Tim Watkinson

Tim Watkinson worked at the Newbury Diesel Company from his time as an apprentice in 1950 through to 1974, although it was  broken by ten years in the RAF as  an technician between 1956 and 1966. Both he and the Air Force found his engineering knowledge and skills gained at NDC were unique.. Even though away from Newbury Diesel for that length of time, it was merely a break in his job with the marine engineering  that he found so satisfying. He has taken the time during his retirement to document and research items of interest from the early days.
A great proportion of his knowledge has been devoted to categorising the technical development of the Sirron engines and this information can be found under the heading  “Engine type Information”.. Most of the engine types are covered and  most of it from memory.
The Newbury Diesel company were great innovators, often doing the most incredible engineering on a shoestring but with the skill and expertise needed to provide a first class result. One example of the engineering skills brought to the fore by, in this  case Tim, was the design of a complex but inexpensive tool to accurately line bore some engines of Italian manufacture that were rebuilt by NDC for the Red funnel Line. This tool was a line boring machine driven by an air drill driving through a couple  of speed reduction boxes and a traversing screw thread. Simple but it worked.
Tim has also been a great source of photographic material that he has collected together and has allowed it to be used here.