Some old photographs.

[mb86]

On 6 September 2019 at 4:23 AM, Valley Axe Man said:

Some good memories for you in those those photo's Martin (well maybe not the Nash one haha) i bet the 384 and 270 sounded well climbing the clamp, would sooner listen to that than the JCB of modern times..   Did you ever have clutch problems caused by the rear engine mounts on the 285?? it's a pity you didn't have her in a shed now, be a fair sound to listen to her pulling up the road from Barney, as only thing to beat the sound of a 4/98t is a 6/98.... pure music 

Thanks Paul. There would certainly be no mistaking the engine note of those two pushing grass up. Although that JCB does have a fair bark to it I would sooner listen to the 285 purring away again. To my knowledge she never had any alignment issues, she would do a lot of work here before her untimely demise and I don't think there was many problems at all. 

[mb86]

On 6 September 2019 at 6:21 AM, 844john said:

Nice to see those photos Martin, like Paul says, lots of good memories no doubt. I think the problem with you in front of the nash must be that you've just had a good look around it, noticed the standard power steering, independent PTO, Hydro transmission, wet brakes....and then compared it to the other tractors of it's time..... That's a hell of a mounting point for the crowd ram on the loader mind!

Hahaha. Yes lots of good memories John, To be fair my uncle really liked it, it would load a lot of bales on his hay and straw business, the loader being ideal for loading little bales when extended. I can't really make out from that but I think the crowd ram worked a linkage rather than being directly onto the attachment. It maybe had to cope with a bit more stress than a standard setup. 

[Valley Axe Man]

Seeing as you know Big Dave, Martin, there's a few photo's here that he sent me copies of from the "Blues" on the estate farm that his dad worked on at back of Longtown when Big Dave was a little lad (not that he's ever been little) found these whilst looking for some others that i'm looking for, but seeing they were "Blue" i thought they would fit in well with your thread.... the lime spreading outfit was local contractor for the job Millingtons. 

[L33 DA17ON]

Wow great photos, nice to see I love looking back in time. How they did it and how much its changed now. I'd like to see a contractor face now if you handed him one of the tractors to work the pit.  Thanks for sharing. 

[844john]

19 hours ago, L33 Da17on said:

Wow great photos, nice to see I love looking back in time. How they did it and how much its changed now. I'd like to see a contractor face now if you handed him one of the tractors to work the pit.  Thanks for sharing. 

I can remember as a lad buckraking with a brand new 2wd Case 1394, looking back it's amazing what you could do with a small tractor compared to the gear today, but then I suppose the grass was coming in a lot slower...i could happily keep up with the side mounted JF that was feeding me, but I'm not sure I'd have coped with the output of a 600hp self propelled!

[mb86]

Grand photos Paul, thanks for posting them. 

[mb86]

On 2 May 2020 at 10:09 AM, L33 Da17on said:

Wow great photos, nice to see I love looking back in time. How they did it and how much its changed now. I'd like to see a contractor face now if you handed him one of the tractors to work the pit.  Thanks for sharing. 

Same contractor, same pit, a few years later...this one from a couple of years ago. 

[justy 46]

My father handled 3 large pits every season with a 4000 on its own back in the day and we did not have a push off buckrake ether, only a standard pike..The contractor cut it and carted it..I was up to the customer to handle the pit back then. And you fell in with your own tractor and trailer on a long draw as we had land rented for silage a few miles away.  The contractors JCB 416 does the job these days.