Old Pond publishing days

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. Now available from Old Pond at £19.95.

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. Now available from Old Pond Publishing at £19.95.

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, 120 minutes. ISBN 978-1-906853-98-3. Available now from Old Pond at £16.95 inc VAT.

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.

Parts 1 and 2 are available together as a money-saving set on the Offers page of the Old Pond website

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.

Special Transport new DVD in stock

Special Transport, Gertjan Houtman's new DVD on heavy loads, including moves by Mammoet, Sarens and Saan is now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

New Jones Balers book available

The Jones Baler Story, Gwynfor Williams. Hardback, 290 x 210 mm, 196 pages inc. approx 250 photographs and 20 diagrams. £24.95 from Japonica Press.

From 1942 to 1961Jones produced over 13,000 balers in seven main models from stationary hand-tied machines to self-propelled pick-up versions. Their ‘Minor’ was an outstanding success. Among their other products were tedders and hay conditioners, manure spreaders and combines.

Based in Rhosesmor, near Mold in north Wales, they had by 1950 grown from a modest threshing contracting company to have over 160 employees and were recipients of a Gold Medal from the RASE for their Invicta. In 1961, when they sold out to Allis-Chalmers, they were up to 400 staff.

This became a fiercely competitive market in which the economies of scale available to IH and Massey Ferguson in the end proved dominant. After A-C, Jones passed to Bamfords and in 1981 to liquidation.

Gwynfor Williams’ account deals in detail with all the machines, illustrated with a wealth of photographs, copies of advertisements, price lists and instructive cut-aways. He draws on his background as a former lecturer in agricultural machinery at the Lancashire College of Agriculture (Myerscough) and a long-time association with Jones Balers.

He includes information on the company management and its social activities. Useful Appendices include a time line, specifications and estimated production totals. He has enjoyed access to archive material retained by the Jones family. There is a first-hand account of what it was like to work at Jones and an assessment by a baling contractor. Finally, Gwynfor Williams deals with the enthusiasts’ movement for the preservation of Jones machinery and includes some points of contact.

Agriculture in Germany four DVDs by Jörn and Tammo Gläser now in stock

Agriculture in Germany by Jörn and Tammo Gläser, a four-DVD boxed set, includes 120 examples of farm work involving over 250 modern tractors, crawlers, combines, forage harvesters and specialist vehicles. These are all contemporary, filmed throughout Germany in recent months. The total running time is 370 minutes. The handsome boxed set is now available from Old Pond at £74.95 inc VAT.

Alternatively you can buy individual DVDs. They run through the seasons beginning with late winter. More information and a link to purchase is shown in the farm machinery page of the Old Pond website. Each DVD costs £19.95 inc. VAT. Parts 1-3 each run for 90 minutes; Part 4 is approx 100 minutes.

The programmes are narrated in English.

The new DVD guide to honey-making now in stock

Honey a beekeeper's guide, a new DVD  produced by William Smith of Great Takes Television, has now come into stock and is available at Old Pond. The programme, which runs for just under two hours, is beautifully narrated by Radio 4's Susan Rae. The DVD costs £19.95 inc. VAT.

Old Pond has also included this programme as part of a 2-DVD set in which it is paired with A New Introduction to Beekeeping, also produced by William Smith. The set is available on the offers page of the Old Pond website at £34.95 inc VAT.

Classic Tractor Review DVD now in stock

The latest DVD from Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam of Tractor Barn is 'The Classic Tractor Review'. It is now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95 including VAT.