Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i Tractor & Farming Heritage

By the time you read the introduction to TFH, this time the Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show will have already happened. So, by the seemingly strange way in which our magazine deadlines occur, we look forward to giving you an in-depth review of one of my favourite events next time. Christmas is next up on the agenda and I hope you may get some gift inspiration from our Christmas guide in this issue if you are looking for that last-minute present. With the Covid-19 restrictions fixed in their present state, it looks like the resurgence in the events calendar will continue to rise and other sorely missed events will return in due course. For 2022, one of the big events early in the season will be the National Vintage…

There are few ladies who, in their 80th year, can be seen leading a tractor road run. But Annie Chapman is no ordinary octogenarian. For the past 18 years she has led her Pink Ladies on a 20-mile journey that is now the iconic Ladies’ Tractor Road Run. And, although most of this year’s 105 ladies did not know it was a special anniversary for Annie, they certainly delivered a very special present for her. The run raised a record £78,082. The ambition to beat a cumulative total of three quarters of a million pounds was more than fulfilled with the total now standing at £812,000. This year’s cheque was formally presented by Cecilia Pryce, a committed Pink Lady with her own 1960 Dexta. Cecilia presented the cheque to Debbie…

As usual, the Ford family were to dominate with the ‘custom’ style grade 5.5 1963 Roadless 6/4 no. 6026933, which carries a 1968 registration TBL 374G was to be the top lot here at a good £40,000. The second highest was the wonderful and beloved late Ted Goldup single-speed 1915 Overtime R no. 2929, which Ted found behind a shed and tree and had to clear everything out to remove the tractor. It sold for £38,500 and although in grade 4 condition, is an excellent runner. Ted gave the tractor a Mk2 restoration in 2001 and then took part in the largest ever gathering of veteran tractors ever assembled in the UK at the 2001 GDSF. The classic Ford 10 series did very well and the 1991 Massey Ferguson 365…

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, and there is no telling what one might find when going to remove scrap from someone’s home. In time, that builds to the kind of collection that Richard Jones has on his premises. Occasional gems Of course, there are broken gates, mangled pieces of tin and broken washing machines to process your way through, but in amongst the detritus of discarded human belongings, there is the occasional gem, something that catches the eye and is just too precious to be melted down. Such finds are the rewards of the job, and it is fortunate these old treasures are found and rescued before they meet their ultimate fate. When it comes to classic and vintage machinery at least, they aren’t making any more of…

During most of the First World War, the International Harvester Company was firmly established as the biggest selling tractor manufacturer in America and throughout the world, and this success lasted until 1918 when the new Fordson tractor pushed IH into second place. Growth The war years were a period of prosperity for America’s tractor industry, with interest in power farming growing rapidly. During 1914, the year the war began, American tractor production was about 15,000, increasing to over 132,000 built in 1918, and the spectacular growth continued for a further two years after the war ended, with over 203,000 tractors built in 1920. With tractor sales increasing so rapidly, more new companies were attracted into the industry, some of them rushing into production with tractors that were poorly designed and…

Breconshire and Welsh vintage tractor scene has lost a larger-than-life character in the shape of Mervyn Prosser, says Anne Bates. Mervyn, who was 73 years old, passed away suddenly in hospital on October 2 and his funeral service and burial took place on Saturday, October 23. The small hamlet of Llandeilo’r Fan was brought to a standstill as family, friends and neighbours congregated to pay their respects to‘Pross’. Farmer’s son, Mervyn, was the chairman of Defynnog Vintage Society for some 15 years until retiring from the position in 2019. He was influential in the organising of the 2002 National Vintage Tractor Road Run and was the route leader for the inaugural Welsh National Tractor Road Run in 2012. He had taken part in many tractor runs all over Britain and…

The annual working weekend of Tracks Across the Field, was organised by the Wessex Historic Tractor and Implement Club for its members and held on August 21-22, near Petersfield, Hampshire. Over the weekend 68 vintage and classic tractors, spanning six decades were booked in to attend, with a variety of cultivation equipment, including ploughs, cultivators, and disc harrows. The club had organised for over 40 acres of ground to be cultivated, by kind permission of John Ellis of Ben’s Green Farm. On the Saturday evening a road run was organised, which was mostly off road, and navigated the many small lanes in the area. To conclude this fantastic event for members, the annual Sunday Crawl Past took place, with as many tractors working together up the field as possible, this…

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The main interest at the H J Pugh Willow Barn Farm, Chandlers Green, Hampshire sale on September 22 was this genuine 1964 John Deere 4020 Syncro. It was supplied by Lunnons of Edenbridge, Kent, the main UK and Ireland John Deere importer at the time before the JD Langar company was set up in 1966. This tractor was also the star at the John Deere, Langar, September 2016 celebrations and ploughed both days with the JD 145H plough which we see here. It is very much up together, and had been well restored and went on to make a record £18,600 and the JD F145 plough for just £2100.…

Every year on the allotment, as well as the wuzzels and cabbages I grow for the sheep, I set a couple of short rows of potatoes for use in the house. I like spuds any way you can have them. They say they are not good for you, too much of something or other, but, hey, if you took notice of “experts” you wouldn’t eat anything that you like. Hoover Anyway, every year those spuds seem to get lower to the ground and more tiring to lift. I use a “tattie fork” to fork them out of the ridge and then bend down and pick them into a wire basket and then tip them into a sack. Over the last couple of years, I have occasionally looked on the “interweb”…

Many tractor enthusiasts get involved with the hobby at a young age, but Douglas Bennie from Lenzie near Glasgow was very keen even when he was just a toddler. “My father, Richard Bennie, used to keep a small herd of highland cattle on some rented land near to where we live,” he recalls. “He had this old David Brown 880 that helped feed the stock during the winter months. I’d sometimes go along when he was driving the tractor and would be allowed to sit on the seat.” Foundation Thanks to dad’s help and encouragement, Douglas was given a proper grounding in the “do’s and don’ts” of building a tractor collection. He now owns an impressive number of machines, which mostly wear either a Ferguson or Massey Ferguson badge. Ironically,…

The 70th British National Ploughing Championships were celebrated in style when thousands of people visited the event held on land at Mindrum Mill, Northumberland on October 9-10. The site covered almost 300 acres in 14 different fields and was kindly loaned by D Harvey and Son. First time plougher in the British Championships, Brian Baxter, from Forfar, Angus was the winner of the Reversible Final. Ashley Boyles from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire won the Conventional Final for the fifth time, ploughing with a Massey Ferguson tractor and Kverneland plough. The Vintage Trailing Plough-Off Final was won by another Lincolnshire man, John Crowder, who lives at Sturton-by-Stow, near Lincoln, ploughing with a Fordson N tractor and Ransome RSLD Major plough. In the Vintage Hydraulic Final, Charlie Nicklin from Congleton, Cheshire used his…

The much anticipated Seven Gables Working Day eventually took place on Raymond McDaid’s farm at Mulleanen in the Foyle Valley. This one-off event had been planned for harvest time 2020 with a field of barley set aside for demonstrations of harvesting methods from the past. Some spuds had also been planted so that younger members of the public could experience the effort that went into potato harvesting while the older generation shared their memories. It had all the signs of a good day’s craic had it not been for Covid-19, so the decision was made to cancel the event, carry out the harvesting behind closed gates and have another go in 2021. I had hoped to be there with my camera for the ploughing, cultivations and planting in the spring…

Before 1900, different methods were used to make metal toys using tin alloy, lead and lead alloy in vast numbers by manufacturers in several European countries, including Great Britain. Flat figures pre-date solids and it was not until around 1900 that hollow castings would supplant all of them - a method pioneered by William Britain in London. Flat figures To produce simple flat figures, a two-part mould was first created out of slate, stone, bronze or even wood into which a design was dug out on one or both sides. The sides were fastened, and the void in between filled with molten metal and once the casting had cooled, the piece was turned out and cropped. The detail was added later using etching tools to highlight features such as horns,…

I bought the Case R in 1974, the same week I started courting my wife. It stood behind the Fox and Hounds Pub just outside Thaxted (now an old people’s home). I noticed it when I drove past on a tractor and could see the Case over the hedge together with a saw bench. The tractor looked in a very rough condition. Quite rare The next Saturday afternoon, I went to see the landlord, Jim Saunders. Besides keeping the pub, he worked for the local earthmoving contractor, Mr Bent Marshall, Stebbing, where he spent most of his working life driving Caterpillar tractors. I asked Mr Saunders if he would be interested in selling the tractor, as I knew it was a Case R and quite rare at the time. He…

The Marshall Club held its inaugural working weekend at the Bates family farm at Mansfield on September 4-5, 2021, writes Ian Palmer. Club members John Bateman and Andy Parker, who had held an impromptu working day at the Bates’s farm in 2020, had suggested the idea. Mansfield was an ideal location as it is situated more or less in the middle of England and was easily accessible to most club members. In 1983, the Bates family had collected a brand new harvest gold Marshall 804 direct from the factory at Gainsborough, but the tractor was traded in some years later. Recently, they decided it was time to have an 804 back at their farm and a few months ago, they were able to track one down and it was seen…