About Gerard Beattie
I come from a place called Turville, Co Roscommon in rural Ireland. We had a small farm, saw mill and a lawnmower and chainsaw repair workshop. We maintained and repaired our own cars, tractors and lorry along with some of our neighbours cars, tractors and lorries. So growing up I was exposed to many areas of engineering.
I cannot remember when I first got interested in steam, but remember at a young age trying to figure out how a steam locomotive worked. I got an encyclopaedia and found how they worked. So tried to build one, but my first attempt was not a success. It took the attention of a metal work teacher, who gave me a book on building a simple traction engine, that I was able to build my first working engine. More details on this in the traction engine page. I built another traction engine, this time a steam roller, my own design, not a full success, bit the engine ran.
Next I moved on. My brother got me a model engineering magazine, where I got details of a mail order book shop in England. I got their catalogue and ordered a few books, along with plans for a steam loco. It took me four years to build the loco. More details on the loco page.
I applied to several collages to do engineering and after several offers of places, accepted an engineering course at the University of Limerick. Five years later I graduated with a degree, should have been 4 years, but maths was not my strong point.
Ireland was in recession then, so I went on a CNC training course. While doing this course, I was offered a job with a local company importing trucks. Worked there for 3 years, until a friend from collage told me that I was wasting my time there and should look for a proper engineering job. So applied to several companies and was offered a job with a company repairing jet engine components. Worked with this company for 6 years, learning CNC milling, laser, EDM, robotics and coatings.
Then I meet my wife to be, she was working in the UAE, in the middle east, so packed my bags and off I went. It took a while to get a job, first got a consulting job in Saudi on coating for industrial turbine components coatings, then a full time job in Dubai, also on industrial turbine components repairs. Was there in the UAE for 3 years, before I got another job offer, this time for jet engine firm in Hong Kong. There I started to design some steam engines and started the design of the steam launch that this website is about. Then our lives changed with the birth of our twin girls. After 4 years in Hong Kong, we were on the move again, this time back to the UAE and to Abu Dhabi, back to industrial turbine repairs again. So here I am in Abu Dhabi, working on the steam engine any chance I can get. Then in Jan2016 while driving home from work I had a seizure luckly my passenger was able to stop my car. I had a brain scan an I was diagnosed with brain cancer.then when taking a biopsy I had another seizure which caused a bleed and I had a stroke and was left with my left side week, so decided to return home to Ireland to recover. so I am home In Ireland with plenty of spare time to work on the boat but no power in my left hand to be able to work on the boat.
I have not given up on the boat. I placed the boat on a table in the hall so I could show it off to visitors. But I kept seeing it every day, so after 3 years I decided that I would finish the boat despite my illness. I could redesign the remaining components that are required to finish the boat so I could make them with my good hand with a bit of ingenuity, I would also enlist the help of my 11 year old daughter. So I started with the rubber control. I came up with a design that I could easily make. But it was when I had it made I did not trust it to be reliable, so I came up with another design