Old Pond publishing days

Big Plant excavators and cranes DVD set in stock

With nine hours' viewing for £24.95, Geoff Lewis's DVD set 'Big Plant: excavators and cranes in action' is now in stock at Old Pond.

Farm models book price halved

Publishers Veloce have halved the price of David Pullen's Britain's Farm Model & Toy Tractors 1998-2008. The publication price was £29.99. Old Pond now has the hardback on sale at £14.95.

Old Pond provisional book publishing schedule 2011

Superseded by blog 31 August

Old Pond provisional DVD release schedule 2011

Superseded by blog 31 August

Know Your Diggers new book advance information

Know Your Diggers, Paul Argent. Paperback, 104 x 155 mm with 96 pages inc. 45 photographs. ISBN: 978-1-906853-81-5. Now in stock at Old Pond £4.99.

This selection is designed to satisfy the curiosity of people interested in the plant and machinery they commonly see as they travel around the UK. Paul Argent’s selection includes diggers, excavators, backhoes, rollers, cranes, demolition machines, loaders, dumpers and a road planer.

The author shows products from most of the major manufacturers such as JCB, Caterpillar, Volvo, Case, Komatsu, Hitachi, Kubota and Liebherr. Each of the examples is seen on site in a full-page photograph. Paul’s accompanying text gives details of the class of machine represented, the work for which it is suitable and some technical specifications.

The range of machinery is wide, offering novice enthusiasts a chance to get to grips with many different types, a springboard to a deepening interest in the plant and machinery at work every day in Britain.

Paul Argent is a specialist photographer and journalist based in Ruthin, Wales and has worked in the construction industry for 24 years. He contributes regularly to Earthmovers and other magazines.

The machines in the book are:

Barford SXR6000 - Bell B50D - BG Paver - Bomag BW120 - Bomag landfill - CaseWX165 - Caterpillar 318DMH - Caterpillar 973 - Caterpillar 313D - Caterpillar 966H - Caterpillar D6 - Doosan DT160 - Fiat Allis FL7B - Hamm HD90 - Hamm HW90 - Hitachi EGR70 - Hitachi ZX225 - Hitachi ZX280LC - Huddig 1260B - JCB 3CX - JCB JS360 - JCB Robot - Komatsu D61PX - Komatsu PC130 - Komatsu PC210 Longreach -  Komatsu PC450 - Kubota KX080 - Kubota U10 - Liebherr A900CZW – Liebherr LRB155 - Liebherr R944C - Liebherr R984C - Manitou MRT1440 – Mastenbroek - New Holland B115B - Pegson Crusher - Takeuchi TB250 - Terex HR32 - Terex PT60 - Thwaites 1.5t - Thwaites 10t - Volvo A25D - Volvo BL61 - Volvo EC20B - Volvo ECR235CL.

See here for more information about the Know Your series. A wide range of DVDs featuring earthmoving and allied machines is to be found here.

Gardner book and two Massey Ferguson combine DVDs in stock

Old Pond has reprinted Graham Edge's book on the legendary engine builder L Gardner & Sons Ltd. It is in stock at £19.95.

At the same time two new DVDs from Tractor Barn duo Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam have been released. Largely comprising archive footage from AGCO The Massey Ferguson Combine Part 1 and Part 2 together tell the complete story from the M-H reaper-thresher to the latest models. At the end of Part 1 there is an extended feature on the magnificent 760. The DVDs are £16.95 (inc. VAT) each or £32.00 as a pair on the Old Pond Offers website page.

We enjoyed the quiz night

Our once-a-year quiz team, 'Wayne and the Famous Five', composed of Old Pond staff and partners took part in a recent competition organised by the employment agency Hays Accountancy.

Left to right are Georgina (front), Heather (rear), Wayne, Kate (from Hays), Bob, Lesley, Jay (Hays) and Roger. From the smiles on our faces you can guess that we came out the winners.

Seventeen teams from the Ipswich area took part involving just over a hundred people. The evening raised £1,500 for Action for Children.

Unloading steel at Shoreham Port

As a fitting conclusion to Steven Vale's forthcoming DVD Scrap Metal Giants we visited Shoreham Port to film steel - made from scrap metal - on one of the last stages of its journey.

The vessel to the right of the first photograph had come from Antwerp with about 2,000 tonnes of sheet piling belonging to Arcelor Mittal.

Shoreham Port's Sennebogen 880 EQ D-series equilibrium crane weighs about 240 tonnes with its gear. The counterweight alone carries 75 tonnes of concrete, and there is more concrete on the undercarriage.

The reach of the machine is 24 metres and the spreader beam can extend up to 15 metres. The blue gantry cranes to the right of the second picture belong to Parker Steel.

Crane driver Chris Knight had an excellent view - which is just as well because down in the hold some painstaking work was being carried out.

Banksman Nigel Crew was overseeing the splitting of the stacks of Z-piles into loads that could be managed. Although the crane could handle 20 tonnes, the forklifts which moved the steel on the dockside were limited to 12 tonnes, so this was the maximum for one lift.

Shoreham Port, on the south coast of England, next to Brighton, is one of the largest of the UK's remaining Trust ports. These are run for the benefit of their stakeholders - their customers and the local community - with profits being re-circulated to investment rather than to shareholders' dividends. The Sennebogen cost £1.4 million, a major investment with ten years to be recouped.

Our guide for the day was Stevedoring Manager Tony Oliver, seen on the left in the final photograph talking to film-maker Jonathan Theobald.

Gwen and the Art of Tractor Travel book advance information

Gwen and the Art of Tractor Travel, Josephine Roberts. Paperback book, 198 x 129 mm, 148 pages inc. 4pp photographs. ISBN: 978-1-906853-84-6. Now in stock at Old Pond at £7.95.

As a heavily pregnant woman in possession of a vintage tractor, Gwen faces the question of a lifetime: how to do something special during her last few weeks of freedom? Her answer: to embark upon a solo tractor journey, travelling at 12 miles an hour through the Welsh countryside.

Following many of the most difficult and least-travelled roads, Gwen makes her way in a disorganised fashion through the breathtaking Welsh hills via campsites and farmers' fields. She encounters the most extraordinary characters and draws a few conclusions about life, all the while describing the Welsh scenery from the lofty seat of her Massey Ferguson.

Josephine Roberts is a regular contributor to magazines in Britain and America. She uses her 1960s Massey Ferguson 35 to maintain her smallholding in the foothills of Snowdonia where she lives with her two young children and her partner in a house that has been in her family for three generations. The photograph shows Josephine on Pendine Sands at the start of her trek from Carmarthen Bay to the Llyn peninsula.

Sue Morgan signing her combines book at Malvern

We enjoyed a good Malvern tractor show at which there were lots and lots of visitors on the first day. Fewer came on Sunday but those who did were entertained by the Wurzels.

Just behind us on the Classic Tractor Books / Japonica Press stand Sue Morgan was kept busy signing copies of her new book.

Combines in Colour, a beautifully presented 214-page hardback is available from Japonica Press at £22.95. Sue Morgan has several times won farm machinery photograph competitions. Many of the images in her book are superb.