Old Pond publishing days

Dale Starks ends his Yellow Trail from Texas

Anyone who remembers the 1976 BBC 'World About Us' documentary about custom harvesting in the United States and Canada will recall the contractor at the centre of it all: Dale Starks. We have been told that Dale passed peacefully away in Wichita hospital last Friday. He was in his 80s but almost to the end he was still harvesting corn.

The photograph (courtesy Robert White) shows Dale in Montana, 1983.

Old Pond has now released Yellow Trail from Texas as a DVD. See blog 25 June.

On the blog entry for 8 February 2009 there is a neat account by Tom Kirk of his time with Dale on the Yellow Trail.

County: a pictorial review

Which British company ... exported its 4-wheel drive tractors to nearly 150 countries ... produced the only tractor to have crossed the English Channel under its own steam ... built tractors for agriculture, mines, aircraft-towing and lifeboat-hauling ... was at the forefront of transport engineering design and innovation, producing trucks, vans, tanks and specialised off-road vehicles? County.

Hardback book by Stuart Gibbard, 168 pages including 290 photographs. Published 1997 and out of print for several years. Now reprinted and back in stock at £19.95. More ...

Rodeo in the Blood

Join Dylan Winter on his quest across America and Canada to discover why perfectly ordinary young men hunker down on the back of a bull and try to stay there for eight seconds - the longest eight seconds in the world. On the way you'll experience almost every element of the rodeo way of life.

Junior rodeo - 'pee-wee goat tying' and onwards.

High School rodeo - superb riding in the pole-bending and barrel-racing events.

Rookie riders - meet rookie bulls.

Ranch rodeo - team sorting, penning and loading; throwing and tying.

Big Man event - steer wrestling.

Bull riding and bare-back horse riding. Why do they do it? It's in the blood. Even at the Oklahoma (gay) rodeo.

In stock now. DVD approx 90 minutes plus extras. £15.95  More ...

Seventy Years of Garden Machinery

In stock today: Brian Bell's encyclopaedia of the smaller machines used on estates, allotments, nurseries and large gardens. The period covered is 1920-90.

The book deals with two-wheel garden tractors; ride-on tractors; ploughs, cultivators and hoes; sowing spreading and spraying; lawn mowers and motor scythes; saws, trucks and other equipment.

Hardback, 246 x 189 mm, 304 pages including 485 illustrations. ISBN 978-1-905523-64-1.  £24.95. More ...

Secret Rivers

We now have DVD stock of Secret Rivers, the two series of programmes Paul Heiney presented for ITV Anglia. Paul paddled his canoe down twelve East Anglian waterways capturing insights into the rivers' histories, wildlife and those whose livelihoods were connected with the water.

The is a double-disk set running for approx 295 minutes. Price £24.95.

The rivers included in disk 1: Waveney (two episodes); Blyth; Little Ouse; Ivel; Colne; Cam.

Disk 2: Lark; Stort; Stour (two episodes); Gipping; Nene; Wensum.

More ...

More McCormick

The 9th November was a beautiful day for filming. The host was Lincolnshire farmer David Allwood.

David's McCormick Super BWD 6 tractor dates back to 1954. It was pulling a McCormick-Deering 8C plough. Photo: Stuart Gibbard

The 5th Newark Vintage Tractor and Heritage Show, Newark Showground

This is a very partial standholder's opinion of the show. Marks are strictly unscientific and subjective.

Arrival and setting up. We were in the Newark pavilion. This is not the smartest of locations, but it is certainly an easy place to set up. 8 out of 10

Catering and toilets. The usual - long queues if you want to eat good food at a peak time: 6 out of 10

Did plenty of people visit the stand? Yes, visitors were funnelled through the building from and to the red gate when they arrived and left: 22 out of 25

Were they spending? Yes: 20 out of 25

Geographical spread of visitors. Slightly wider than at Peterborough: 6 out of 10

Friendliness of organisers and Saturday evening entertainment. OK: 7 out of 10

Breakdown and getting away. Good: 8 out of 10

For us a very satisfactory show: 77 out of a hundred.

The customer with a big smile in the shaky photograph is 'Howard'.

Hell Drivers

Ex-con Tom, played by Stanley Baker, has no licence and no option but haul ballast for Hawletts in this 1950s feature film. 'Twelve runs a day or you're sacked' is the threat that hangs over the drivers as they speed their Dodge trucks along narrow lanes.

Stanley Baker is joined by other greats of British film and television: Patrick McGoohan as the violent No. 1 driver and William Hartnell as the corrupt manager. Sid James, Alfie Bass, Gordon Jackson, David McCullum, Peggy Cummins and a very young Sean Connery all give support.

The corruption soon has the men at each others' throats, until they are using their trucks with murderous intent.

First released in 1957 (black and white), approx 104 minutes plus special features - which deal mostly with Stanley Baker - and a viewing notes booklet. We have stock for sale at £14.95 inc VAT. More ...

In their November issue, the magazine Classic and Vintage Commercials ran a Readers' Memories special feature celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of this film. One article is headed; 'Albert Hall took over as fleet engineer at Drinkwater shortly after Hell Drivers was filmed ... and some of the Dodges were still around.' Classic and Vintage Commercials magazine

National Tractor Show, Peterborough

This is a very partial standholder's opinion of the show. Marks are strictly unscientific and subjective.

Arrival and setting up. We were in the brand-new exhibition hall, and once we got past the builders' vehicles and reconciled ourselves to having less space than we booked, setting up was straightforward with good access: 7 out of 10

Catering and toilets. Catering ranged from the good to the abysmal: 6 out of 10

Did plenty of people visit the stand? Yes, though they looked thinly spread: 20 out of 25

Were they spending? Yes: 20 out of 25

Geographical spread of visitors. Not many from Ireland, Scotland or Wales: 5 out of 10

Friendliness of organisers and Saturday evening entertainment. Good: 8 out of 10

Breakdown and getting away. Excellent: 9 out of 10

The standholder's view in the new exhibition hall, East of England Showground, Peterborough. Brian Bell is behind the counter.

My mark for the show ( which ignores the tractors, auction and other attractions) is 75 per cent.

One other plus point: they used the loudspeakers sparingly.

Four new DVDs from Classic Tractor Fever

An American producer with tractors on the brain. The programmes are in magazine format, well-presented and with lots of interviews.

We have distribution rights in the UK and elsewhere outside North America. These DVDs are now in stock.

The American Tractor 1900-2000. Looks at key American models to show 20th century development from a 1913 Rumely Oil-Pull and 1917 IH Titan to a 1996 Caterpillar. More ...

Awesome Plus: the story of the biggest tractor ever built. This is perhaps the most detailed account on DVD of just a single tractor. But it is a special machine: the Big Bud 16V-747 built in 1977. More ...

Johnny Popper People. An homage to the two-cylinder range of John Deere from 1935-6 D, BO and B to a 1956 420 Hi-Crop. More ...

Red Power 4 All Seasons. A feast of tractors for International Harvester enthusiasts from a Regular and Titan from the 1920s to a 1961 560 Orchard. More ...