Old Pond publishing days

Ice Road Truckers Series 3 DVD in stock at Old Pond

Details of Ice Road Truckers Complete Series 3 by the History Channel were given in the blog of 4 May. It is now in stock for online sale at Old Pond at £19.95. 

Cola Cowboys, Know Your Chickens, Leyland Tractors in stock

The following new books and DVD are now in stock at Old Pond Publishing:

Cola Cowboys by Franklyn Wood. Paperback, £9.95. Details: blog 1 February.

Know Your Chickens by Jack Byard. Paperback £4.99. Details: blog 10 January.

Leyland Tractors by Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn Productions). DVD £15.95 inc VAT. Details: blog 14 March.

Ford 4WD Conversions calendar for 2011 in stock

Tractor Barn’s first annual calendar pays tribute to Ford’s four-wheel-drive conversions.

Ford 4WD Conversions 2011 Calendar, 28 pages, 294 x 208 mm landscape format. ISBN 978-1-906853-45-7. In stock at Old Pond at £9.95 inc VAT.

The calendar is A4 format, ‘American style’ so that it hangs open with two pages to view. The top page carries a full-size image of one of the classic conversions photographed at a working day or similar event.

Half of these are different models from the main picture. Alongside there is plenty of space in the diary for brief notes.

Creators Jonathan Whitlam and Stephen Richmond have included short texts giving basic details of the models shown.

If you like Ford conversions you will want to have this attractive and informative calendar on your workshop wall – or in the kitchen.

The main tractors month by month
Roadless Ploughmaster 6/4 - County Super Six - Doe Triple D - Roadless Ploughmaster 95 - Doe 130 - Roadless 115 - Muir-Hill 101 - Roadless 94T - County 1174 - County 7600-Four - Roadless 120 - County 1474.

Ax Men Series 2 DVD in stock

Ax Men Series 2 is now in stock at Old Pond Old Pond at £19.95. See blog 25 January for details.

America's giant new tractors on DVD - New Century New Power

What tractors are being used on really big cropping farms in the United States today? This programme focuses on North Dakota where spreads can be 10,000-50,000 acres.

New Century New Power by Toy Farmer magazine and Peter D Simpson. DVD, 65 minutes. £16.95 inc VAT. Available now from Old Pond

The big names are all here: John Deere and New Holland with their 9000 ranges; Case IH with 535, 335 and 485; and Versatile with 435 and 535. There is a feature on Challenger and a look at some special-edition machines produced for Steiger’s 50th anniversary.

The tractors are seen working on a variety of big-field operations and interviews examine some key aspects of the new technology. A JD dealer, armed with a laptop, explains how maintenance requirements have changed; drivers talk about the advances in field mapping and the computer in the cab. With strip-tillage systems and prescription planting, spraying and fertiliser application, today’s big farmer is ever more equipped to crop efficiently.

Interviews point up the advantages of rubber tracks as well as the growing capability of all the machines. The currently used 60 ft equipment offers a work rate of 40 acres an hour; the coming 90 ft machinery can give 60 acres or more. Auto-steer means that on a 1,000-acre field four tractors can work together with no overlaps.

New Century New Power – this is what really large-scale farming is all about.

Modern Tractors Part 2 in stock

The latest Tractor Barn DVD, Modern Tractors Part 2, is now in stock at Old Pond. For details see blog 26 January. 

The 4th Diseworth working day on DVD

Tractor Barn Productions, run by Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam, has now released their film of the 2009 event.

Working the Fields: the 4th Diseworth Working Day, DVD, approx 90 minutes, ISBN 978-1-906853-40-2, released 2010, is available from Old Pond at £15.95 inc. VAT .

 Diseworth, Leicestershire is host to an outstanding annual working day. The 2009 event, recorded by Tractor Barn Productions, was also the occasion of the Ford & Fordson Association’s national ploughing finals.

Vintage farming was represented by a horse ploughing match, wheat going through the binder and threshing drum, and five classic combines at work. The Kegworth Vintage Agricultural Club’s ploughing match fielded 82 ploughmen turning over the Diseworth soil.

Among the many tractors on view in this programme are a Ford 8730 with a Ransomes push-pull plough, Cat D8 and D4 crawlers, IH 1056XL and a Muir-Hill 121. Does were represented by a Triple D and a Dual Power. 

Two new DVDs showing Scotland's industrial heritage

Old Pond now has in stock two new DVDs drawn from the archives of the National Library of Scotland collection and released by Panamint Cinema.

The four archive films in this compilation all show aspects of Scottish steel-making in the 1960s and ’70s. Each of the films takes you into the heart of the factory to show the details of Scotland’s industrial past.

Make Way for Steel, filmed in 1966, shows the site clearance and construction of Colvilles’ new steel works at Ravenscraig and the mill at Gartcosh.

Lanarkshire Steelworks gives a historical view of steelmaking at Colvilles, recorded by assistant melting shop manager Tom Urie. The film was released in 1975.

An award-winning film from 1963, The Big Mill, shows in detail the production of sheet steel at Gartcosh and Ravenscraig.

The final programme, Fullwood Foundries, Mossend (c. 1970), shows old and new methods of making moulds and includes views around the iron foundry.

The Big Mill, DVD, approx 99 minutes, b & w and colour, released 2009, available from Old Pond at £19.95 inc. VAT

The five archive films in the second collection record a variety of enterprises from Scotland’s industrial and energy heritage. They range from 1958 to 1975.

The earliest programme, Rivers at Work (1958), shows the work of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board.

Central Scotland (1962) is an educational programme introducing the wide range of industries which were then operating in the region.

The development and production of the Hillman Imp car at Linwood is shown in the 1963 film Young in Heart. The star is Bill (Dr Finlay) Simpson.

The Invergordon Smelter (1972) shows the conception and construction of the aluminium smelter for British Aluminium.

The final programme, The Clyde Estuary, made in 1975, traces the history of shipping and the shipbuilding industries on the Clyde.
 
Young in Heart, DVD, approx 100 minutes, colour, released 2009, available from Old Pond at £19.95 inc. VAT

I Walked by Night and The Rabbit Skin Cap reprinted

We have received fine reprints of two classic rural books edited by Lilias Rider Haggard. Publishers Coch-y-Bonddu Books have published facsimile paperback gatefold editions, including the unforgettable illustrations by Edward Seago. Each book costs £19.95.

I Walked by Night, first published in 1935, is the book whose anonymous 'author' Charlotte Paton researched for the Old Pond book The King of the Norfolk Poachers. It is an account of the unruly life of Frederick Rolfe.

The Rabbit Skin Cap tells the story of Norfolk countryman, shoemaker and poacher George Baldry. It was first published in 1939.

Both books are available from Old Pond Publishing.

Modern Tractors DVD in stock

At Old Pond we have now received stock of the latest Tractor Barn DVD Modern Tractors: the first years of the 21st Century - Part 1, presented by Stephen Richmond and narrated by Jonathan Whitlam. This was previewed in our blog of 4 November. Price £15.95, running time 90 minutes approximately.