Old Pond publishing days

The Farm Tractor Handbook from 1918 being republished

The Farm Tractor Handbook, George Sherwood. Hardback book, 175mm x 122mm, 224 pages inc. 61 black and white photos and 58 line illustrations. ISBN: 978-1-908397-20-1. To be published in April by Old Pond Publishing at £14.95.

Advance orders and further information: heather@oldpond.com.

First published in 1918 to show the range of tractors working in Britain at that time, The Farm Tractor Handbook is now a collector’s item. This edition is a complete facsimile.

By 1918 the case for the agricultural tractor had been made and there were many companies producing a wide range of designs. Author George Sherwood’s aim was to help the farmer ‘choose out of the ever-growing number of different makes'.

He begins with some principles: the internal combustion engine; carburation, lubrication and cooling; ignition; transmission and steering. Throughout these chapters clear cut-away diagrams are supplemented by photographs of the tractors of the day.

George Sherwood gives practical information on starting and repairs. A chapter on horsepower and drawbar pull leads on to major sections on the different types of tractor and plough, and then to ploughing itself and belt work. Final chapters deal with steam ploughing - then coming to the end of its 60-year era - and converting a touring car into a tractor. According to the Rejax advetisement 'Many Fords are lying idle. Use them to increase the capacity of your limited labour and of your land'.

An Appendix lists the principal tractor makers and agents in the United Kingdom. There is a full index and there are also some fifty advertisements from the agricultural engineering companies of the time.

The book includes tractor designs which were short-lived and exist, if anywhere, as rarities, such as Martin’s Self-Contained Three-Furrow Motor Plough. At the other extreme, the Fordson makes its appearance.

This book can claim to have made a significant contribution to the body of knowledge which increased the acceptance of the farm tractor in the United Kingdom.

Beet Harvesters in Britain - stills from forthcoming DVD by Chris Lockwood

The second part of Chris Lockwood’s Beet Harvesters in Britain (see previous blog) will cover the period 1995-2012.

The focus is on advances such as having more axles to spread the massive weights involved, more rows and more technical monitoring. The programme will also cover the recent trend towards specialised ‘beet chasers’ in the field and specialised cleaner-loaders.

Here are stills of six examples.

Probably the most well-known six-row beet harvester in Britain today: the Vervaet 17-tonner.

 

 

 

 

It is believed there's currently only one 12-row harvester at work in the UK, which is this 2003 Agrifac Hexa.

 

 

 

 

A Gilles two-stage set-up, which is more popular on the continent and rarely seen in the UK.

 

 

 

 

The Vervaet Beet Eater 625 is another popular harvester.

 

 

 

 

The Ropa Euro-Tiger is one of the largest harvesters currently available on the UK market.

 

 

 

 

Emerging from the sea-mist, a Holmer Terra-Dos T3 harvester empties into a Holmer Terra-Transport beet transporter.

Old Pond Publishing expects to publish the two parts of this programme together in April.The DVDs include 75 machines from the following manufacturers: Agrifac, Armer Salmon, Catchpole, Cebeco, Edenhall, Garford, Gilles, Grimme, Holmer, Italo Svizzera, Kleine, Matrot, Moreau, Ransomes, Rational, Riecam, Ropa, Standen, Stoll, Thyregod, TIM, Vervaet and Vicon.

Chris claims that this will be ‘probably the most thorough programme on beet harvesters ever.’ Who could disagree?

New beet harvesters programme by Chris Lockwood being filmed

Chris Lockwood, whose most recent DVD The Maize Silage Campaign  is selling strongly, has now turned his attention to filming beet harvesters. He has collected some 75 examples, all working on farms; none of them are from working days.

Old Pond Publishing plans to release a set of two DVDs in April under the title Beet Harvesters in Britain. The photographs below show some of the models from the first programme which covers machines manufactured during the period 1960-1995.

A well-known classic of the '60s; the Standen Rapide single-row harvester. This one is being drawn by a Fordson Super Major.

 

 

 

Another popular machine, a Ransomes 33A single-row tanker working behind an MF 148.

 

 

 

 

The Standen Cyclone must be an icon of the British beet industry. This late example uses an IH 474 skid unit.

 

 

 

 

A 1990 French-built Moreau GR4 six-row harvester at work on a foggy day.

 

 

 

 

An early tanker design from Holland, this Vervaet & Heyens 12-tonner dates from 1993.

 

 

 

 

The ZA 215 EH from Cebeco was another successful Dutch tanker design.

You can browse thousands more farm tractor and machinery photographs on Chris Lockwood's website Mid Suffolk Agri Photos.

Farm Office Handbook new book advance information

Farm Office Handbook, Institute of Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators. Paperback, 210mm x 160mm, 224 pages inc. approx 50 tables and 5 photos. ISBN: 978-1-908397-11-9. To be published in March 2012 by Old Pond Publishing at 19.95.

Advance orders and further information: heather@oldpond.com.

Farm Office Handbook is a practical reference source for anyone involved in farm administration, from someone tackling farm paperwork for the first time to experienced staff seeking to improve their skills. It has been produced through the collaborative efforts of a team of professional farm administrators.

Farm Office Handbook offers comprehensive guidance on:
- Farm office basics, from equipment to ‘Doing it Online’
- Setting up accounting systems
- Computerising a manual accounting system
- VAT and payroll for small rural businesses
- Year-end procedures complete with a useful checklist
- Management reporting and budgeting with useful templates
- Statutory and assurance records
- Useful websites for legislative updates and other important information
- Contacts and online resources for rural businesses.

Building on Michael Hosken’s long-standing and authoritative book, The Farm Office, this is a completely revised new edition.

Ford Transcontinental at Work new book advance information

Ford Transcontinental at Work, Patrick W Dyer. Hardback, 210 x 265 mm (landscape), 144 pages inc. 206 photos. ISBN 978-1-908397-10-2. To be released in March by Old Pond at £19.95.

Advance orders and information:heather@oldpond.com.

The Transcontinental was an audacious attempt by Ford to challenge the best heavy truck producers in Europe. Developed by a dedicated team of designers, based in Essex, England, the truck was a masterpiece of proprietary component engineering. Engines from Cummins, gearboxes from Fuller, axles from Rockwell and an award-winning cab from Berliet all came together in a dynamic package, which shattered the performance test records of the industry magazines in 1975.

Always intended as a fleet machine, the big Ford instead gained the image of the ‘premium flagship’, often rated alongside established leaders such as the Scania 111 and Volvo F88. Heavily revised in 1978, the Mk 2 remained in production until 1983. Although the Transconti never made a profit for Ford, this big lorry which was magnificent to drive remains a memorable model, loved by truckers and truck enthusiasts alike.

To celebrate the Transconti, Patrick Dyer has gathered over 200 photographs to show the truck in its full glory over the years and in a variety of liveries and locations. Each photograph has an extensive caption. When read together these give the complete story of the introduction and development of the model.

There is extensive information on bodywork and engine specifications, the little differences that changed over time and the details which made the model so special to those who drove it. Photographs show the trucks at work abroad and there are shots of them on the production line. To set the Transconti in context, Patrick also considers the models which came before and after.

Patrick’s informative and friendly writing style gives the impression of sharing this story with a fellow enthusiast. The entertaining foreword is by George Bennett.

Patrick W Dyer is the author of two other books celebrating truck models, Scania at Work: LB110, 111, 140 & 141 and DAF at Work: 2800, 3300 & 3600. The second edition of his first book, Volvo F88 and F89, is due for release in May 2012.

Ron Creasey last of the horselads new book advance information

Ron Creasey: last of the horselads, William Castle. Hardback, 234 x 156 mm, 228 pages inc. line illustrations and 20 pages photos. ISBN 978-1-906853-96-9. To be published in March by Old Pond Publishing at £19.95.

Advance orders and further enquiries: heather@oldpond.com.

This is the story of East Yorkshireman Ron Creasey, one of the last farm horsemen to find work at a hiring fair in 1946. He was just seventeen.

During his years as a horselad, he lived in the traditional conditions, remained single and was paid just once a year. The Caley family for whom he worked expected high standards of farming and horsemanship and a great deal of hard graft. Ron loved the life, eventually rising to become Waggoner.

On the heavy clay of Holderness, horses were used for longer than in many other areas but it was only a matter of time before changing farming methods encroached upon Ron’s world.

Though horses became less and less important to the everyday workings of the modern farm, Ron continued to be involved with heavy horses throughout his life and retained a clear memory of his influential early days as a horselad.

During 2006 and 2007, not long before Ron Creasey’s death, William Castle recorded a long series of conversations with the horseman. This information provided a rich stream of knowledge and anecdote – all relating to horses and farming – that helped the author re-create traditional skills and practices.

Much of the book is a transcription of Ron Creasey’s words. William Castle draws on his own experience of working with horses to provide background and context.  He explains the specific nature of horse work in the Holderness area, using diagrams to show the details of harness and gear in the region. He shows how waggons were loaded and he also gives a full glossary of terms.

William Castle writes for Heavy Horse World magazine.

Looking at Logging Part 2 DVD advance information

Looking at Logging Part 2, Pete Connock and Martin Phippard (CP Productions). DVD, approx 120 minutes. ISBN 978-1-906853-98-3. To be released in February by Old Pond at £16.95 inc VAT.

Advance orders and further information: heather@oldpond.com.

This two-hour programme kicks off in Sweden where the CP Productions team spends a day in the company of Michael Kwarforth and his stunning Scania R620 truck-trailer combination. Many of Sweden’s logging trucks are well turned out but the Kwarforth Scania is simply stunning to look at and listen to!

The transport of long logs in Sweden is not a common event but we see just such an operation in the north of the country during the coldest part of winter. Lots of snow and some spectacular winter scenery act as a backdrop to this unique logging process.

Hayes trucks are legendary for their rugged longevity and are popular with log truck operators in the forests of British Columbia. So a twin-steer Hayes with a self-loader working in the Port Alberni area of Vancouver Island is obviously something very special. Join owner-driver Trevor Bennett on a typical day out in his 1975 Mack-powered Hayes HD four-axle tractor and extendable trailer.

Only a dozen or so Challenger trucks were built with most entering service in the 1990s with Canadian logging companies located in the Pacific North-West. Pete Connock and Martin Phippard found one working example driven by a young and enthusiastic company driver who considers his 600hp Challenger to be ‘the best log truck ever built.’

Finland, like Sweden, has long, snow-filled winters. But that doesn’t stop log truck operators facing up to the challenges presented by rough roads, steep gradients and big loads. The film-makers found a Sisu powered by an 18-litre Caterpillar rated at 630hp and marvelled as its driver overcame all the obstacles nature could throw at him.

Although Sweden allows some of the biggest trucks in Europe, operators and shippers alike are always seeking new ways in which to improve productivity. One combination doing just that is a unique 30-metre-long truck plus B-train combination working in northern Sweden at weights of 90-tonnes gross.

Mention the name Steve Drybrough or the Hayes truck known as H17 and you can be assured that these will be instantly recognised anywhere in the world. A log truck driver all his life, Steve is acknowledged as ‘the authority’ in the heavy-duty log truck business. And H17, the Hayes HDX Steve has driven since 1975, is no less famous having featured on a postage stamp and in several trucking publications. In the spring of 2011 CPP captured this inseparable team still hauling gigantic loads of timber from the mountains to the Sarita sort on Vancouver Island.

Some logs are sawn into planks for building material and some go to pulp-mills where they eventually become paper. Inevitable by-products of these processes are sawdust and wood chips but these materials are not wasted. Known as wood residuals, the bulky products are transported in carefully engineered, high-capacity bodies. In this DVD we see a superbly crafted Scania discharging a load at a mill in southern Sweden.

The companion to this programme, Looking at Logging Part 1, has been enthusiastically received: ‘It is an absolute belter filled with great moving images of logging lorries from around the world and there are some real treats in it too … logging truck videos don’t come much better.’ BigLorryBlog.

Pete Connock and Martin Phippard have been making trucking programmes for nearly twenty years. Their DVDs are fully researched and narrated and aimed squarely at fellow trucking enthusiasts. More of their programmes can by found in their dedicated section of the Old Pond website.

Old Pond at the LAMMA 2012 show

For several years at the LAMMA show our sales stand has been in the Newark pavilion with the vintage exhibition. At the forthcoming event, 18-19 January, the Newark Pavilion will be given over to catering.

The Vintage Tractors and Machinery Area, including our stand and Martyn's Farm Models, will be in the livestock sheds on the east of the showground near the green gate. We understand that Ford Force will be close by.

Chris Lockwood will be joining us on the stand both days.

For a plan of the reorganised show see here.

Old Pond provisional DVD release schedule Jan-June 2012

Old Pond provisional DVD release schedule January-June 2012

February
Looking at Logging Pt 2, Pete Connock & Martin Phippard (CP Productions). DVD approx 120 minutes. ISBN 978-1-906853-98-3. £16.95. See details here

April
Beet Harvesters in Britain 1960-1995, Chris Lockwood. DVD, approx ?? minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-27-0. £16.95.
Beet Harvesters in Britain 1995-2012, Chris Lockwood. DVD, approx ?? minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-28-7.£16.95.
Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery Part One 1958-70. George French & Dennis Burston. DVD, approx ?? minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-18-8. £16.95.

June
Massive Wheeled Loaders, Steven Vale. DVD, approx 120 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-17-1. £19.95.

Old Pond provisional books publishing schedule Jan-July 2012

Old Pond provisional book publishing schedule January-June 2012

March
Ron Creasey: last of the horselads, William Castle. Hardback, 234 x 156 mm, 228 pages inc. line illustrations and 20 pages photos. ISBN 978-1-906853-96-9. £19.95. See details here
Ford Transcontinental at Work, Patrick W Dyer. Hardback, 210 x 265 mm (landscape), 144 pages inc. 206 photos. ISBN 978-1-908397-10-2. £19.95. See details here
Farm Office Handbook, Institute of Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators. Paperback, 210 x 160 mm, 224 pages inc. approx 50 tables and 5 photos. ISBN 978-1-908397-11-9. £19.95. See details here

April
The Farm Tractor Handbook, George Sherwood. Hardback (facsimile), 175 x 122 mm, 224 pages inc. 61 b&w photos and 58 line illus. ISBN 978-1-908397-20-1. £14.95. See details here

May
Volvo F88 & F89 at Work 2nd edn, Patrick W Dyer. Hardback, 210 x 265 mm (landscape), 144 pages inc. approx 210 photos. ISBN 978-1-908397-15-7. £19.95.
Know Your Dogs, Jack Byard. Paperback, 155 x 104 mm (landscape), 96 pages inc. 45 photos. ISBN 978-1-908397-16-4. £4.99.

June
A Farming Legacy 1920-2010, Rosalind Thomas. Paperback, 246 x 189 mm, approx 144 pages inc. 30 photos. ISBN 978-1-908397-14-0. Approx £19.95.
Know Your Rare Breeds, Jack Byard. Paperback, 155 x 104 mm (landscape), 96 pages inc. 44 photos. ISBN 978-1-908397-19-5. £4.99.
Know Your Trains, James Race. Paperback, 155 x 104 mm (landscape), 96 pages inc. 44 photos. ISBN 978-1-908397-13-3. £4.99.

July
Cattle Lameness and Hoofcare (2nd edn with further revisions), Roger Blowey. Hardback, 128 pages inc. approx 200 illus. ISBN 978-1-908397-26-3. Approx £19.95.