Herbert William Garratt

Life & Legacy

Herbert William Garratt (8 June 1864 – 25 September 1913) was an English mechanical engineer and the inventor of the Garratt system of articulated locomotives.
Garratt began his engineering career by serving an apprenticeship under John Carter Park, locomotive superintendent of the North London Railway, from 1879 to 1882 at the Bow works. He gained further experience at Doxford's marine engineering works in Sunderland and later as an inspector for Sir Charles Fox and Sir Alexander Rendel. Garratt joined the Argentine Central Railway in 1889, where he became Locomotive Superintendent in 1892, and between 1900 and 1906 he worked for railways in Cuba, Lagos and Lima (Peru). In 1902, Garratt was elected to membership of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He returned to England in 1906, taking on a role inspecting locomotives built for the New South Wales Government Railways by British manufacturers.