Old Pond publishing days

Australian Heavy Metal new trucking DVD from CP Productions advance information

Australian Heavy Metal, Pete Connock and Martin Phippard (CP Productions). DVD approx 75 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-71-3. Now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95.

Here you will see some superb examples of the haulage needed to support the continuing expansion of the iron-ore business on Australia’s north-west coast. Pete Connock has filmed some of the most exciting trucks in the world, operating between Perth and the Pilbara to supply the mining communities with their essential goods and to move iron ore.

So, besides filming ‘standard’ two- and three-trailer road trains, Pete was able to record monster lifts of heavy mining equipment up to several hundred tonnes as well as some of the world’s largest mining trucks in action. Two-engined equipment from Powertrans working off-road provides a particularly thrilling feature in this absorbing programme.

The script is by Martin Phippard, Pete Connock’s partner in the specialist company, CP Productions, which for over twenty years has been making films for trucking enthusiasts. For more DVDs by Martin and Pete see here.

Extreme Earthmovers at Work new DVD by Eric Orlemann and Keith Haddock advance information

Extreme Earthmovers at Work, Eric Orlemann and Keith Haddock. DVD, approx 67 minutes plus 10-minute Extra. ISBN 978-1-908397-48-5. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95 inc VAT.

Extreme Earthmovers at Work is a compilation of film recorded by Eric Orlemann in 2005-8 at surface mines in the United States.

You will see that he has focused on some of the largest and most impressive machines of their classes. ‘The Silver Spade’, a Bucyrus-Erie 1950-B, was one of the biggest stripping shovels ever constructed, weighing in at 7,200 tons. Eric captured its 200ft boom and 80 cu m bucket at work before it was stood down in 2006.

You will also watch examples of the world’s largest production bulldozer, the Komatsu 575-A, at work as well as the LeTourneau L-2350, the world’s largest wheel loader.

Other truly big machines, including scrapers from Caterpillar and a hydraulic shovel from Liebherr, will add to your excitement.

In his script, Keith Haddock gives you the full context of the machines and the surface mining operation in which they are involved. The running time of the main programme is just over an hour. This is followed by a ten-minute Extra of more (un-narrated) footage of The Silver Spade.

The following are the principal machines in the film are:
Bucyrus-Erie 1950-B Stripping Shovel, ‘The Silver Spade’
Komatsu D575A Super Ripper
Komatsu D575A Super Dozer
LeTourneau L-1850 Wheel Loader
LeTourneau L-2350 Wheel Loader
Caterpillar 994F Wheel Loader
Caterpillar D11R Bulldozer
Caterpillar 657E Scraper
Liebherr R995 Hydraulic Shovel.

Eric Orlemann, based in Decatur, Illinois, has written many articles and books on earthmoving topics. He was co-founder, with Keith Haddock, of the Historical Contruction Equipment association (HCEA) that now has 5,000 members.

Keith Haddock, a British mining engineer now resident in Canada, prepared the first two programmes in Old Pond’s successful 'Massive Earthmoving Machines' series of DVDs. He is the author of earthmoving books and contributes to earthmoving magazines in the UK and United States.

Ransomes and their Tractor Share Ploughs book reprint information

Ransomes and the Tractor Share Ploughs, Anthony Clare. Hardback book 246 x 189 mm, 100 pages inc.120 photographs. ISBN 978-1-903366-12-7. Now available from Old Pond at £15.95.

Aimed at tractor and ploughing enthusiasts, this is the first book to classify, describe and show the wide range of ploughs produced by Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies. It is ‘a requirement for every Ransomes library’, in the words of Old Glory magazine.

After a brief introduction to the company’s history, Tony Clare gives an account of the ploughs which dominated the horse era of farming and were then adapted to be trailed behind tractors and mounted on them. He covers in detail the development of tractor plough design as well as ploughs for special purposes, market-garden use and export.

He deals with Ford-Ransomes manufacturing as well as the rationalisations of the 1960s and the final links with Dowdeswells.

Analyses of plough identification codes, the ‘TS’ classifications and a glossary complete a comprehensive and very usable book for the many people who value their Ransomes ploughs for matches and at work.

Ransomes and their Tractor Share Ploughs was first published in 2001. This 2013 reprint includes a number of minor amendments.

Tractor and farm machinery enthusiast Tony Clare is also the author of The Nuffield Tractor Story Volume One.

Farming Diaries Volume Three new DVD from Tractor Barn advance information

Farming Diaries Volume Three: the last harvest, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD, approx 90 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-73-7. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

In their third Farming Diaries programme Tractor Barn duo Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam introduce us to tenant farmer Ted Fenner. Ted has spent a lifetime tending the fields of Bullfinches Farm in East Sussex.

Taking over from his father on the family tenancy, Ted carried on growing a mixture of crops including wheat, oats, barley and, until recently, hops.

We see him tending his crops with his fleet of Massey Ferguson tractors: a 35X, 135, 590 and 390, all two-wheel drive and all used with very traditional classic farm implements.

The programme reaches a climax when Ted gets out his venerable MF 525 to harvest his barley and oat crops. With small three-ton trailers and classic tractors, this scene is right out of the early 1980s. It is completed by a neighbour following the combine with a Ford TW15 and Claas Quadrant square baler.

However, with Ted now in his seventies, this turns out to be his very last harvest. In the rest of the programme we see how a nearby estate takes over the farm and amalgamates it with its own, much larger operation. Ted is able to carry on just long enough to sell his last crop off the farm the following May.

So, life on the land enjoyed by three generations of tenant farmers comes to an end, a poignant story, one of many in which large farming enterprises are replacing smaller family-run operations. It is a fitting tribute to tenant farmers everywhere.

For other programmes by Tractor Barn see here.

Not All Sunshine & Sand new trucking book advance information

Not All Sunshine & Sand: the tales of a UK–Middle East truck driver, Paul Rowlands. Paperback book, 304 pages inc. 44 illustrations by Brian Wales. ISBN 978-1-908397-69-0. Now available from Old Pond at £7.95.

Paul Rowlands takes us into his world as a truck driver, initially around rural Suffolk and the rest of the UK, before embarking on the infamous Middle East run. Here he recalls his hair-raising experiences – some of them humorous, some alarming – and the many friends he made.

The long-distance lorry driver deals with life in the raw, with many hardships and occasional comforts. Run-ins with the locals, dramatic encounters with foreign drivers and mechanical problems may be the norm, but they are tempered by the sheer beauty of mountain passes, lakeside stops and the generous hospitality of the people he meets.

The camaraderie in the trucking fraternity has seen Paul through many a crisis, and he shares the belief that help is always at hand when a fellow driver is facing a problem. Take a ride through foreign lands in the cab of a long-haul lorry for an insider’s perspective on overland travel.

Paul Rowlands was born in The Rhondda, South Wales. His first job was with the Civil Service, but his love for travel led to his becoming a long-distance truck driver. He lives in Ipswich, Suffolk and continues to work as a truck driver/roadie.

Pauls’s book was first published in hardback in 2010. This is the first paperback edition.