintage engine specialists. Gearbox rebuilders.
David Schofield
North Wilts
Stuart Turner spare
Gardner Enthusiast
Oxford
Gardner engine parts and advice.
Gardner Spares
Canterbury, Worldwide
Gardner Engine spares online.
Marine Power Services
Poole, Dorset
Vintage and modern marine engine suppliers and restorers
R N Diesel Engine Co.
Manufacturer Russell Newbery Diesel Engines
Tangent Engineering
N. Ireland
Restoration of Gardner Engines
The Oil Engine Co.
Welshpool
Vintage Marine Engines & Vintage Marine Engine Club, Vintage Engine book
Tony Redshaw Vintage Diesels
Braunston
Engines and engineering services. Fabrications and repairs
07843 604722
vintage_diesels@btconnect.com
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Vintage Marine Diesels
Lister JP etc engines and new spares, Gardner L and LW, Lister HRW series. Norton Canes Docks.
Walsh’s Engineering Ltd
Manchester
Gardner Vintage Engines

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