philmayfield

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Posts posted by philmayfield

  1. Most of this sort of kit is usually leased. The farmers I’ve known have all been mean, tight fisted bastards. Odd people farmers. I spent a day on a tractor once going up and down a field. The work is absolutely mind numbing. No wonder it’s a job with a high suicide rate.

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  2. It’s been fascinating watching him collect them in a wicker mini hive. I’ve just come in as it’s raining but the bee man is suitably clad for the purpose. He must have the queen as the stray bees are moving towards his mini hive. 

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  3. The grey Fergie with the cab was one of many of the Harry Ferguson adoptions. There were innumerable tools and extras for every conceivable task. The tractor in the the picture is TEF model being a diesel. The TED model I have is a petrol/paraffin model where the engine was started on petrol and then switched over to the much cheaper paraffin for the day’s work which used a full tank. The engine had a very low compression ratio and was the same basic unit as used in the Standard Vanguard car. Not sure why the diesel was TEF and the petrol was TED but will have the info somewhere.

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  4. Seeing the old tractor pictures from Rog reminds me that I usually exhibit my 1952 Grey Fergie as an attraction in our hay meadow at the biennial 'open gardens' coming up soon. It's been outside under its tailored cover for two years and I know it requires a battery and a new mechanical starter switch. It's always good to see the 'old boys' climb aboard, with some difficulty, and reminisce about the old days. Being low technology, but mechanically quite brilliantly designed by Harry Ferguson, I guarantee it will start first time. The starter is selected by a particular movement of the gearstick so it's impossible to start it in gear. I feel a project coming on! If you want to see old tractors go to Hoveringham tomorrow.

     

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  5. There's still a problem in Notts apparently. The lay-by at Cromwell north of Newark is a notorious spot for prostitution and associated drug taking. The villagers are, understandably, getting a bit brassed of with the situation. 

  6. Apparently they switched to making plant pots out of plastic in 1976. My wife tells me we’ve got loads of their clay pots around the garden. There’s lots in trays under hedges. She’s rounding them up to check them and clean them since she discovered that they are worth a minimum of £4 each. Something to sell for fund raising at the forthcoming village ‘open gardens’. 

    I remember seeing the fire at the Sankeys factory. Can anyone remember when that was?

  7. He was indeed. I used to help him keep his old MF combine running at harvest time. I remember once going down with him to Fen Lane at Long Bennington on the A1 where there was a combine graveyard. We tracked down the appropriated model and a man arrived on a milk float with a gas cutter and removed the part we wanted without the need for a spanner! We took it back to Gibsmere and all was fixed within the hour!

    He was once teaching his daughter to drive in his little Fiat. He thought she was going too fast on the sharp bend at Rolleston so he pulled hard on the handbrake spinning the car round. She vowed never to go with him again! :biggrin:

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