The Tractor Twitcher

Now that 865 is a real combine.... phoar... I think I need to go for a lie down now  :o

I spent many a happy hour working on/in one of those beasts  *

They do look impressive, don't know of any others operating over my way, aside from the one mentioned which resides near York. A couple farms a little bit closer to home did run the smaller 665 model, but they've since been replaced. I do enjoy the style and lines of the older combines, not as keen on the curves of the more modern machines.

The MF 865 and others like it must be some of the most impressive combines ever build. You don't happen to have any pictures from one working or any like it do you? 

I'm afraid I haven't mate  I do the know the whereabouts of one about 20 miles away from where I live, belongs to farmer/contractor. Hopefully i'll see it working and some more on my travels and get some photos this summer.

Very very nice with those wheels fitted, really look the part.

Regards

David

That looks superb Nick, absolute beast of a loader tractor.

Nice post of combines through the years ;)

Thank you BC, continuing the "through the ages" theme, here's a group of Massey Ferguson harvesters, starting with a bagger version of a 31? seen at a working day near Northallerton, followed by a much newer 865 seen in a dealer's yard near the coast.

Final set of photos of Activa, Beta and Cerea machines taken at Cereals 2008.

fair bit of kit there walter  we had one of those case 580 drot/loader i think its round the back still  and we have a cat 954  \ same type of thing but it has a side tip bucket  only thing the head gaskit went and its been parked up since waiting for the hospital door to open 

looks like this  http://loaders.assettrader.co.uk/1/APUserImages/U14F1DWUSWQTP.JPG

oohh i wish i could find my uncles album of old pics  :'( hes got loads of machines in there from years ago  big cat dump trucks next to our 8210s with tankers  (bit of a size differance as it shows in the pic )

Thanks Rich, one or two bigger machines on the way  Hope the hospital door swings wide open for the Cat loader, my Dads driven a few of those over the years, but I don't have any photographs of the rear engined machines, very smart loaders

Hope you find your photos soon, would be very keen to see them. I have some photos on the way of a machine that was the forerunner to Caterpillar's articulated dump trucks

Here's another old Cat bulldozer, this time a D5 that Dad used for levelling out a new caravan site at Flamingo Land theme park many years ago.

Stunning work Barry, very impressive machine 

Regards

David

so nearer 1:32?, years ago when i got mine i was surprised it was very close to some of my autoway collection that i took it as 1:32, its just the box was saying otherwise!

I personally think it's closer to 1:32 scale, but I could be totally wrong, especially when you consider some of the farm tractors Joal have produced in the past that are badged as 1:32 but for their size seem a bit smaller in relation to 1:32 models produced by other manufacturers, so i'm still a little bit undecided as to what's the correct scale of the machine.

great pics mate, keep posting 

Thanks mate, more on the way 

[quote author=walterderwent link=topic=25579.msg521167#msg521167 date=1233442311

I'm really good friends with the daughter of the family who run this farm so I'm planning on visiting a lot more with my digital camera

I'm not sure if you are only going to see the combines or if the daughter plays a part in it as well  ?

Just good friends mate

Here's the John Deere harvesters I took at Cereals last year.

T670i

Older model 9880i STS on a Maize header.

Lastly an S690i guarding the gates.

Some very nice tidy equipment there, that Lexion looks very impressive Pete.

Regards

David

I'll admit i'm unsure, most of the other Joal JCB models I have such the Fastrac, 4CX and Telehandler are all 1:35 scale. However I know of some of the smaller JCB kit I don't have that Joal produces such as the skid steer loader are promoted as 1:32 scale.

For comparison here's the 801 along side the other Joal mini digger I have in my collection, a Yanmar B37, which I am aware in real life is a bigger machine than the 801, however the model also has 1:32 scale on the underside of the model and cab detail seems fairly close to size of that on the JCB.

Here's the modern successor to the TF, a CR9080 and it's straw walker brother a CX8090 seen at Cereals 2008.

Ohh i love this sort of photo, the old kit that broke in the land we now live on and dont think any thing of, my father was plant operator also, he was a specilist dozer driver, could do any thing with a tracked tractor and would go any where also,  I will never turn down driving a steel tracked machine over the flash tractors i drive now

Got to agree Nick there's nothing quite like the sight and sound of a big uncomplicated Caterpillar that makes the earth move, and given the chance my Dad would much rather be on something similar today aswell, as it is, he starts a new job on Monday after been laid off since Christmas on a 6 tonne JCB 360 degree excavator.

Speaking of old cats and scoops, There are some aussome old girls on Youtube

Here is a short one, this guy has aussome videos

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2DOfgMW0Xis

Sorry for going of topic

No problem mate, thanks for sharing, some superb old footage there.

Nice piece of combining history you have there Walter. Using a manual camera makes it look a lot longer ago then 'just' six years.

Does this farm still uses the combine or have they replaced it?

Thanks Niels, it really is one of the most impressive "classic" combines working in the area, they're still using it and it's kept in really tidy condition. Because of the poor weather last summer they also ran TF44 along side the TF46 which came from another farm the company owns. I'm really good friends with the daughter of the family who run this farm so i'm planning on visiting a lot more with my digital camera to get some proper pictures this year as it's only 2 miles away from where I live.

This next series of photographs were taken when I was barely 3 years old and I had my first experiences with a "Big Cat." My Dad was using the machine, a D6, to take off layers of top soil in readiness for the installation of a gas drilling rig.

Cracking combination you've made yourself there Brian, impressive work.

Very pleased they've decided to make the later model, looks very promising.

can you check the underside of the JCB, i'm sure mine said 1:32 but its sold as 1:35 \ \

You are correct Ben, on the bottom of the actual model it says 1:32 but on the box it says 1:35.

Regards

David.

Just been looking through several of your topics Brian, absolutely superb craftsmanship on those foragers.

Regards

David.

As promised a local behemoth, a New Holland TF46

These photographs were taken on a disposable camera approximately 6 years ago so they're not that sharp but hopefully do a little bit of justice to an absolute monster of a machine. The farm this belongs to can also call upon the services of TF44 from another location at peak times and also used to run a very tidy red Deutz - Fahr. I'll post pictures of the very tidy Case International 956XL and JCB Fastrac 1135 4WS that were leading the crop away in my "tractor" topic.

Continuing with the very Case theme to the start of this topic. This machine was one of a pair bought by the company who ran the tracked loaders. Although Dad had driven a couple a JCB 3Cs for brief stints, this Case 580G was the first backhoe loader he spent any length of time on. He used quite a few of these over the years before switching to another company with JCB 3CXs.

What lovely photos, your dad looks very happy in is work too!

I've got a friend who has been driving plant for a good 55 years and has always had a camera with him. I really enjoy having a coffee with him showing me all the old pics and the stories that go with them. How times have changed!

Please post some more photos  :)

Thank you Rich, there's a few more on the way  I love the nostalgia and stories associated with the older machines, especially the tracked loaders and bulldozers

Smashing photo's. For years there used to be a pair of old tow along earth scoops parked not far from me. Part of the Chivers & Porter equipment. A small in size but large in operations company based in my village. A lot of their work was up on Salisbury Plain doing the roads and tank tracks. I was too young to take in model numbers but they had big CAT's for pulling them around and the huge vibrating toothed roller .. .. Wish I had paid them more attention.

Thank you Tris, as you will see in some photos i'll post soon I have quite a fondness towards big "Cats." My Dad clearly did too when he was younger.

The story goes, he was drilling turnips on the farm in Dalby when a chap who was doing some land reclamation work on an old gas drilling rig site with a Cat D4 wondered across the field to where he was working.

He asked him whether or not could he operate a bulldozer? My Dad said he'd have a go even though he'd never driven one before. A very hastily arranged "trial" was set up and Dad played on the machine for a few hours and confessed to really enjoying it and was promptly offered a job.

A week later he was sat aboard a Cat D7 levelling top soil on a quarry in the Yorkshire Dales. Although he returned to the farm to live when working closer to home (and prepare a pair of pretty quick rally cars, his other major interest for a while) he's never looked back from a world of plant.

Here's a Caterpillar 951 that was ran by the same company, my Dad used it on a site near Guisborough.

I have scan threw this topic now and i must say that you have plenty of interesting stuff.

Very nice collection  :)

Thank you Pete, hope to continue adding more models, my Spalding shopping list is growing by the day  

Regards

David

Great pics as always David... you've made some absolutly stunning posts on here recently... as always many thanks for postng mate 

MF200b if I am not mistaken

Thank you Mark for your kind comments, you are correct it's an MF200b bought as an ex - demo machine. 

Not brand knocking - but how did your Dad fand the Case 850's?

Reason for asking my father had some on trial against existing Cat 955, 944's and Drotts, found the Case drivetrains a little unreliable, the first one failing in days IIRC.  OK the machines were on much heavier work at times directly digging rock chalk which may have shown the weak points.

Stayed with Cat in the end, but great photos of classic plant.

Will have to find mine when I can!

Thank you Tellarian, i've just given my Dad an impromptude interview on the subject and this is his honest verdict:

They were good machines capable of operating faster than the Caterpillars but in the smaller models this did lead to some drive train trouble and parts wearing out quicker, later Cummins engined machines were less frail, but the Cat loaders were probably better engineered, my Dad drove a number of 951, 955 and 977 machines in between and after operating the Cases.

Look forward to seeing some of your classic plant pictures too.

Regards

David