britainswomble

Robert Eden used to live at Burwash not far from where I live. When I started working for Sussex Tractors; he used to buy loads of Fords and MF's from us for export. His premises were adjacent to the entrance to the Blackwall Tunnel in Greenwich London. His factory buildings were a couple of rows of lock up garages with up and over doors and one or two larger buildings. I remember seeing the new parts for the four wheel drive conversions and power steering conversions he made for both makes. I had a Ford DA 2115 artic with a 40' single axle Fromco trailer and could just about get four 5000's on it. That was something of an experience for me as a relatively new trucker; venturing into London, and there were some pretty scarey looking 'Dudes' roaming about the the place, sort of B.A. Baraccus types. The truck was so unreliable engine wise that on two occasions I didn't get past the local Ford dealer (Stormonts of Hildenborough, Formerly a Fordson dealer) before the head gasket blew, and the trailer was a nightmare to drive with in London with the single axle right at the back. Ooooh memories. I don't think it was that long ago that Robert Eden died.

Oooooooh...........myyyyyyyyyyy God. :o I've only just seen these pictures and I was nearly come over sorry, overcome. The 'A' Series ERF with the bulk trailer..............gorgeous......the JCB digger loader and tractor loader..............stunning..........the Thames Trader and BMC FFK............painful but happy memories of engine repairs. There's no easy way to change an injector pump on a Trader with out getting bruised ribs. The Counties.............I could hear them running............the restored 7000........oooooooooooh I want it, and the Lotus Cortina.................sex on wheels. * You've just made an old man very happy. Forget girlie porn........this is the real stuff. Some years ago I bought a Ford 2000 really cheap as it was just an old tractor then. I paid 200 for it as it wasn't too good a starter. I fitted a cold start kit to it and sold it on, but how I wish I had it now.

Well.......I found your topic at last Kevin. Lovely pictures of the cattle. I've always loved the smell of the cattle lines and animals looking their best. Sad thing being that for some, the end of the show turns from their moment of glory, to a trip to an abbattoir. Nice tractor pictures too. The one that interested me was the Fordson Major with the Ford 'D' Series truck engine in it. I recently saw a Major with one fitted and they had turned the front axle to fit it. The one on here has extended radius arms running back to the bellhousing to overcome the problem. It's a nice conversion as it gets away from the old problem of wet liners in the major engine and lack of availability of good cylinder blocks. There are loads of these engines laying around, they never seem to be worn out and chuck out 75hp. The six cylinder ones are freely available too and could easily be adapted in the same way. http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/BGU_photos/bucks/DSCN5093.jpg

Wassup Kev.............I went through all the sections on here last night and missed your post. Wacha done wiv it. "Ave you 'idden it somewhere seeecrit.........hmm? I promise I would have looked if I'd seen it. Sometimes people don't reply because there are only about three members on here during the day, and then it gets buried under dozens of other topics. We still love ya..........I'm going to look for it now. Go an' 'ave a trundle on Penny to cheer yourself up.

East Sussex.............dull, overcast, mild with occasional light showers and one clap of thunder so far.

I did that too, yesterday. Attacked me friggin thumb with a cutting disc on an angle grinder. Went in the side of me thumb and just missed the nail. You have my sympathy, and I share your pain brother. Oh an' P.S. I got stung on my back by a bee when I was driving me tanker through Eastbourne today. Stupid bee wouldn't have stung me had I not leaned back on it, and if it knew it would cost him/ her their life. Did you know that bees die once they have stung something? I get the occasional reminder of the event with a sharp stabbing pain in my back every now and then.

Finding out tonight that we still have "Our" hedgehogs in the garden, two weeks after they arrived. We see them occasionally, usually about 9pm. We have a mum and two babies that were still feeding off her when we saw them together. The babies are often left alone and call mum with a high pitched whistle. We also saw her carry one of the babies across the lawn by the scruff of its neck. They don't seem at all bothered by ours or our nine cats presence and carry on as if we weren't there. They are doing a great job in the garden. We used to be over run with slugs and snails, but now only see a few. Isn't nature wonderful. We have wet summers and slugs and snails flourish. more slugs and snails means more hedgehogs surviving. Nature compensating again. Heavy showers are predicted for tomorrow, so if we get the rain we've been promised, then the hedgehogs will have a banquet tomorrow evening, bless 'em.

Lovely looking model Nigel. 1/32 I presume. Good job "Paddy" Campbell isn't alive still, he'd go nuts if it went out without a "Paddy plate" on it. Explanation.........Sussex Tractors was owned by "Paddy" Campbell from about the mid sixties onwards. In those days "Sussex Tractors plates had to be on everything that went out. They were metal and rivetted on to the machinery. There you go Nigel, a genuine mid seventies "Paddy Plate". Haven't got any pictures of the old brass ones. I think these were supplied by Mobil oils as part of their franchise agreement.

Give yourself a hug and say "There there". Not much else you can do. No doubt the chuffin' box will turn up when you aren't looking for it. At least you've done the honourable thing by offering a refund, which is more than most would do. If he wont accept a refund, then maybe he hasn't got such a bad deal after all. You just can't please some people, and he sounds like one of them............

Sorting out my mail tonight and finding an un-cashed pay cheque from the beginning of May.

I haven't seen a picture of a 70 SF before, but believe it or not, (Not,as most would think) I once drove a cabless one down to Nigel Ford's part of the country. I drove it from Uckfield to Dallington near Battle for a demo which I wasn't fortunate enough to attend. It was powered by a six cylinder Mercedes engine and the cutting drum was probably the same as the 60 trailed forager. The one I drove had a grass header on it. I would love to build an 80 SF, as my Uncle, Phil Mariner, and another Sussex contractor known as Mike Cushing, owned the only two in Sussex. I would imagine the 60 and 80 SF's wouldn't be too difficult to scratch build as they were all corners and angles. I don't remember them having any rounded parts anywhere. I wold love to get hold of a good quality leaflet or booklet of one for the pictures and dimensions of one. The two Sussex SF 80's weren't too successful. Mike Cushing's had to have a new engine (V 10 aircooled Deutz) as the engine drive plate was fitted the wrong way round causing the engine to overheat, the crankshaft thrust washers to wear out prematurely and damage the pistons etc. I think they also had reliability problems with the metal detectors too. There were other problems, but nothing more than would be expected with a pioneering machine in the mid seventies. There were other self propelled machines around at the time from New Holland (Had a V 8 3208 Cat engine if my memory serves me well) and Hesston (Correct spelling?), and I think from John Deere, although I think that JD sat back and watched the show before coming out with a very successful well developed machine. P.S. You don't happen to have an SF 80 leaflet you could copy for me, would you?.........please?

East Sussex.........cold, wet, total cloud cover, drizzling, and no sign of any improvement. I was going to go to The festival of Transport at Hellingly (Helling..lie, correct pronunciation) but will be unlikely to now. Sadly if we have a day like this, many of the exhibitors have a habit of going home early, leaving a poor display for Monday. Global warming..............global bowlocks more like........

Some chuffin' idiot on the M25 this morning. Must be silly season. I was coming down Reigate Hill this morning with my tanker, where the slip road lane tapers off to end. Obviously this twerp had decided that no matter what, he had the right of way in spite of the fact that my lane was unbroken. I was suddenly aware of a car undertaking me on the nearside; problem was that his lane had disappeared and he completed his manoeuvre using the hard shoulder. I was doing the best part of sixty, so I reckon he was doing about seventy. Why the hell couldn't he have just eased off the accelerator for a second and overtaken me safely? I wasn't even aware he was there, as I had no reason to expect anyone to be on my nearside at all. I just wish plod had been there to see him. What made it worse was that he wasn't a young driver either! What is the matter with people?

Weren't there any pedestrian side guards in the kit. Sorry didn't mean to say kit........how woooooooood of me. Only pullin' yer leg. Honestly it looks so good in the pictures, it could easily be mistaken for a kit. Well done that man.

Innit funny.............ever since we were told of the perils of global warming, mother nature has waved two fingers at us and given us two cool summers. The last I heard was this is what we can expect for the next five years. Like I've said before.........its just nature compensating itself in a natural cycle of weather. Bu**er boy, I've been around long enough to see quite a few extremes of weather. Nothing like an extra hot summer or very cold winter to get the "Experts" pontificating. It's been so cold and windy down here in Sussex today; I had to get me woolly "Yat" out. We had a shower here this morning that was just like someone throwing a bucket of water over you. It lasted about as long and nearly soaked me. Weeeeeeird .

Been up to Essex for a load of heating oil and derv. Spent the rest of the morning driving a desk, and haulin' paper. Ringin' people up, orderin' stuff, gettin' people to collect fings, arrangin' S.L.P.'s (Safe loading passes), photocopyin' invoices, distributin' paperwork to them as is s'posed to deal with it, checking P.P.E. on the tankers and A.D.R. equipment an' gettin' peed off with our Neon (Ian the W tanker driver who thinks the company wouldn't survive if his tanker was off the road. He seems to think I'm his personal servant, always giving me lists of things he wants done on his truck, mostly trivial, and making excuses as to why he can't do it. He either hasn't got the right clothes on or his dog has been home alone for too long, or he started work about midnight, or he's got the sh!ts, or the fumes might affect him, or it might make his hands sore, besides that he works harder and longer than anyone else on the firm, an' that's crap too He's a miserable turd of forty one, lives with his father who he loathes, suffers from a martyr complex. has never had a girlfriend because as he said, no one would want him, (Yeah.......I'll go along with that) doesn't have a social life because he's always having to do everything for his relations. He's like a firkin great black cloud over the place. No one likes him because of his miserable ways and life of martyrdom. All you can say is that as an employee, his work is faultless, lets face it.......he has to have something going for him. Oh well...........as they say.........."Such is life". P.S. Me other drivers are ok...........El Gringo and Von Shorthousen, oh and then we've got Alan, who I nicknamed Jim after a character in the old American TV series called "Taxi". Alan doesn't seem to know what day of the week it is, and has such a bad memory he gets confused easily, doesn't seem to be able to grasp what's going on around him, doesn't seem to be able to read maps and relies totally on his sat nav to do deliveries. Oy.............anyone want a couple of spare drivers........they're yours if you want 'em. Grrrrrrr.

East Sussex. Cloudy at about 2:30 this morning and started raining shortly after. On my journey to Essex and back, it tipped it down. Just after 6:30 the rain stopped and the wind got up, and it remained very windy until about 9:00 tonight. Weather is calm and dry now. Last winter I grew a beard when it was cold, and said I would shave it off when the weather got hot and summer arrived. Guess what......................I've still got a beard.

Congratulations on your marriage, may you live long and happy lives together. (Seriously) P.S. If you are a good girl and buy toyboy some models, he might just want to turn you into a very interesting hilly piece of terrain to drive his tractors up and down..............aah.....wouldn't that be nice. Just think what he could do with a topper.............a digger............. or a pasture scarifier................cor, now that would be real fun, wouldn't it.

What a stunning piece of work. It beats me how you can paint it when it's part built and then add more bits to it without it ending up looking "Tatty" You must have a good eye for scale as everything looks in proportion and you don't seem to have had too many trial builds to get it right. I have two dreams of machines I want to build and one in particular. The first is a Claas Jaguar SF 80 self propelled forager of the seventies, the first they made, and secondly I'd love to build a three ton trailer and some implements for my UH Power Major. No doubt making 1/16th scale would be easier. My biggest hold up is that I'm the sort of person who prefers to have several days on the trot to do that sort of thing. I hate working in sporadic bursts. The other problem with 1/16th being finding the right size wheels and my lack of experience. Only thing I've made so far were some grain buckets for my Loadall, and a 4wd Ford 6600 which turned out really well.

Lucky you..... I did check your profile before I posted the last reply. It would appear you are old enough to have text with her.............oh to be young again.

Eeeee, when I were a lad, we didn't have one of those new fangled moisture meter thingies, but we had a good idea about moisture content though. If you could mark a grain with your fingernail, it definitely wasn't ready. If you bit through it with your front teeth and it was hard enough to deform before your teeth went through it; it was probably about 18% or just fit to combine. If you bit through it and it broke cleanly in half, and your teeth slammed together enough to hurt; then it was probably about 14%. We used to combine at about 18% and put it straight into storage for feed. When we first moved to Uckfield in 1966, we didn't have bulk storage on the farm so we bagged it up in the field and transported it back to the farm for barn storage. (We later had a Brice Baker store put in.) It's a good job we only had a Massey 780 at the time. We used to put the barley through a Bentall hammer mill and mix minerals into it for pig feed.

Waking up this morning to find five new Bengal cross kittens under our bed. All seem healthy and active, but the mum is only just a year old and inexperienced so we'll have to keep an eye on them over the next few days. At the moment she follows me if I go away from the kittens and keeps calling me to go with her. She doesn't seem to want to settle with them unless I'm there too. Handy though........her kittens are right next to my computer. Aaaaaaaaand my Transit Motorhome passed its MOT this morning after I fixed the o/s indicator. It hasn't been on the road since 2001, and now hopefully we will be taking the grandchildren away for a weekend in it. It has a free standing awning with it so it will be a big adventure for them.

Is she old enough to have text with...........hmm.

Great to see all the old pictures, and how little some of the machinery has changed over the years. My mum had a load of fifties and early sixties Dairy Farmer and I think Farmer and Stockbreeder magazines tucked away in her loft. Sadly when I asked her if she wanted a new home for them; she said she had thrown them away because she didn't think anyone would want them. It's the old adverts that I find really interesting. There were so many leaps forward with machinery at the time.

Chuffin trucks...........thats what. Our old Foden (93) passed its MOT about two weeks ago, after having a new handbrake valve, handbrake relay valve and a suspension leveling valve. It's only been out about twice since then, and today I decided to start it up to raise the suspension so I could tidy up the rear wings. Up goes the air pressure, up goes the suspension and I turn off the engine to carry on with the wings, and when I walk past it..................pssssssssssssssssssssss........ Ba**ard. Now the circuit protection valve for the clutch servo has developed a leak, so its off the road again till tomorrow. Chuffin trucks............can't win can I?