The Tractor Twitcher

Would love to see a Bateman model or a S.A.M in model form, here's a couple of pictures of forward control Unimog based sprayers seen at Cereals 2007 and 2008.

Precisely why a day out in the fresh air of a ploughing match with the camera was essential today. :)Tommorow i'll be sat in the office working out the store's "Key Performance Indicators," weekly budgets and must stock 500 lines brief to send to my Area Manager ( I love it really ) Staff reviews will keep me very entertained too.

Makes for a great read this topic and some fantastic working photographs in here Mark, don't think I could do quite the same with what I do for a living would make for a rather tedious thread, unless the Co - op find an excuse to transfer me to one of their farms.

Claas Dominator 204 Mega on the road. Same Explorer 80 and John Deere 6510 with nothing on the back. A pair of John Deere 6620s hauling manure with 10 tonne Easterby trailers. Sanderson 725 sat in a yard.

Had a very enjoyable day attending my first ploughing match of 2009, wasn't competing, but was able to marvel at the skills of the Witty brothers and took quite a few photographs which I'll start posting soon.

Some very tidy equipment there Simon, Kverneland topper looks like a useful tool, my Uncle runs a similar sized KRM machine, essential bit of kit up in his neck of the woods.

Thanks Martin, some smart equipment there, those E150s look useful tools

Thanks Bill, it was taken by a friend on a rally called the Leeds Crest stages in 1978 an event which Dad won. It now goes by the name of the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire. Dad and I went up to spectate last year on the event and quite by chance met up with his former co - driver who had navigated him to victory 30 years ago on the corner we were watching from, a very nice surprise. His former co-driver Jim on the left and Dad on the right.

Thanks Bill, i'm afraid I don't have any Escort Mexico photographs, my Dad's first brand new car was a lime green Mexico, but when he decided he wanted a rallying Escort Mk1 the Mexico was the first thing to be sold to pay for it. Here's dad in action on an event in his back yard of Dalby Forest in his B.D.A powered Mk1.

Would look smart in front of the Ros Joskin Pete Or something similar to the machines featured in KSP's thread.

Great work again Pete, that would look fantastic in front of a big tri - axle slurry tanker

Here's a JCB backhoe loader with a difference, built as a promotional vehicle in the late 80s by JCB. It's powered by a supercharged Chevrolet 572 C.I.D big block engine producing 1300hp, photographed at Cereals 2008.

Final few snow covered photographs taken across the Vale of Pickering at the weekend before the mild weather took over this week.

Wow Amazing work Pete, fantastic transformation.

Dad said the Cases were good machines to operate, hasn't driven one in years though. I've had a few brief gos on a G plate grey cab 3CX and later "Project 8" machines.

Thanks Rich, my Dad spent a fair bit of time on an old tracked Poclain 75 aswell, pictures some where Said he really enjoyed his time on the New Holland machines some of the best modern machines he's operated, especially the zero tail swing excavator, very useful for an excavator of it's weight in confined spaces. Newer versions i've been told by a couple of Dad's mates are decent machines, I always remember the hoses sticking out significantly from the top of the backhoe on the older models which never appeared to look quite as tidy as the JCB machines.

Thank you New Holland Driver, glad your Dad enjoyed looking through them too, plenty more on the way. I've seen very few International excavators and that's the only red and white one i've seen. It will have been an International mate, as far as i'm aware Drott were the company that developed the 4 in 1 bucket and International came to an agreement to market them on their machines. My Dad drove quite a few Case 580G and 580Ks before moving onto JCB 3CXs with another firm will post some more pictures of these soon.

Here's a couple lists of my favourites: Backhoe Loaders 1. JCB 3CX Sitemaster 60th Anniversary Edition 2. Volvo BL71 3. New Holland 95 4. Caterpillar 428B 5. JCB 3C MkIII 360 Degree Excavators 1. Caterpillar 235 2. Komatsu PC450.6 3. Akerman EC620 4. Poclain 1000ck 5. Warner & Swasey Hopto 1900 ( Big American machine from the early 70s )

Thanks Nick, i've been reliably informed a replacement was fitted to this machine at some point during its working life. A bit different from the lasers involved nowadays. Here's some modern New Holland Kobelco excavators and New Holland bulldozer my Dad operated for a Leeds based firm on sites at Catterick and Scarborough in 2007. First up the zero tail swing machine at Catterick. Whilst at Scarborough, the big 485 model and bulldozer.

I'm a massive fan of the old Escorts, proper rally cars that sound the business too. I'm not as interested in the really really expensive modern rally cars of today, I still try and attend half a dozen rallies a year especially those taking place in Dalby. And while we're on the subject of the Escorts here's my Dad's two cars. Firstly Dad practicing with the Mk1 up at the farm and the Mk2 fresh from the work shop ( an old chicken shed). Dad only did 3 rallies in the Mk2 before selling up and settling down. Would love to see some photos of your colleague's car Sean. I know it's slightly off topic for this thread but If anyone's interested I have loads more old photographs of both cars in action on events.

Thanks Tris and Sean, The Mk3 Escort was my Uncle's and the Cortina was my Dad's. My Dad's had a few Cortinas in the past and several Escorts. When we moved to where we live now in 1988 the first car I remember us having was an immaculate Y plate Mk3 Cortina Crusader. Dad's two rally cars he built on the farm were also Fords, Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts back in the mid seventies, shame I wasn't around to see them in the flesh.

Thanks Pete, LCN version does look smart, much nicer than the standard Siku 2150 Just been looking through a couple of old JCB catalogues I have Sean and seen both versions on the plinths, prefer the proper colours to the gold version, but i'll keep an eye out for them both in the future.

Thank you Sean, it's on my shopping list along with the new silver Siku version and I think Britains did one on a wooden plinth too, would be nice to have them all gathered up in my collection eventually, the smaller scaled Joal 155 - 65 is still my favourite

The Leeds based company my Dad was on for at the time had a fleet of them including a big E485 used for filling up Volvo A.D.Ts, very impressive kit, just need to find the CD the pictures my Dad took are located on.

It's been blue and filled with black - ash MFI furniture for the last 10 years mate, would rather spend my money on more models to fill it with than redecorate it any other colour. Just looking forward now to installing my second cabinet and filling it, once i've finished giving it a small refurbishment.