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Royal Norfolk Show 25th/26th June
Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 5:32 pm
by Brian
Henrietta has been invited to have a role in the Vintage Farming display working a trailed Ransomes combine, (see the earlier post on the East of England Vintage Days). Yesterday I delivered her to the Show Ground and spent a couple of hours in the bright sunshine, drinking tea, eating cake and talking to people whilst waiting for the organiser to arrive. Took my trusty camera as always:
Lovely little Massey Harris 726 with a bat reel, she is powered by an Austin Newage straight six which sounds fantastic through that straight pipe with no silencer. I spent many years in the harvest field with a similar model powered by a Nuffield petrol/kerosene engine, later moving on to one with a Perkins L4, all with the same straight pipe exhaust.
Controls:
Top Left = Throttle.
Bottom left = Threshing drive lever.
Middle = Gear lever. Three forward and a reverse.
Right = Traction speed control.
Far right = Unloading Auger.
and up under the steering wheel, the electric cutter bar lift and lower.
Claas Buncher.
Massey Harris Hay Turner.
Fordson e27N with an L4 in a Road Roller.
Re: Royal Norfolk Show 25th/26th June
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:09 am
by oehrick
Nice pics Brian, thanks
hope its a dry year for the show, last year my daughter and I got drenched in the traditional post-show Thurdsay evening downpour while lifting a new roof beam into place (at home) reminding me of the numerous times we got drenched while pulling down the NICE Soc. Stand for transport back to Drayton, one wet year a pal and I went with an old matress pre-strapped on the front of our 80's to speed the process of pushing stuck motorists out.
His had a proper winch,
made mine from a Massey Harris combine bed winch and 5 solenoids, wasn't long before the dynamo went in favour of an alternator.........
Hope you have a good show and time to wield the camera for some more piccies
TTFN
Re: Royal Norfolk Show 25th/26th June
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:59 am
by oehrick
PS Based on today's storm Brian, haya got ya wellies 'n sou wester stowed ??
Re: Royal Norfolk Show 25th/26th June
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 7:42 am
by Brian
We only got a shower here, just enough to keep the plants interested in the garden. Pascal is with us at the moment and we are off to the show later then up to Newark tomorrow.
Had a great day in beautiful weather with the Major collection on Cromer beach. 60 years on, in the worst conditions possible, with daily immersion in the sea and all that salt air and the Major still marches on !
There were a couple of specials there, one with wooden mudguards
and one with a double chassis, one set of rails on top of the other for extra height to keep the engine and transmission out of the water. (I think). A number of 6 cylinder conversions too!
Yesterday we went on a tour of Standen Engineering and saw destoners and potato harvesters being built, coming from the Netherlands Pascal had not seen a destoner before as there is little stone in the potato growing area. Then on to Team Sprayers and a quick tour round sprayers and their production and painting facilities before coming home by my brothers home for a cup of tea and an introduction to the banter from a couple of slightly mad people! (My brother and I).
I am leaving the pictures for Pascal as I am sure he will do a writeup of his trip once he gets home again and recovers from his experiences!
Re: Royal Norfolk Show 25th/26th June
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 11:34 pm
by Dandy Dave
I had a friend that had one of those Massey Ferguson combines. I helped him tune it up a few times. His was powered by a 6 Cylinder Chrysler flathead. Every once in a while the elevator chain would come apart just behind the head. That was always fun to get lined up and back together. Dandy Dave!
Re: Royal Norfolk Show 25th/26th June
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 4:38 pm
by Brian
We had the Chrysler straight six flat-head or side valve as we call it, in Massey 21's. That too was a lovely sounding engine but they all sounded great with the Massey straight through "drainpipe" exhaust. I do not remember one that had a silencer.
We had the Austin-Newage as fitted to this combine, a Morris Commercial, four cylinder petrol/kerosene, the same as was fitted to the petrol/kerosene Nuffield Universal and a Perkins L4. I have driven and worked on all three variants and the Austin-Newage is the one that I really rate although the L4 comes a pretty close second. The sound of those engines at full revs and under load was one of the iconic sounds of harvest in the 1950s and 1960s.
Another engine that sounded beautiful in a combine was the Penta Diesel as fitted to the Swedish fore-runner of the Ransomes 902 and 1001.