Old Pond publishing days

International tractors at Doncaster - forthcoming DVD

Founded in 1902, International Harvester of Chicago formed its British division just four years later. The acquisition of the Doncaster site in 1938 was the first step in establishing a UK manufacturing base, but it was not until 1949 that the first British Farmall M tractor rolled out of the Wheatley Hall factory.

International at Doncaster: British production 1949-75 DVD by Stuart Gibbard runs for approximately 85 minutes. Now in stock, Old Pond Publishing. £15.95.

Stuart Gibbard's programme focuses on the golden years of British production, covering all the principal wheeled and crawler models built at Doncaster and its satellite Bradford plant up until the early 1970s when the worldwide range was phased in. The tractors are seen in action with a variety of implements throughout the seasons.

The featured machines, both restored and working examples, have been selected to display the diversity of the marque - from the actual first Farmall of 1949 to the last McCormick CX model to be made at Doncaster before the factory closed in 2007. This is a magnificent tribute to the glory of the British International years.

Stuart Gibbard is author of many tractor books and DVDs. He is editor of Old Tractor magazine.

The machines shown in the programme: Farmall M (first production tractor) - Farmall M (1950) with International 8-A plough - Farmall M (1951) with Bettinson trailed cultivator - Farmall Super BMD with International 8-A plough - Coronation Super BMD with seed harrows - BTD-6 with Massey Ferguson 30 drill - Super BWD-6 (1954) with McCormick Deering 8C plough - B-250 with Howard Rota-Cadet - Super BWD-6 (1957) with International 8-A plough - BTD6-40 with harrows - BTD-20 with Bullgrader attachment - B-450 with McConnel S-12 backhoe - B-275 with International B-23 mower - B-450 Farmall with Dorman trailed sprayer - TD-8 (82 Series) with disc harrows - B-414 with Vicon Acrobat - B-614 with Browns pan-buster - B-64 trailed combine with International B-414 tractor - BTD-5 with spring-tine cultivator - 434 with Massey Ferguson 34 grain drill - 634 with International cultivator - 276 - 634 'Four Wheel Drive' (Roadless) with backhoe - TD-8 Bullgrader - TD-6 with trailed Leverton cultivator - 354 with Pettit 3-ton trailer - 474 with Quike loader - McCormick CX105 Diamond Edition - McCormick CX105 Xtra-Shift.

Yellow Trail from Texas in stock

Yellow Trail from Texas was the ground-breaking programme shown in 1976 as part of the BBC's "The World About Us" series. It featured Dale and Margie Starks and their crews of custom cutters working their way from Texas to Canada with Massey combines and Ford trucks.

The DVD of Tim Slessor's exceptional programme came into stock at Old Pond today. Running time approx 50 minutes. £15.95.

JCB3 and an original Bamford trailer

This week we spent an interesting afternoon as guests of JC Balls & Sons at Ambergate, Derbys, completing the filming of Tim Starkey-Smith's history of the JCB backhoe loader. For more details see blog 24 August.

Here we found a JCB3 under restoration (left).It was first registered in Edinburgh in 1960.

Importance of this machine was that it was the first of the JCBs to incorporate a side shift (above).

The JCB's engine and transmission had been taken out of the machine during restoration. Here it was - a Fordson Diesel Major, the skid unit that JCB received.

Traces of Fordson blue still to be seen.

Restorer and demonstrator David Whittle showed us a special piece of equipment in the corner of the yard. This was one of the original trailers made by JC Bamford in 1945-6. The tinwork came from redundant Anderson shelters and the tail-lift was still by a screw mechanism. 

Know Your Tractors - new book in stock

Know Your Tractors by Chris Lockwood is now in stock at £4.99. See blog 14th February

International BTD20 filmed

We've now finished filming for Stuart Gibbard's DVD about McCormick International Tractors: the Doncaster years.

The last machine to be filmed was this BTD20 belonging to Eamon Pell. It was built in 1956 or 1957, the sixtieth off the Doncaster production line. Eamon has owned the BTD20 since 1986, still using it for odd jobs. He has had to replace only the running gear and one track.

Eamon (below) is an agricultural engineer, based at Lambley, Notts.

Suffolk Show - tyring a wheel

We've spent most of the past week at the Suffolk Show, Ipswich, setting up, running our stand and packing it all away again. Plenty of enthusiastic visitors and good to see old friends. Disappointing end to the show when long traffic queues meant that it took hours (literally) to move the van on and off site.

On the Suffolk Horse Society stand there was a nice demonstration of how to tyre a wheel. In the brick circle on the left of the photograph the demonstrators had used wooden blocks - and some paraffin - to heat the metal tyre until it expanded. They carried the tyre over to the wheel and laid it round the wooden rim. They were now watering the metal to limit burning and contract the tyre to a tight fit.