Old Pond publishing days

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.

The Massey Ferguson 35 Tractor Workshop Service Manual new book advance information

The Massey Ferguson 35 Tractor Workshop Service Manual, Chris Jaworski. Hardback, 275 x 215 mm, 208 pages inc. 650 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-12-6. Now available from Old Pond at £24.95.

In the UK between 1957 and 1964 Massey Ferguson manufactured some 380,000 MF 35s, the most popular medium-sized farm tractors of the period. Many have remained in work and if you are lucky enough to own one, it is bound to be one of your favourite machines.

In this book, technical writer and author Chris Jaworski – a restoration enthusiast himself – provides user-friendly, comprehensive information about the Massey Ferguson 35 tractor. Each chapter includes step-by-step instructions illustrated with clear photographs, covering all aspects of the MF 35 3-cylinder, 4-cylinder and petrol/TVO models. The tasks explained range from simple maintenance tests to complex rebuilds.

The Massey Ferguson 35 Tractor Workshop Service Manual covers the following sections in detail:
• Buying and Safety
• Weekly Checks
• Operator Maintenance
• Engines
• Cooling Systems
• Fuel Systems
• Transmissions
• Rear Axle and PTO
• Brakes
• Hydraulics
• Steering and Front Axle
• Electrics
• Bodywork.

With some 650 photographs and a wealth of knowledge about the tractor and its component parts, you will find Chris Jaworski’s book to be an indispensable resource if you are involved in servicing, repairs or restoration.

The World of Custom Trucks new book advance information

The World of Custom Trucks, Ferdy De Martin & Xavier Stéfaniak. Hardback, 210 x 265 mm (landscape), 160 pages inc. 276 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-64-5. Now available from Old Pond at £19.95.

In this, your guide to outstanding truck decoration in Western Europe and the United States, you will see a wide range of approaches and styles. Eighteen of the twenty-nine trucks featured are from Europe, eight are from North America and three are from the UK.

In each case you are presented with a number of views of the vehicle to show the overall designs as well as the details of exteriors and interiors. French photographer Xavier Stéfaniak is a trucker and designer specialising in capturing the finest truck photographs. His co-author, Ferdy De Martin, runs www.TOPRUN.ch, one of the most popular internet truck sites. Their text is enthusiastic and illuminating. Main sections are in English and they also provide brief summaries in French.

Among these examples of their work are two from the United States. The stylish black-and-red 1981 Kenworth W900A comes from from Lanita Transport and the cool yellow-and green Peterbilt 351 is from Maggini and Son.

European styles are often more ornate. Hundreds of LEDs and delicate airbrushing cover the Mercedes MP4 ‘Xtar’ tankers from the Finnish Kuljetus Auvinen Oy. The Scania T460 cab interior from Belgian J Peeters & Zn shows a more delicate approach.

Some of the photographs set the trucks in their landscapes such as the English Yorkshire Dales where Fred Greenwood’s Scania R580 gingerly threads its cattle truck along narrow lanes. The final example here is the rarely used violet of Van Dalen’s Volvo FH16 700 ‘Bruce Springsteen’.

The Custom Trucks included in the book are:

Peterbilt 351, Maggini & Son Trucking (USA) -- Volvo FH16 700, Dieppedalle Transports (France) --Scania R730, Nicolo’ (Italy) -- International Lonestar, ‘Bad Habit’ (USA) -- Volvo FH16 600, Ronny Ceusters Transport (Belgium) -- Scania R620, ‘Jo Siffert’, Müller (Switzerland) -- Peterbilt 389, Farmers Oil Company Inc. (USA) -- Scania T460 Longline, J. Peeters & Zn (Belgium) -- Volvo FH16 700, ‘Bruce Springsteen’, Van Dalen (Netherlands) -- Scania R560, P Bjarne Andersen Transport (Denmark) -- Kenworth W900, Lanita Transport, Scott Diller (USA) -- Scania R620 EXC ‘Triple X’, Michel Kramer (Netherlands) -- Peterbilt 379, ‘Disorderly Conduct’, Paul Voigt, CSM (USA) -- Volvo F1220 Globetrotter, Reto Lendenmann (Switzerland) -- Mercedes MP4, ‘Xtar’, Kuljetus Auvinen Oy (Finland) -- Scania R580 Topline, Fred Greenwood & Son (UK) -- Peterbilt 379, Jade Transport Ltd (Canada) -- Scania R620, S-U-P-E-R (Switzerland) -- Peterbilt 379, Ryans Feed (USA) -- Scania 143, ‘Transformers’, AR Keen & Son, Harry Price (UK) -- DAF XF 105 510, ‘Prison Break’, Weeda (Netherlands) -- Scania T580, Longthorne (UK) -- MAN TGA Nightliner, Rubber Technology Weidmann GmbH & Co (Germany) --  Scania CR19, ‘Warrior’, Renax Stängsel AB (Sweden) -- Kenworth K100 Aerodyne, Gaël Gaillard Trucking (France) --Scania Torpedo T164, ‘I Live my Dream’, Håkan Runnheden, Runeborgs Highway Star (Sweden) -- Volvo FM, ‘Vietnam’, Alain Marc (France) -- Peterbilt 379, ‘NorCal’, Ken Drake (USA) -- Scania R620, ‘Ferrari F1’, Markus Schumacher (Austria).

Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery Part 3 DVD advance information

Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery Part 3 1977-88, George French and Dennis Burston. DVD, approx 100 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-62-1. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95.

In Part 3 of this 3-part set we move on to 1977–88, exploring implements and machines closely associated with the 500 and 600 tractor ranges. At the end of the programme we look forward to the 1990s.

From ploughing and other cultivations, manure and slurry handling, drilling, mowing and forage harvesting to combining and baling, this programme has a feast of Massey Ferguson farm activities. They have been re-created by MF enthusiasts using original or authentically restored machinery and tractors.

This programme completes a remarkable undertaking carried out by Dennis Burston and George French, supported by colleagues and family in the south-west of England. Altogether they have assembled a hundred items of MF implements, machines and combine harvesters, nearly all of which have been shown working. The three-DVD series, which covers the thirty years from 1958 to 1988, also includes some 44 different MF tractors operating with the equipment.

The tractors, implements and machines in Part 3:
MF 690 4wd and 41 4-furrow plough • MF 184F 4wd and 38 tiller • MF 590 and 150S 3-furrow plough • MF 595 Mk II and 160 5-furrow plough • MF 2645E 4wd and 24 6ft 6in chisel plough • MF 698 and 24 8ft chisel plough • MF 595 Mk II and 260 3-furrow reversible plough • MF 698 and 265 3-furrow reversible plough • MF 1200 and 39 spring-tine cultivator • MF 690 and 30 drill transporter • MF 690 and 30 4m drill • MF 148 and 70 rotary mower • MF 1130, 200 forage harvester and 200 7-ton silage trailer • MF 690 and 200 7-ton silage trailer • MF 290 and 14 baler • MF 595 MkII and 1450 round baler • MF 525 Super II combine harvester • MF 590 and 80 loader • MF 690 and 900 Rotaspreader • MF 290 and 100 800-gallon slurry tanker • MF 590 and 100 1,400-gallon slurry tanker • MF 2645E 4wd and 262 4-furrow reversible plough • MF 97 and 520 14ft semi-mounted disc harrows • MF 595 MkII and 500 4m grain-only drill • MF 3065 and 510 4m air drill • MF 399 4wd and 4 baler • MF 4235 and 139SB small-bale baler • MF 4270 4wd and 185MB large square baler • MF 20 combine harvester (stationary) • MF 690 and 200 7-ton grain trailer • MF 29XP combine harvester.

For more information about Parts 1 and 2, or to order them online see here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

British Leyland Archive Tractor Films on DVD advance information

British Leyland Archive Tractor Films, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD, approx 110 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-50-8. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95 inc VAT.

In this programme Stephen and Jonathan delve into the archives to present six complete films made by the British Leyland Motor Company between 1969 and 1980.

These films show the development of the Leyland tractor range from the 154, 344 and 384 launched in 1969. They cover the many new models introduced in 1972 as well as the Synchro range of 1978 and the last Golden Harvest machines.

Development machines are recorded under test; there are scenes at the Bathgate factory in Scotland and many working examples throughout the world. Films also look at the huge Leyland organisation as a whole, with footage of trucks and buses.

Stephen and Jonathan link the films together using original Leyland advertising. The compilation is a testament to the skills of British engineering.

The archive films in this programme are:
Tractors for the ’70s - Crossing Frontiers - Synchro - 472 Synchro - Leyland Vehicles - Golden Harvest Range.

New book from Paul Heiney - his life farming with horses

Farm Fatale, Paul Heiney. Hardback 234 x 156 mm, 200 pages inc. 14 line illustrations. ISBN 978-1-900318-44-0 (Excellent Press). Now in stock at Old Pond at £12.99.

In the early 1990s Paul Heiney set aside his broadcasting career and swapped it for a life on the land. He decided that he would start his own farm and it would be like no other farm you could find.

Shunning modern intensive methods, he reverted instead to a system of farming that his great grandparents would have known. He ploughed, sowed, reaped and mowed with cart horses rather than tractors, employing mighty Suffolk Punches that were once the workhorses of agriculture in the eastern counties.

He gathered round him a small band of local and aged helping hands to help steer him through the up and downs of farming life; along with a collection of native breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs that had found no place in modern food production but which he thought would be very much at home on his farm.

Although he was prepared for the hard work that would follow, Paul could never have guessed how the story of this little farm would unfold. His life became overwhelmed by all the disasters and rewards that a farming life can bring; his livestock showed him little respect – and took every opportunity to remind him who was really in charge.

This book, awash with not only blood, sweat and tears but a great deal of good humour, tells a story of the changing seasons in the countryside seen through the eyes of a man in determined pursuit of a dream.

Paul is a well-known writer and broadcaster in the UK and over 30 years has appeared on all Britain's major radio and television networks. You can currently see him each week on ‘Countrywise’. He spent seven years on BBC1's top-rated show, ‘Watchdog’, developing a career in consumer journalism that had begun with ‘That's Life’ in 1978, and continued later with Radio 4's ‘You and Yours’.

Despite his very busy life, Paul found time in 1993 to create Harnessed to the Plough, a highly successful programme in which you see the life of Roger and Cheryl Clark farming with Percherons and Suffolk Punches. This is available as a DVD from Old Pond, as are five other programmes, four of which were made for ITV Anglia. All these DVDs, as well as the Old Pond book The Traditional Farming YearThe Traditional Farming Year, reflect Paul’s deep feeling for our rural past.

Paul lives in Suffolk and is married to broadcaster Libby Purves. He is an enthusiastic ocean sailor.

Patrick Barkham's Guide to British Butterflies DVD advance information

Patrick Barkham’s Guide to British Butterflies, Produced by Bill Smith of Great Takes TV. 2-DVD set, approx 3½ hours. ISBN 978-1-908397-57-7. Now available from Old Pond at £24.95 inc. VAT.

Patrick Barkham’s book The Butterfly Isles – an account of his quest to see all Britain’s 57 species of butterfly in a single year – was a publishing sensation. I bought it at Christmas 2010 and couldn’t put it down.

Now Patrick has re-lived his remarkable year, travelling the length and breadth of the country, from the Isle of Wight to the Highlands of Scotland, to present this unique guide to British butterflies. All the butterfly species have been beautifully filmed in their natural habitat, but this is much more than a basic identification guide.

There’s a separate film devoted to each species, in which Patrick provides a historical perspective; how the early naturalists discovered, described and named the butterfly in question, and how its distribution has changed over the years. There’s a detailed description of the butterfly itself, both male and female, how to identify them and where to find them.

Close-up comparisons are provided where confusions exist between similar species. For several of the iconic species, such as large blue, purple emperor and brown hairstreak Patrick interviews leading experts in their field including Professor Jeremy Thomas and Matthew Oates of the National Trust.

The DVD also contains chapters on migrants and vagrants, those rare species that are occasionally seen in this country, and advice for new butterfly enthusiasts about how best to pursue their interest. The result is the most comprehensive and professionally produced film yet made about our wonderful British butterflies.

The producer, Bill Smith, has had a lifelong interest in butterflies. After a long career as a television producer and cameraman for both BBC and ITV, he has spent the last two years filming all the butterfly species, and working with Patrick to develop this DVD.  He will be known to Old Pond customers for his work with Paul Heiney on programmes such as A Victorian Summer and Secret Rivers.

Bulkhaul 3 new DVD from Connock & Phippard advance information

Bulkhaul Volume 3, Pete Connock and Martin Phippard (CP Productions). DVD approx 70 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-52-2. Now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

The third in CP’s popular Bulkhaul series is an international programme offering something for everyone fascinated by bulk haulage operations.

Pete Connock and Martin Phippard include features on an unusual MAN and four-axle semi-trailer with two tipping bodies used in Southern Sweden and an impressive Scania 8-wheel tipper employed to haul biomass fuel for Scot Heating based in Stirling, Scotland. Pete and Martin also show a stunning Volvo XXL bulk tanker drawbar outfit working in the snow and ice of a Finnish winter and an interesting Volvo FM rigid and drawbar tipper operated by HN Sillifant & Son from Cornwall.

The programme concludes with unique footage of five-trailer road-train combinations working in a vast coal mine in Queensland, Australia. Grossing around 480 tonnes and measuring almost 70 metres (230 feet) overall, these leviathans require the services of a Kenworth C-500 tractor at the front end and powered axles located in the third trailer. Spectacular is a word often over-used, but NOT in this instance!

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

New Claas combine harvesters DVD advance information

Top of the Claas: from SF to Lexion 780, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD, approx 90 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-49-2. To be released November, distributed by Old Pond at £16.95 inc VAT.

 Information and advance orders: [email protected].

German farm machinery manufacturer Claas has been producing self-propelled combine harvesters since the 1950s. In this programme we chart the story of the various Claas combine models from the very first SF type to the latest, top-of-the-range Lexion 780.

Mainly concentrating on the bigger models in each range, the story develops over the decades as we see machines at work still gathering in the cereal harvest many years after they were produced.

Models featured include the Matador Giant, Senator 70, Dominator 85, Commandor 115CS, Lexion 480, 600, 770 and many more besides.

Four smaller Lexion combines are shown at work in one field in Lancashire while a similar output is achieved by a sole Lexion 770 model in Suffolk, and we also see how the combines are moved around from field to field and prepared for different crops.

The story is brought bang up to date as we watch the Lexion 770 break the world record for harvesting the most wheat in an eight-hour period in 2011 and then the introduction of an even larger combine – the  Lexion 780 in 2012, a machine that without doubt deserves the title of Top Of The Claas.

Seddon Atkinson by Patrick W Dyer new book advance information

Seddon Atkinson at Work: 400, 401 & 4-11, Patrick W Dyer. Hardback book, 210 x 265 mm (landscape), 144 pages inc. 208 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-43-0. Now available from Old Pond at £19.95.

In 1970, Oldham-based Seddon took over the struggling Atkinson, based in Preston, merging two of the greatest companies in British truck manufacturing. It was a partnership that would later see substantial backing from International Harvester in the mutually beneficial takeover of 1974.

In this book Patrick Dyer looks at Seddon Atkinson’s premium range from the period 1975–88. The new range, which began as the 400, was designed to provide a British-built alternative to the European products – led by Volvo and Scania – that were dominating the market at the time.

Equipped with a luxurious tilt cab made of steel and strong drivelines comprising proven proprietary components, the 400 was an immediate hit and soon took the top spot for heavy-weight trucks in the UK. The 401, introduced in 1981, sparked an evolution process with Seddon Atkinson producing a truck that included new features suggested by drivers. The 4-11 saw production through to its end in 1988.

The book charts the development of the 400, 401 and 4-11 over the thirteen years of production. The fine selection of photographs, a quarter of which were sourced from the Seddon Atkinson Historic Archive, is supported by Patrick Dyer’s informative text.

Although Patrick Dyer’s day job is in motor sport, he holds a Class One licence and drives whenever the opportunity arises. Patrick grew up during one of the most notable and exciting periods of development for heavy trucks and also the last of the real glory days for trucking as an industry. This is reflected in his subject matter. His previous books covered the LB110, 111 and 141 from Scania, the 2800, 3300 and 3600 from DAF, the Ford Transcontinental and the F88 and F89 from Volvo. They are all available on the Trucks and Heavy Loads section of the Old Pond website.