[trusty220]

Where in the country are you based?

[trusty220]

You are partly correct- T.H.White’s main headquarters is in Devizes but the Automower works they took over was in Vallis Road, Frome and T.H.White traded from the premises for a long time after acquiring Automower. It is now closed and the depot has moved out of town to a new site at Marston.

[trusty220]

Years ago I saw an old training film made by Briggs and Stratton about an on-site mechanic who couldn’t get a cement mixer going. He was getting it in the neck from all sides and couldn’t find the problem; it turned out eventually to be a faulty spark plug which he had overlooked.

Be methodical, start at one end and make sure the part that you’re checking is working before moving on to the next. It sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how many people start in the middle!

Does anyone else remember that film? I saw it at Autocar’s place in Barking on a training course organised by Ian Carr- some time ago now!

[trusty220]

I guessed that Guiness would figure somewhere in the story!

To find these gems you must have a sixth sense- it’s either that or those big ears! Keep looking, Andrew, you never know what’s around the next corner.

[trusty220]

It’s good to see that somebody is still looking out for these old machines. Quite often what happens in the collecting world is that people collect for nostalgia- what was the first tractor/car/mower/etc. that you drove? This means that the relative age of the collected machinery gets newer as time goes on. We’ve already seen that with the classic car market pre-war cars are not very sought after these days and with the tractor side of things there used to be line upon line of Ferguson TE-20’s at shows; time has moved forward and the collectors are buying MF35’s and 135’s these days.

Without people like Andrew and Mike looking out for these rarities they would end up on the scrap heap. Once they’re gone they’re gone forever, there are no second chances.

How on earth did you track it down?

[trusty220]

That’s the one, Charlie! Well done, I knew it was worth asking The Forum- you’ve never been beaten yet!

I knew it was from Lee Howl Ltd. of Tipton in The Black Country but could not find any pictures relating to this particular pump. Surprising that it was from 1939; it looks older.

[trusty220]

The emblem on the cover is almost rubbed out on mine so I will need to find a way of reproducing it. The photo of the good emblem is a pump belonging to a fellow member but it appears that the logo is embossed or moulded into the plastic on his one, so not quite the same although the artwork is similar.

Any ideas, anybody??

[trusty220]

For comparison purposes here are some photo’s of the pump with a different perspex cover or different layouts.

Decisions, decisions! Now I don’t know which way to go with it!

Attachments:

1. 
2. 
3. 

[trusty220]

Yes, she would have given the Fenland Ladies a run for their money in her day, she was a great party lass. You could say that she held up the Yorkshire end for quite some time!

Aaahh, happy days!

[trusty220]

I think you’ll find that if you persevere with the Anzani it will give you one of the best finishes but it isn’t the easiest of machines to master.

I still use a walk-behind Trusty and find it one of the easiest machines once you’ve learned it’s little secrets and foibles.

[trusty220]

A good question, Roger! Quite a few years ago when the class was started a few of the original ploughmen got together to make a definitive list of what could be used and what wasn’t deemed to be “in the spirit” of the class.

Bearing in mind that the class was originally intended for Iron Horses and Trusty’s it has now expanded to include Kubota and Iseki machinery and everything inbetween.

What tends to happen these days is that all of the local ploughing matches that run a horticultural single furrow class tend to run it as an “Open” class in which anyone is welcome- let’s not forget that most of these matches are run for charity and the aim is to make as much money to put to a donation as possible. So long as somebody enters and pays their £10 they don’t look too hard at what machinery is being used, so a policy of “Anything goes” seems to predominate.

The only time things get really serious is when they want to qualify for the National Ploughing Championships. These are run solely by the Society of Ploughmen and competitors must comply with certain criteria, one of them being that the equipment must have been in production before 31st December, 1959. Clearly, the Farmall Cub complies with this.

In my opinion, and I stress it is only my opinion, I feel that The Cub is too big to be classed as a horticultural tractor. If we were to allow this to compete, why not a Ferguson TE20? Was this not demonstrated ploughing an allotment sized plot in it’s day?

At the end of the day it will mainly come down to practicalities; people who run John Deere L-series tractors tell me that it is difficult to do a finish with only two wheel marks showing on the neighbours’ side, and that tractor is smaller than a Cub. People will always regard rules as “black-and-white” and so long as it doesn’t say that the Cub is not allowed they will argue that it is eligible. I tend to think that rules need to be interpreted sometimes and that a certain amount of common sense should prevail- we know the spirit in which they were drafted after all. Would I like to plough with a walk-behind Trusty whilst competing with something far bigger with much more traction and horsepower? I say not!

Sorry, Roger!

[trusty220]

At last we have a culprit- sorry, unknown benefactor. It was John Little from Edinburgh! Thanks John the parts will come in useful.

Oh, and I’ll get you back one day, probably when you’re least expecting it!

[trusty220]

I never realised you were there as well, and I never realised that Noddy took the blame for it either. I was under the impression it was a certain hairy individual who resides in rural Lincolnshire.

Happy days back in Holbeach with the Fenland Ladies!

[trusty220]

From memory the breather valve fits inside the valve chest cover. It can be fitted upside down because there are no markings on it to tell you which way up it should go.

There are two small holes along one of the long sides- these are oil drain holes and must go at the bottom and face inwards towards the valves. Similarly there should be a gasket with two cut-outs that should go between the breather and the engine block to allow the oil to drain back into the engine- make sure it is the correct way around so that it doesn’t block up the drain holes.

I hope that helps.

[trusty220]

Admittedly, Big Ears was a friend of Noddy but it appears that there may have been a bit of a falling out and Noddy has now made friends with Eeyore. Changing authors in mid-fame is quite an unusual strategy but it does keep the story line fresh.

[Author]

Posts