Tractors 2

Over 11 years ago I did the first post called “tractors,” and back then I never imagined what the “2” in the series would consist of.  It’s summertime–click here for soundtrack–and let’s see those tractors!  By the way, most of the photos below I took in Canandaigua NY last week at the annual “steam pageant.”

This is mostly a photo post, but a little text.  How many “crew” do you think are operating the tractor below?  Answer at the end of this post.

Do you suppose someone had Mardi Gras in mind in parking these three?

Weights come in handy in pulling contests.

“Orchard” tractors must be inspired by Ferrari lines, or vice versa?  Here’s a short history of McCormick-Deering.

 

 

Here’s a history of Birdsall Engine.

Before GPS-guided tractors, controls had style.

 

 

Here’s some history of the Silver King and related Plymouth industry, now all gone.

 

 

This is a dedicated piece of equipment; it can plow and nothing else.  Rumely made this machine, which required a driver/engineer to operate and another person under the un-deployed sunshade to ensure the plowshares didn’t foul.  For a massive Rumely plow demonstration, click here.

When the steam traction engine moves at less than 5 mph, technology can be this basic . . .  re: steering for

this tractor.

 

And here’s the answer to the “crew” question posed before this top photo . . .  he’s the engineer, she’s the driver, and baby–wearing her mud boots–is apprenticing.

Oh . . . but this blog is tugster, not tractorster, so let’s return from the detour.  Here from a month ago are some more pics of the christening on the the sixth boro’s newest tractor tug,

an equally family event.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who has left the boro and has scheduled a number of posts in a queue until it runs out . . .  or I have some new photos and wifi to post them.  If no posts appear for a few days, it just means I’m enjoying a wifi-free dimension, might even get trapped there.   And since wifi is needed for the manual process of moving a wordpress blogpost to FB, look for me at tugster.wordpress.com, not on FB.