Old Tractors in Action

[doubs43]

Not wanting to step on Wayne's fine Allis-Chalmers tractors picture thread, I'm posting this image in a separate thread. It was taken in 1949. According to my father's notes, this was a "Lutheran Farm Day" at the town of Jefferson, Maryland. The camera was likely a pre-war Rolleiflex.



Walker

[kiev4a]

Walker.

That Rollei shot a lot of excellent pictures. Looks like a Farmall in the lead.
Talking last night to the guys who restore tractors. They were saying that just before and just after the war tractors of this size were the most common. In this part of the country, a guy could make a living farmin 40 or 80 acres and a tractor of this size was about all you needed. But in the late '50s and into the '60s, it took more land to make a living, so the tractors got bigger and more powerful, too

[Wahoo]

doubs43 said:

According to my father's notes, this was a "Lutheran Farm Day" at the town of Jefferson, Maryland. The camera was likely a pre-war Rolleiflex

A very nice too and since the heading is Old Tractors I hope you don't mind this image - IIRC taken with a Minox 35EL in 1983.

[kiev4a]

Me harrowing the garden on a Ford 9N tractor about 1960. Dad bought the tractor new in 1940. The headlights were from a Model A Ford car. Picture taken with an Ansco Super Memar camera--probably Tri-X film.

[Wahoo]

Wayne, it looks like you're a 'real farm boy'.

The only time that I ever spent on a farm was when my parents had a trailer parked in the middle of a farm yard for 5 years before I was 10.

We were there for Easter, Whit, Summer Holidays and I detested most of the experience, but still . . .

Hey, I'm a senior member with 2 genuine ** no less.

[kiev4a]

Actually, no, I'm not a farm boy. My parents had a 40-acre farm but rented most of the land to a neighboring farmer. When I was a teenager we milked 6-8 cows in the barn visible in the background, and I hated every minute of it (except for the check I got from the creamery for the milk from my two cows). I did "buck hay"--haul it in from the fields for farmers, in the summers and also detasseled hybrid corn being grown for seed. Swore when I grew up I would have nothing to do with farming and, for the most part, I have been successful.

Incidently, that barn, which looked about ready to fall down in 1960, is still standing and still has never been painted.

[doubs43]

Daniel, that's a nice picture of the Fordson tractor. I was pretty certain you were in England as soon as I saw the name on it. Only place I've ever seen the name on farm equipment. Both the van and the car in the second picture are interesting and both shots are well exposed.

Wayne, your picture is sure a "keeper". One of these days your grandaughters will want to see how "grandpa" looked when he was a young man. At one time there were a lot of those small tractors in use around home but most are now gone. Everything changes and a young man or woman just starting out in photography would be wise to take pictures of the everyday ordinary people and things that won't be around in another 40 or 50 years.

BTW, there are a pair of handle bars in front of the right building that look as if they're maybe a garden tiller.

Walker

[PeterW]

Hi Daniel,
I like the Austin Seven Special, lowered front, big rear wheels etc, but the registration isn't original - at least not to an Austin Seven chassis.

572 BVY is a York registration mark used only between May and July 1964. Do you happen to know if it was an Ausford (Austin Seven mechanicals in a Ford 8 or 10 chassis?). Whatever its origin it looks loads of fun!

PeterW

[PeterW]

Everything changes and a young man or woman just starting out in photography would be wise to take pictures of the everyday ordinary people and things that won't be around in another 40 or 50 years.

Well said, Walker. I've been preaching that for years.

PeterW