Farm Machinery and Agricultural Engineers
Note: Equipment associated with industry is more fully discussed in the section on 'Lineside Industries - Industrial and agricultural vehicles and equipment', this section relates only to the rail connected works dealing with farm equipment as the associated agricultural engineering business. For more illustrations of the equipment see also 'Wagon Loads & Materials Handling - Road vehicles and Farm Equipment'.
For many years the main supporting business for the farmer were the local blacksmith, wheelwright and millwright, handling metal, wood and machinery. There was also the farrier, the man who handled the horses, but he resembled a blacksmith (the only visual difference was that the farrier had a split apron so he could lift the horses leg between his legs when fitting hoseshoes). Horse drawn farm gear was generally quite small, the poor horse had to pull the things and that limited the scope a bit. As an example the roller shown below is typical for the era before tractors came along, equipment like this remained in occasional use until the 1940s and repairs could be handled by local craftsmen.
Fig ___ Horse drawn roller
As you can see the shafts and the top frame are wooden, the roller and brackets are metal, so the local wheelwright and blacksmith could handle any repairs required. This kind of equipment was easily produced in relatively small 'works', mainly sited in the countryside close to their market.
Factory production changed things, a factory built plough had standard interchangeable parts, so you did not ask the local blacksmith to make you one, you just bought a replacement part. A more modern tractor pulled farm roller would have a roller twice the diameter (the length was constrained by the size of existing farm gates) and there would be more complex parts available so a 'mechanic' or 'engineer' would appear on the scene. A new breed of local works established itself to cater to this trade. These works usually styled themselves 'agricultural engineers', although that was a pretty wide ranging term encompassing everything from big firms making large equipment (such as threshing machines) to the local jobbing engineer who could be called in to conduct running repairs.
Some of these firms called their factories 'iron works', they did not smelt the ore as such, but they could buy-in pig iron to make castings in their foundry and wrought iron or steel to make other parts in their forge. Many of the factories (and some company names) included the word 'foundry' and those set up by former blacksmiths favoured the word 'forge'. In practice all the works would require a forge and larger works would have a foundry as well (forges and foundries are considered separately under Metals and Related Engineering Industries).
When railways came along the new factories could supply a wider geographical area and a number of firms grew rapidly. In the later 19th and early 20th century things settled down, some firms specialising in a single product (for example water pumps), others producing a range of farm equipment. During this period they enjoyed an export boom as British engineering lead the world.
By the time of the First World War there were many firms trading as agricultural engineers, but the actual production of equipment was dominated by a small number of larger firms, mainly based in the Eastern Counties of England (there were exceptions, Fowlers were based in Leeds). The smaller firms acted as 'agents' for the larger firm's products, and employed engineers to provide maintenance and repair services.
During the First World War production was shifted to military needs and the Americans moved into the formerly lucrative export market. This lead to a slump in demand and in 1919 several firms merged to form a company called Agricultural & General Engineers Ltd (AGE). The idea was that this company would be big enough to take on the Americans, however each firm continued to trade under their own name. Unfortunately all the members were suffering from the effects of the war, for one thing the new communist Government in Russia decided not to pay them for equipment purchased before the war. They also agreed not to compete with one another, which stifled the innovation that had made them successful, this organisation finally failed, disastrously, in early 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression. The individual companies were sold off, many being bought back by the families that had owned them, and quite a few managed to turn things around and revive their fortunes.
Modelling and Agricultural Engineers Works
A firm building agricultural equipment can be represented as a minimum space option with just a single siding feeding a loading bank backed by a largish building modelled in low relief against the backscene (probably with the company name writ large on the side). If space on your layout is very tight such a firm might maintain just a small warehouse at the local station goods yard or on a short private siding run from the main yard in to a separate area.
Adding a few bits and pieces, such as a gantry crane and a 'yard crane' on a loading bank gives the thing a more industrial air, the example below is based on the terminus at Ashburton but modified to make working easier than on the prototype.
Fig ___ Track plan for a small works at a country terminus
A typical large rural factory, producing say farm machinery, would include stores for both bought-in materials and its own produce, the foundry would be a moderately large building with the chimneys of one or two cupolas sticking out of the roof. Associated with this would be the pattern shop and possibly a store. The forge would require a chimney and was often an open-fronted building for ease of access and to allow the air drawn in to keep the workers reasonably cool. Where the forge was dealing with large lumps of metal a powerful steam hammer was often used. There would be a large 'machine shop' in which the parts of the machines were finished, this would house the lathes, drilling and milling machines, plate bending machines and what have you. Possibly incorporated in the machine shop would be the erection shop where the machines to be sold were put together for testing (in many cases they would then be dismantled for ease of shipping). A boiler house or two would be used to generate steam for the machines and somewhere there would be the firms offices, usually in a separate building generally located some distance from the dirty parts of the works such as the foundry and typically very small (many large works and ship yards had offices about the size of a large detached house). Fortunately in the present context much of the factory can be represented by low relief structures on the back scene, with the railway siding and associated loading bank to the front.
A threshing machine would require an end loading dock and a drop centre wagon to carry it, ploughs were generally quite small other than the steam ploughing kit and would probably have been craned into an open wagon. Items such as hay-turning equipment or the more modern gear such as the powered 'muck spreader' and 'forage harvester' (a tall rectangular box with a 'lawn mower' at the base, used to cut grass and blow it into a trailer) could be carried on one plank wagons or plate wagons, loaded from the side using a loading bank or platform.
As with the small engineering works a rural agricultural engineers might get a siding laid in on the basis that it also served a 'public wharf', where the local farmers and other merchants could handle their goods as well. The example sketched below is (very loosely) based on the Vulcan engineering works on the North Staffordshire line, which had such a public wharf.
Fig ___ Small factory with associated 'public wharf'
Such a works might produce traction engines or threshing machines, or a range of other agricultural machinery. The presence of a hefty gantry crane wuld suggest they offer some heavyweight gear. The example sketched below is based on one in a country ironworks yard, the photo was not very clear but it appears the crane is manually operated so it is probably in the three ton class.
One bit of kit you might see in such a factory would be a heavy horse drawn trolley, the railways owned a few of these as well. They can be modelled using a set of Peco wagon wheels trimmed down (see Wagon Loads & Materials Handling - Road vehicles and Farm Equipment for a details and illustrations of a removals van made using these wheels). Rather than the single pole two-horse arrangement this has two sets of shafts and was pulled by giant shire horses. By the 1930s some were fitted with a tow bar for a traction engine or (more likely) a heavy petrol engined tug of the type produced by Scammel.
An smaller alternative would be the company distributing the machinery, they might make some equipment themselves but act as agents for 'portable engines' (steam engines that could be horse drawn to run farm machinery) or traction engines. These firms employed engineers who could repair the equipment and fit replacement parts. This would allow inwards traffic of timber, metal plate and bar as well open wagons and vans carrying spare parts and implement or drop centre wagons carrying the 'imported' machinery.
By the early 20th century most railway companies were operating 'agricultural implement' wagons. Larger all metal items such as hay rakes (see 'Wagon Loads & Materials Handling - Road vehicles and Farm Equipment' for a photo) were more 'engineering' than 'agricultural' in nature and were regularly shipped out by rail. Specialist farm equipment included the large and complex threshing machines, only a few firms made these so rail transport was an issue (although I gather a lot were towed to the customer by road). The height of the threshing machine meant a drop-centre wagon of some form would be needed for rail transport.
Typical Products of the Agricultural Engineers
The section 'Wagon Loads & Materials Handling - Road vehicles and Farm Equipment' has a number of photographs of farm equipment, any of which might appear in an agricultural engineers yard. A good book for illustrations of horse drawn equipment is the Shire publications 'Discovering Horse Drawn Farm machinery' by D. J. Smith.
The range of goods that qualify as products of the 'agricultural engineers' is very wide ranging indeed. It is perhaps worth commenting on one or two examples worthy of note that might be seen parked outside for the purposes of 'set dressing'.
In N W&T offer a white metal kit comprising two Fowler steam ploughing engines and a small 'cultivator' to go with them. These usually operated on a for hire bases and generally one of the machines would tow a living van for the crew. They normally travelled under their own steam but the engines and machine serve as wagon loads and as set dressing for an agricultural engineering works or distributors. W&T also offer a two-horse farm roller (without the horses).
Langley offer a white metal 'portable engine', a horse drawn steam engine used to power farm equipment, which would also serve as a possible wagon load or set dressing for a rural engineering works. They also offer both modern and period (1940's-1960's) tractors and include these with additional models of farm equipment to offer a ground preparation scene and a harvesting scene.
You can of course make your own, which is cheaper (especially as you will need more than one of each for a yard scene), but they do tend to be a bit on the fiddly side to make. Note that the size of farm equipment was constrained by the size of the standard farm gate, I worked on a standard maximum width of 20mm in N.
For older horse drawn equipment spoked wooden wagon wheels are available in a pack of mixed sizes from P D Marsh and Dornaplas offer a sprue of their lorry wheels which serve for the more modern pneumatic tyred type. For the heavy steel spoked wheels I have had some success using Peco spoked wagon wheel sets, trim off the flange and the central bearing point with toe nail clippers and sand the rims smooth. In a crowded scene, where things are not so visible, you can get away with press studs for the wheels, although these have only four rather broad spokes.
The examples shown below are simplified models but serve well enough viewed from a couple of feet away in N scale.
Pre World War Two
Rollers are very easy to make, just a length of tube 15-20mm mm long with a simple frame from strip and 20 thou card. W&T offer one in their range as a whitemetal kit. Most rollers were made up of two, three or four roller sections on a common axle, making it easier to turn the thing round, however in N the join is essentially invisible. A variation was the 'Cambridge' roller, with the roller made up of a seines of separate sections each a few inches wide, usually with a central rib on each one. To model this type use a 16mm length of fine threaded bolt of about 2mm (horse drawn) of 4mm (tractor pulled) in diameter as the roller. The example shown is intended to represent a post war tractor hauled type.
Muck spreaders have been around for a while, one simple type in use from the mid 19th century is very easy to make, for N scale just a box about 5mm wide by 3mm high and 16mm long clad in scribed card, remember to drill a hole in the bottom to allow the fumes from the glue to escape. The strapping and hinges are 10x20 thou strip (shown in black on the sketch below). This cart had a wagon wheel at each end and a set of shafts for a horse. There was a spreading mechanism on the under side but it was not visible when the top was closed.
Seed drills are another fairly simple proposition. There were many types, the example illustrated resembles a 'Suffolk' drill but is somewhat generic. The main body is made up as for the muck spreader above but a set of coulters (small plough like 'drills') need to be added to the rear underside of the box. The easy way to make these is to cut slices from Plastruct square section tube, then cut these to make L shapes which you glue in place at about 2mm intervals as shown. These machines sometimes had several control levers on the rear, usually toward the ends, I added a control wheel to the left hand end at the rear by drilling a small hole and inserting a cut-down track pin. You can just have a single straight pole in place of the shafts, making it a two-horse machine, which is slightly easier to make.
If it is to share a scene with the manure spreader I would add a vertical length of 20 thou rod to the rear of the box above each of the coulters, some seed drills had quite a lot going on at the back and adding these helps differentiate it from the muck spreader.
The sketch below shows a post war Massey Harris seed drill, this was essentially the same as pre-war designs for tractor haulage. Note all the pipework beneath the hopper, fiddly.
Mowing machines are another comparatively easy build and they do look rather agricultural. The example shown is a later 1930s type intended for tractor haulage, this is easier to make than a horse drawn type which had a more complicated frame and a seat for the operator. The cutter is driven by the rotation of the main wheels. The wheels are Peco spoked wagon wheels with the flanges and end bearings cut off using toe nail clippers and the tyres sanded smooth. To allow everything else to be attached cut away one side from a section of Plastruct square tube and fix this to the axle with Milliput or Araldite (there was a 'differential' on the axle of the prototype). The tow bar is Plastuct H section strip, beneath which is a stub of 30x30 thou to support the blade at the correct height, you can reinforce this as shown with another length of 30x30 thou. This support has to be just foreward of the wheels as the cutter blade extends out at right angles from it. The blade is simply a 12mm - 14mm length of 20x30 thou strip with lengths of 10x20 thou glued to one side (when set these are easily trimmed to length with a pair of scissors, leaving about 1mm showing). The teeth should be pointed, if you feel up to it you can trim them to shape with a pair of nail scissors but this is unlikely to be visible at normal viewing distances. Add a second strip of 10x20 thou across the bottom side of the 'blades' and a rounded triangle of 20 thou card to the outer end of the arm.
The cutter could be folded up to the vertical when not in use, in a yard it can be shown in either position. The cutter blade can be attached horizontally to the base of the 30x30 thou support (in the working position as shown) or it can be glued in the raised position, in which case add a square of 20x30 thou to the base of the support to step the cutter base out slightly. The machine would be supplied with several cutter blades, so that one could be working whist another was being sharpened (for rail transport the delicate blades would be removed and boxed). Paint the thing all over dark red or blue with light grey wheel tyres and cutter teeth.
Hay rakes are distinctly agricultural, I did make a simple version of one by winding an open spiral of stiff wire round a tube, slipping the result off the tube and gluing two 16mm long strips of plastic (one inside, 20x20 thou, and one outside 20x30thou) to the coil. Then use wire snips to trim the loops to about two thirds of a circle. Mine was for a tractor so it had a simple tow bar with a hole in the end, braced by two diagonals from the tow bar to the cross beam. The wheels were from a pack of assorted wagon wheels (I think from P D Marsh) and the seat was a triangle of thin (10 thou sanded down) plastic card bent to a more 'bucket' shape and glued on top of a short length of 20x20 thou strip. The operating lever was a short length of fuse wire wrapped around the frame and superglued together as shown. It was slightly tedious to make and proved too fragile for repeated house moves, but it looked rather good as a wagon load. It might have been better to use all metal construction but soldering it all up would be tricky for a non expert. The sketch has a reduced number of curved splines in the hope of making the construction more understandable, there should be about two per millimetre in N, I managed about 1 per mm but it looked okay I think. Paint the thing red but the rake spines light grey.
Farm elevators have been around for a long time, I believe they appeared in about the 1850s. Early types used a horse 'gin' to drive the belt, when the portable steam engines offering belt drive appeared in the later 19th century these were used as well and by the 1930s many elevators were on offer were equipped with their own small petrol engine. The common hay elevator was used to lift grain crops onto the top of threshing machines and hay onto ricks. The belt or web on these machines consisted of a chain to either side with wooden battens running across, the battens could be up to ten inches apart and were fited with metal spikes. Early machines were virtually all woodden construction, by the later 1930s machines often had a metal supporting frame. These machines could fold down when in transit but a couple on show in a yard would help set the scene. These machines fell from use as combine harvesters arrived, but that in turn brought a requirement for bale elevators to lift the rectangular bales of hay onto trailers and into the upper part of the barns.
The examples shown below are both pre world war two types, on the left a late 19th/early 20th century all-wood machine, on the right a 1920s/30s Ransomes machine (Langley offer this one in N).
All except the most modern are a difficult modelling proposition and a kit would be the best option.
Threshing machines are big and all seem to have been painted salmon pink, one or two of these in the yard would clearly indicate the nature of the business. The top frame folds down to form a platform, when not in use it is folded up (as shown below right) and usually had the makers name written on it. Fleetline offer a whitemetal kit of a 1930s threshing machine, and the portable engine to power it. Modelling such a machine in the 'on the road' configuration is not actually difficult. A length of Plasturct square tube serves as the core, remember to drill a hole in the top and bottom so you do not end up with a sealed box (otherwise the glue keeps working and the whole thing goes 'soggy'. Add sides from scribed plastic card cut to shape, this can be laminated to build up the various boxes and bulges. The top bit is wider than the body but as it will be covered with a tarpaulin you can use scraps of Plastruct L section to support the front and rear pieces. The timber framing on the sides can be represented by 20x30 thou plastic strip, but sand these down a bit once they are set solid. The pulleys can be represented using cut-down track pins, or dress making pins if these have flattish heads. You can also use four spoke hand wheels if you have some in your bits box (I had a few from modified US outline bogie flat wagons). If you are lucky enough to have a 'sewing' shop nearby the very small press studs intended for dolls clothing make good pulley wheels. There was an opening in the top (where the thing was loaded, so they tended to have a tarpaulin draped over them in transit. The bulge representing the loading point under the tarpaulin can be represented by a rectangle about 3mm high and 4mm square in N. For the older metal spoked wheels you can use trimmed down Peco spoked wagon wheelsets (trim off the flanges and end bearings with toe nail clippers and sand smooth), the alternative pneumatic tyred wheels (1940 onwards) are available from Dornaplas. The illustration on the right is a model available from a German manufacturer but in a rather large scale. Note the wooden chocks under the wheels.
See also 'Wagon Loads & Materials Handling - Road vehicles and Farm Equipment' for photographs of a prototype threshing machine at a show
Balance Ploughs and Ploughing Engines. The 'ploughing engines' had a drum under the boiler that they used to pull a range of implements back and fore across the field. The engines typically operated in pairs but some used an earth anchor at the far side of the field. The balance plough had two sets of blades arranged on frames which were mounted in a shallow V with a large pair of wheels at the apex. In use the trailing set of blades were set into the ground and the engine on the far side pulled the plough across the field. Once it reached the engine the plough was tipped so the second set of blades dug into the ground and the engine on the far side would pull it back whilst the first engine moved to position itself for the next run. These ploughs continued in regular use, although often hauled by tractors rather than steam ploughing engines, into the 1960's.
Post World War two
With the developments in tractor design, including reliable power take off that could drive towed machinery, a number of new machines appeared, some doing the same job as the pre war types, other doing something new.
The two examples shown below are lifted from adverts from the later 1950s. On the left is a Bamfords forage harvester and on the right a Jones 'bailer' which collects the mown hay and forms it into rectangular bales.
The Forage havester cut the grass and blows it up the pipe at the rear into a towed trailer, the illustration below shows a 1954 Nuffield Universal tractor doing the job with a slightly different design of harvester.
Forage harvesters and bailers are actually not too difficult to model and serve well as set dressing for an agricultural engineers works or as wagon loads. The example shown is a Bamford from the 1950s, the main body is a box with a slot in the top where the working arm passes back and fore, the spined gathering roller can be represented in N by a length of fine threded 2mm diameter bolt and the sides, tow bar etc from platic card.
Bale Elevators These machines could fold down when in transit but a couple on show in a yard would help set the scene. These machines fell from use as combine harvesters arrived, but that in turn brought a requirement for bale elevators to lift the rectangular bales of hay onto trailers and into the upper part of the barns.
The examples shown below are both post World War Two bale elevators, on the left a Lister bale elevator with a belt drive from a small Villers petrol engine, on the right a post 1970s machine with hydraulic elevation and (I think) electric drive.
Muck spreaders I have seen an illustration of a horse drawn four wheeled machine with a flail arrangement at the rear dating from about 1910, but I believe most farmers just used a labourer with a pitch fork standing in a tip cart. This type of machine, using the power take off on tractors, appeared in large numbers after world war two. These are more difficult to make although the transverse spreading gear at the rear can be represented using a length of deeply threaded self tapping screw.
The side-dischare type came in (I think) in the mid 1960s, possibly as late as 1970. There is a good photo of one roped to a lowfit wagon in the mid 1970s in Dave Larkin's BR Standard Wagons - A Pictorial Survey (Bradford and Barton 1979). This type is very easy to model, they were I believe always red (I could be wrong on that but I have only seen red ones). The body is a length of tube of 7-9mm diameter 20mm long with one quarter cut away, the cut away section is then opened out and glued to the outside, sand this down to represent the lifting top section (that allows top loading). The ends are rectangles of 10 or 20 thou card glued on then cut away to follow the line of the tube, leaving one corner where the opening is on the side. The side and end strips are 20x20 thou strip. The wheels can be any you have of about 4mm diameter (for N), these can be attached to an axle, glued to the under side of the body then 'boxed in' with Milliput. The tow bar extends back as far as the axle, mounted on top of this is the gear box that drives the inner works, with a coupling to allow it to recieve power from the take off on the tractor. The ram controling the top section is wire with some paper wound round it, the hose to connect this to the tractor is black mono-filament fishing line. The inside is simple, a horizontal bar runs from front to back with chain (black thread) suspended from it, in use the chains spin on the bar and throw the muck out of the opening.
Side discharge muck spreader
Combine harvesters appeared as horse drawn machines in the later 19th century, but the first machine in England was only seen in 1926 and due to the hard times of the era there were still less than 100 operating nation wide when World War two broke out. These labour saving machines were originally horse drawn, power for the machine being derived from the rotation of its wheels. This was later changed to a belt drive or shaft drive from the traction engine or tractor towing it. CLAAS, a European manufacturer, developed the first self-propelled combine harvester in 1953 (which they named 'Herkules'), and this approach caught on. Early machines were restricted in width by the existing farm gates, and some interesting folding designs were produced by British firms (everyone else widened their gates). These machines were partially dismantled for shipment by rail, but if you find a model available (Fleetline offer a post war Ransomes 1001 machine as a whitemetal kit) you can have it fully assembled in the yard (again having two or three would be preferable to set the scene). The illustration below is based on an advertisment for an International Harvester machine from about 1950, this came with option front ends of 10, 12 and 14 feet width.
From the 1970s much larger machines became the norm with fully enclosed cabs. A Massey Fergusen example is shown below, these would need to be extensively dismantled for shipment by rail.
Some Notable Agricultural Engineers
The range of goods that qualify as products of the 'agricultural engineers' is very wide ranging indeed. There are far too many firms to fully detail here, but this selection is offered to give some idea of the range of goods produced.
J. C. Bamford Ltd (JCB) Set up after World War two this is the firm that built the iconic yellow and black JCB backhoe loader (introduced in 1953). The name changed to J. C. Bamford (excavators) Ltd in about 1960 I believe. As far as I am aware there is no family connection with Bamfords (above), although he did try to buy them out in the later 1950s. Although more connected with construction than agriculture farmers do make use of the JCB machines.
Blackstone & Co Ltd., founded in the 1830s and based at Stamford in Lincolnshire. This firm was a successful manufacturer of agricultural implements and they went on to do well in the field of internal combustion engines. This firm was part of AGE but survived, eventually merging with engine maker Mirrlees to form Mirrlees Blackstone (which then became part of MAN Diesel Ltd., production at Stamford ended in (I think) the later 1970s).
E H Bentall & Co Ltd., established 1805, based at Heybridge near Maldon in Essex. This firm was part of AGE but survived and remained in business until the later 1980s. Set up as a foundry specialising in agricultural machinery they produced a wide range of equipment including internal combustion engines and various specialised cutters and hoes (they even made motor cars for a time in around 1900).
Bamfords Established in 1871 on the south side of the town known as the Leighton district, close to the North Staffordshire Railway (the factory was later renamed Leighton Ironworks). Up to the 1920s this firm produced a wide range of agricultural machinery, after that date they also offered a range of small internal combustion engines to drive barn machinery, dairy appliances and sheep-shearing equipment. They became 'by appointment' to the King in 1913 as agricultural engineers (and they retained that honour thereafter). They did not join the AGE combine and managed to survive on their own. They imported the Clayson combine harvester machine from Belgium in the 1950s but when that company was bought out by New Holland (part of Sperry Rand) they became agents for the Volvo machines.
Clayton & Shuttleworth Established in 1842 and based at Lincoln, their main products were portable steam engines and threshing machines. For a time before World War One they also built steam tractors and lorries and they were the first British firm to make a combine harvester. The company foundered in the depression of the 1920s, the firm was split up and sold off, boiler making and steam rollers going to Babcock & Wilcox in 1924, the rest was bought by Marshalls of Gainsborough in 1929 who wanted their combine harvester technology.
Fodens were based at Sandbach in Cheshire, the firm was founded by Walter Hanckock who set up Elsworth Iron Works where he built has famous steam powered coaches in the 1840's. He took on a man called Edwin Foden who took over the business in the 1880's. The company name changed to Fodens Ltd. in 1902 by which time they were established traction engine and farm machinery builders. They built steam lorries which earned a reputation for reliability but these were phased out soon after they built their first diesel lorry in 1931. At some point, I think during the 1930s, they stopped making farm machinery.
Fowler Based in Leeds and probably best known for the steam ploughing equipment, a pair of ploughing engines and a cultivator are available as white metal kits from W&T. The illustration in the pre-war equipment section above shows a Fowler ploughing engine and associated balance plough.
William Foster & Co Ltd Established in the mid 19th century and based in Lincoln their most famous product was their range of threshing machines, generally regarded as one of the better makes. They also made a wide range of other farm equipment as well as traction engines, steam tractors and steam lorries. In World War One they were selected to develop the tank. They migrated toward being a pump manufacturer from the 1930s, by the 1950s that was their business. Things did not go so well however and the Lincoln foundry closed in the mid 1960s.
Richard Garrett & Sons Ltd., established in the eighteenth century and based at Leiston in Suffolk. This company was best known for its traction engines and later for steam lorries but also built tow-able portable steam engines and threshing machines. They got into difficulties in the early 1940s and was taken over by Beyer Peackock & Company (based at Gorton in Manchester) and renamed Richard Garrett Engineering Works Ltd. The Leiston works finally closed in 1985.
James & Frederick Howard Ltd., established in 1813 and based in Bedford. This was a classic agricultural engineering firm, making ploughs, cultivators, straw trussers and presses, horse rakes & hoes. They also made equipment for light railways. They were part of the AGE combine and I understand they did not survive its collapse.
Kell & Co. of Gloucester was a foundry that made a range of agricultural implements (they changed to other casting work in the early 1950s)
Marshall, Sons & Co. Based in Gainsborough were manufacturers of a range of steam tractors and engines as well as agricultural equipment, notably threshing machines. From 1930 they increasingly concentrated on tractors with their Field Marshall range (they also worked with Fowlers of Leeds to produce a successful range of tracked tractors). Marshall Fowler Ltd., the caterpillar side of the business was sold off to British Leyland in the mid 1970s, and other parts of the Marshall group were sold off at about this time. In the early 1980s they bought out Leyland Tractors, at which time the Marshall colour scheme was cream and brown. In 1985 Marshalls went into receivership, tractor production was sold to Bentall Simplex and production moved to Scunthorpe, till they folded.
Massey Harris & Massey Ferguson Massey Harris was a Canadian company (the largest agricultural equipment maker in the British Empire). In 1946 they took over the former Ford tractor factory at Trafford Park in Manchester (itself a former tram building site) to make agricultural machinery and their own range of tractors. In 1957 they merged with Ferguson to form Massey Harris Ferguson, the name changed to Massey Ferguson in 1958. The firm was a major player in the UK agricultural equipment business but ran into difficulties in the 1980s and failed in the 1990s. The name is now owned by Agco, who use it for a range of their products around the world.
Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries Engineers Established in the late 18th century by the time the railways arrived they were based in Ipswich and trading as J.R. & A Ransome. They were a major agricultural machinery maker notably producing a range of ploughs and other tilling equipment and also a major producer of lawn mowers. Ransomes were one of the earliest builders of harvesting machinery in the UK and produced some successful threshing machines. Their most famous products were probably their traction engines. They became Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries in the 1880s. They were producing electric vehicles in the 1920s and 30s and developed a range of small electric cranes which evolved into fork lift trucks in the late 1930s. During the 1960s they had an arrangement with the US firm Hyster to sell Hyster petrol fork lifts in the UK with Hyster selling the Ransomes electric version world wide. In 1987 the farm machinery division was sold to Electrolux and in 1998 Ransomes Plc sold the remainder of the business (producing lawn mowers) to Textron and becomes 'Textron Turf Care & Speciality Products'.
Taskers of Andover was set up in 1809, the name changed over the years and ended up as Taskers 1932 Ltd. trading as Taskers of Andover. They made steam tractors and agricultural machinery at their Waterloo Ironworks near Andover in Hampshire. They built steam road rollers until the later 1920s, thereafter they seem to have concentrated on small engines. They went into trailer production but the company was bought out by the Craven Group in the 1970's. The factory at Andover was closed down in the 1980s.
E R & F Turner Ltd., founded in the 1830s and based at Ipswich this firm produced a range of machinery but from the early 20th century they concentrated on equipment for flour milling. This company was part of the AGE combine but survived and is still in business today, notably producing machines used to make breakfast cereals (a business it has been successful in since the 1920s).
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