Old Pond publishing days

Ax Men Season 4 DVDs advance information

Ax Men Season Four,The History Channel. 4-DVD set, approx 10 hours. ISBN 978-1-908397-53-9. Now available from Old Pond at £19.95.

Welcome to the forests of  North America, where money really does grow on trees. Across the wide continent, from the wilds of Alaska to the steamy bayous of Louisiana, and from the heat of Florida to the vast and untamed Pacific Northwest, eight crews compete for the title of King of the Mountain in the latest and greatest season of Ax Men.

Each location poses its own threats to our fearless loggers, from the deadly snakes and alligators of the swamps down south to the black bears of the Pacific coastline, and that’s before you even consider the day-to-day dangers involved in bringing down and transporting mammoth pieces of timber. Technical malfunctions, equipment failure or a simple lapse in concentration are each enough to spell the end for any one of our tree-felling heroes.

Featuring a host of familiar faces as well as an injection of new blood, this logging season proved to be the most fiercely contested to date. So strap in tight and get ready for the most exciting run yet of History’s smash-hit series Ax Men, where the stakes – like the trees – could not be higher!

Earlier seasons of Ax Men and other forestry DVDs can be found on the forestry section of the Old Pond website.

Agriculture in North America Vol. 3 DVD advance information

Agriculture in North America Vol. 3, Jörn & Tammo Gläser. DVD, approx 90 minutes (plus 15 minutes of Extras). ISBN 978-1-908397-51-5. Now available from Old Pond at £19.95 (inc VAT).

In the third part of their American travels Jörn and Tammo have visited the Midwest states of Iowa and the Dakotas in spring when enormous machinery prepares the ground for corn and soybean planting. In this 90-minute film they show us more than 25 different modern and sometimes very unusual agricultural machines associated with seedbed cultivation, drilling and slurry technology.

The scenery and weather phenomena are also stunning.

The motive power is provided by 4-wheel drive and tracked tractors from John Deere, Case IH, New Holland and Versatile among others. Interviews and narration provide insights into the farm equipment, crop farming and the stories behind the machines. There is an English-language voice-over.

This programme will also be available in Blu-ray at a price still to be determined.

Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery Part 2 DVD advance information

Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery Part 2 1970-77, George French and Dennis Burston. DVD, approx 90 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-44-7. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

In Part 2 of this 3-part set we move on to 1970-77, a period when MF was responding to the drive for increased agricultural output.

The programme starts with a couple of MF 40 ploughs, two of seven ploughs featured along with a wide range of ground-engaging and other implements. The very first MF 1100 tractor sold in the UK is shown pulling an MF 23 coil-tine cultivator. MF’s famous pressure-control coupler is seen operating with a set of 520 disc harrows and 178 tractor.

How many MF 51 mowers are now to be seen working? We have one hitched to an early MF 135 Multi-Power 4-wheel drive tractor. We finish with a pair of combine harvesters – a 415 and a 515 – both new in the late 1960s and a common sight throughout the 1970s.

The programme includes: 
MF 135 and 40 2-furrow plough
MF 135 and 40 3-furrow plough
MF 135 and 11 spinner–broadcaster
MF185 and 28 disc harrows
MF 135 and 34 multi-purpose grain & fertiliser drill
MF 175 and 727 subsoiler
MF 135 and 721 multi-purpose blade
MF 135 and 35 loader
MF 165 and 19 manure spreader
MF 178 and 41 3-furrow plough
MF 185 and 24 chisel plough
MF 165 and 52 10ft disc harrows
MF 178 and 738 tiller
MF 165 and 39 spring-tine cultivator
MF 690 and 30 15-row corn drill
MF 175 and 40 loader
MF 788 combine harvester
MF 711 potato harvester
MF 1080 and 86 6-furrow plough
MF 86 5-furrow plough (static)
MF 86 4-furrow plough (static)
MF 1080 and MF 41 5-furrow plough
MF 1200 and 52 semi-mounted disc harrows
MF 1100 and 23 coil-tine cultivator
MF 178, pressure-control coupler and 520 disc harrows
MF 595, 30 4m drill and Reekie transport trailer
MF 135 4wd and 51 rotary mower
MF 165 and 60 5ft cutter-bar mower
MF 178, 740 forage harvester and 17 trailer
MF 675 and 124 baler
MF 187 combine harvester
MF 18 and 22 trailers
MF 415 combine harvester
MF 515 combine harvester.

The first DVD in the three-part series is available here.

Opencast Images new British Coal book by Dave Wootton advance information

Opencast Images: An Informal Look at British Coal Opencast Sites 1986-1994, Dave Wootton. Hardback book, 210 x 265 mm (landscape), 144 pages inc. 230 colour photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-42-3. Now available from Old Pond at £24.95.

In the United Kingdom surface coal mining began in 1942 in response to a national shortage of deep-mined coal. By the 1980s, when Dave Wootton began touring sites and taking photographs, the industry was firmly established with major operations and very large machinery.

His fully captioned pictures cover the period from 1986 until British Coal Opencast (BCO) was privatised in 1994. There are panoramic shots showing the scale of operations and fine close-ups of individual machines of many kinds at work. He includes several walking draglines such as the 4,000-ton ‘Ace of Spades’, the largest of its kind in Europe. Another record holder was O&K’s RH300 hydraulic shovel beautifully photographed by Dave at its Godkin, Derbyshire workplace.

Dave visited some two dozen sites in Derbyshire, Northumberland, Yorkshire, South Wales and elsewhere, capturing the full range of surface mining activities. The equipment was manufactured by famous names such as Caterpillar, Ransomes & Rapier and Ruston-Bucyrus. BCO used contractors – so Wimpey, Taylor Woodrow, Fairclough and others are all seen playing their parts.

The surface-mining industry has changed considerably since 1994, meaning that this collection of photographs has great historic interest for enthusiasts. The author also includes a short history of BCO, some Open Days material, machine specifications and a full index of machines. Dave Wootton, a retired bus driver, lives in Hednesford, Staffs. He has been fascinated by opencast mines since childhood.

The sites covered in this book are:
Ackton • Airdsgreen • Bleakhouse • Brown Lees • Butterwell • Chalmerston • Chapmans Well • Chester House • Coalfield North • Cornwall • Damside • Derlwyn • Dixon • East Chevington • Ffos Las • Ffyndaff • Gilfach Iago • Godkin • Incline Top • Keekle • Kirk • Maesgwyn Cap • Nadins • Nant Helen • Newdale • Parkslip • Potatopot • Ryfield • Skelton • St Aidans • Stobswood • West Chevington.

The principal machines shown:
Cable Shovels: Lima 2400, Marion 182M, P&H 1900AL, Ruston-Bucyrus 22-RB, 150-RB, 195-B.
Crawler Draglines: Lima 2400, Marion 195M, Ruston-Bucyrus 150-RB.
Walking Draglines: Bucyrus-Erie BE 380W, BE 480W, BE 1150B, 1260W, BE 1550W, Marion 7500, 7800, P&H 757, Ransomes & Rapier W600, W1800, W2000.
Dump Trucks: Aveling Barford RD050, 773, Cat 789, Euclid R50, R85, Komatsu HD785, Lectra Haul M100, Terex R50, R65, 3311, 2366 ADT.
Hydraulic Excavators: Ackerman H10, Cat 215, 225, 235, 245, 325, Demag H85, H121, H241, H185, H285, Hitachi UH053, EX1800, EX3500, JCB 812, Komatsu PC210, PC240, Liebherr R912, R932, R974, R994, O&K RH6, RH9, RH40, RH75, RH90, RH120, RH200, RH300.
Dozers: Cat 814 wheel dozer, D8, D9, Komatsu D155A, D275A.
Wheel Loaders: Cat 966, 988, 992.
Scrapers: Cat 631, Terex TS24. Drill Rigs: Compair Holman RBH30, Reedrill SK40.
Ancillary Plant: Cat 16G grader, Cat 825 compactor, Norwest Holst / Terex TS24 grader, Terex TS24 & R50 water bowsers.

Seventy Years of Farm Tractors new book by Brian Bell advance information

Seventy Years of Farm Tractors 1930-2000, Brian Bell. Hardback book, 246 x 189 mm. 304 pages inc. 348 illustrations. ISBN 978-1-908397-34-8. Now in stock at Old Pond at £24.95.

Brian Bell’s encyclopaedic book traces the evolution of the farm tractor from the starting handles and pan seats of the 1930s to the 4-wheel drive machines and computer management systems seventy years later. He deals in particular with developments of the classic period from the 1950s to the 1990s.

The book is arranged alphabetically by manufacturer from Allis-Chalmers to Zetor, one hundred marques in total. These are all machines to be found on British farms irrespective of their country of manufacture.

Brian runs concisely through the histories of the companies and their major models, illustrated with a wealth of photographs and extracts from sales literature. He adds special features on items such as hydraulic systems and cold-starting aids. He includes a glossary and full index.

This book replaces the author’s earlier, successful, Fifty Years of Farm Tractors. Many of the photographs are new and the text has been brought up to date to include developments of the early twenty-first century.It is a companion to Brian's books Seventy Years of Farm Machinery Parts 1 and 2 which are to be found in the Farm Machinery section of the Old Pond website.

Brian Bell lives in Suffolk where he was formerly Vice Principal of Otley College. He has written over 25 books and DVDs on farm machinery and contributes to a number of specialist magazines. He has been awarded the MBE for his services to agriculture.

Eddie Stobart Series 3 DVD advance information

Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers Series 3. 4-DVD set, approx 405 minutes. Available now from Old Pond at £19.95.

The popular observational documentary series featuring iconic haulage firm Eddie Stobart returns with more action packed adventures featuring their fans’ favourite truckers.
EPISODE 1
Hazards are never far away as driver Lee finds out to his cost when he tries to move a London landmark, the famous Piccadilly lights, and it’s red alert for Tim Fox when his brand-new biomass trailer goes missing.
EPISODE 2
In this episode, 20 young lads compete to win 10 places on the firm’s coveted apprenticeship scheme. Seasoned pro Tim Fox battles his biomass juggernaut on the motorway, delivering recyclable garden waste in dangerously high winds, while two unlucky passengers come unstuck at London Southend Airport as Stobart attempt to conquer the airways in their latest £100 million venture.
EPISODE 3
One of Stobart s most unusual trucks, the 25 ton Tellytubby , with its 27 metre built-in-screen, is booked for a three-day charity supercar event in Ireland. Tellytubby is tasked with replaying the day’s racing highlights, but first it must make it to the finishing line before any one else.
EPISODE 4
The iconic green and red wagons are back on the road and getting even greener as biomass driver Tim Fox heads to a recycling plant to collect a load of recycled sawdust destined for a cattle farm, but bad drivers, traffic jams, vague directions and tight squeezes soon tax his temper.
EPISODE 5
The rail freight division steams into action helping deliver fifty thousand bottles of Scotland’s most popular soft drink south of the border, and it’s a race against time unloading them at the rail terminal in Daventry as a breakdown in communications threatens to bring operations to a halt.
EPISODE 6
Driver Fiona has a trucking nightmare as she struggles to gets to grips with making deliveries to Bolton supermarkets in a new urban trailer she’s never used before, and it’s no laughing matter for trucker Eddie Murphy who’s all at sea picking up containers from Felixstowe docks.
EPISODE 7
The wheels keep turning for Britain’s iconic haulage firm Eddie Stobart, and in this episode Harry Hill lookalike trucker Kevin Durcan gets an eyeful on the graveyard shift in Liverpool city centre and makes a mercy dash to aid a member of the public.
EPISODE 8
In the last episode of the third series, it’s Wales v England in a truck off as drivers Ashley Maddox and Mark Dixon race to deliver new turf for the pitch at Cardiff’s Millennium stadium, but Mark proves an early casualty when he gets stuck in the mud.
EDDIE STOBART’S CHRISTMAS DELIVERY
A one-off special from Eddie Stobart, delivering Christmas to the nation in the biggest event of the trucking year. The guys and girls in the famous green and red wagons are relentlessly working round the clock 24-7, making 9,000 deliveries daily to bring home our festive cheer. Long-haul driver Ashley is embarking on a 500 mile journey from Yorkshire to a remote whiskey distillery on Islay, an island off the west coast of Scotland, to collect 700 bottles of whiskey destined for the mainland.

Know Your Rare Breeds by Jack Byard new book advance information

Know Your Rare Breeds, Jack Byard. Paperback, 104 x 155 mm (landscape), 96 pages inc. 44 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-19-5. Now in stock at Old Pond at £4.99.

Further information and advance orders: [email protected].

Jack Byard’s research into the endangered breeds of sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, horses and poultry in Britain has revealed many interesting facts about them. The Gloucester cow, for example, now reduced to just 750 breeding females, has records going back to the thirteenth century. In 1796 it was a Gloucester cow called Blossom who provided the first serum for a smallpox vaccine.

Broadly following the watchlist produced by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, Jack has chosen forty-four examples of threatened breeds. Each has a full-page photograph faced on the opposite page by an account of the breed’s history, current status and an idea of its food or amenity value.

The book is ideal for novice enthusiasts of any age. Jack passionately hopes that readers will appreciate the value of these animals and birds and be inspired to support efforts for their preservation.

The breeds included are:
Sheep
Balwen Welsh Mountain • Boreray • Castlemilk Moorit • Hill Radnor • Leicester Longwool • North Ronaldsay • Portland • Teeswater • Whitefaced Woodland.
Goats
Bagot • Golden Guernsey.
Cattle
Aberdeen Angus • Chillingham Wild Cattle • Gloucester • Hereford • Irish Moiled • Lincoln Red • Northern Dairy Shorthorn • Shetland •  Vaynol • Whitebred Shorthorn.
Pigs 
Berkshire • British Lop • British Saddleback • Gloucestershire Old Spots • Large Black • Middle White • Tamworth • Welsh.
Horses and Ponies
Cleveland Bay • Clydesdale • Dales Pony • Eriskay Pony • Exmoor Pony • Hackney • Shire • Suffolk Punch • Welsh Mountain Pony.
Chickens and Turkeys
Brown Sussex • Brussbar • Buff • Modern Langshan • Norfolk Black • Whitefaced Black Spanish.

Author Jack Byard was born in Bradford where he has lived and worked all his life. A Rolls-Royce craftsman by trade and a jewellery craftsman in later years, Jack spent the latter part of his working life imparting this knowledge as a school workshop technician.

Jack has always had a deep affection for his rural heritage and so wrote his first book, Know Your Sheep, with a view to sharing with others the countryside that he loves. Know Your Rare Breeds is his tenth title. A complete list can be seen on the Know Your … section of the Old Pond website.

UK Heavy Haul new CP Productions DVD advance information

UK Heavy Haul, Pete Connock and Martin Phippard (CP Productions), DVD, approx 85 minutes (inc. Extra). ISBN 978-1-908397-40-9. Available now from Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

Pete Connock and Martin Phippard have captured three very different types of abnormal load movements in the UK.

The first film, Deep Pile, follows the movement of a 50-metre-long, 170-tonne steel pile from the Chepstow plant of manufacturer Mabey Bridge to the docks at Avonmouth. We see the Collett Group securing the self-supporting load aboard two modules, leaving the factory and then crossing the new Severn Bridge. Motive power is provided by two MAN four-axle prime movers, a V10-powered TGA and V8-powered TGX.

In the second feature, Kolossal Komatsu  the CPP team capture the marriage of the body to the chassis of a huge Komatsu 785 dump truck prior to its delivery to a busy Hanson Aggregates quarry in the Mendip Hills. This sequence shows the problems associated with carrying such a big machine along the lanes of Somerset. It is supplemented by a short but exciting few minutes in which several Komatsu 785s are seen at work in the quarry.

The final story is a record of the movement of a massive quad-booster from the Alstom factory in Stafford to an electricity generating station near Preston. Power to the People not only shows the 500-tonne combination moving over the road network but also depicts the ship-to-shore transfer of the complete vehicle from the marine vessel Terra Marique. Allelys Heavy Haulage completed the move using ballasted MAN and DAF prime movers and an enormous girder trailer.

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.

Modern Tractors Part 3 new DVD from Tractor Barn advance information

Modern Tractors Part 3 'Out in the Fields', Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn Productions). DVD approx 110 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-47-8. Now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

The product of three years’ filming, this programme takes us on a tour of Britain to see all the major tractor manufacturers out at work in the fields.

Sites visited include a large dairy farming enterprise, various contractors’ fleets and farms and also demonstration units. Stephen and Jonathan include a detailed look at one of the most popular models of recent years, the John Deere 7530.

Tractors from Case IH, John Deere, New Holland, McCormick, Valtra, Challenger, Deutz Fahr, Massey Ferguson, Fendt and JCB are all featured as Tractor Barn continues the story of the modern tractor and its amazing electronic wizardry.

Ipswich: Lost Inns, Taverns and Public Houses by David Kindred new book advance information

Ipswich: Lost Inns, Taverns and Public Houses, David Kindred. Paperback book, 243 x 169 mm, 144 pages inc approx 250 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-33-1. Now in stock at Old Pond at £14.95.

David Kindred’s book is a remarkable record of some 400 public houses, inns and beerhouses. The entries are organised into two sections. The first describes the public houses that have been closed since 1919 and includes photographs of the establishments, while the second lists closures from the eighteenth century to the First World War punctuated with photographs where available.

By consulting archives, borough records, period newspapers and the painstaking research of the late Jack Ruffles, David Kindred has successfully painted a picture of the Ipswich local from front-room beerhouse to grand hotel. With interesting anecdotes from town residents, a section on old coaching inns and some 250 photographs, this book shows that the town has enjoyed a truly diverse wealth of inns, taverns and public houses.

David Kindred has worked in professional photography for 50 years, spending much of this time with the East Anglian Daily Times and Evening Star newspapers in Ipswich. This will be his seventh book with Old Pond Publishing.