Interesting you mention about "Prisoners of War" helping out on farms John. About four miles from Horncastle there was a "Prisoner of War Camp" in a small rural hamlet, up to just pre COVID the Nissen Huts were still standing after being used as part of a pig farm for many years, but sadly its now all been cleared and forgotten.
Many of these men helped out in the farm "threshing gangs" and worked very hard indeed.

These photos are of some of the last threshing days on Salmonby House Farm, the old M-H 12-20 has now been retired from belt duties and the Nuffield Universal Four taken over it's duties, the belt pulley is still on the Nuffield to this day. Dad is feeding the threshing drum watched by my Uncle and Grandad is bagging corn, he's dressed in his traditional ''brown smock'  and no doubt keeping a record and counting how much is being threshed and the potential income coming into the farm.
The earlier posted photo's of the two new Nuffields shows them without cabs, on these threshing scenes dad had been busy in winter time of 1960 - 1961 making his own cab to keep the worst of the weather off. Later this was replaced with a Winsum cab.

Malcolm. 

Malcolm, 
Way cool pictures of back in the day! Who is standing next to the wooden cab Nuffield? I know it was many years before his time but just the way they are standing there and the look on their face it looks like Stuart in his younger days.
Joe

That's my older brother with his curly hair Joe, well spotted and the likeness to Stuart is something I've never noticed.
Good to know you are keeping a close watch on us all from MN !!!

 

Here's a tractor that "might have been" a family tractor!  My grandfather (centre) with his brother in law my great uncle Fred (left) on the Massey-Harris stand at the Royal Show in Shrewsbury  August1948.  They are talking to John Stearn (right) a senior MH man about the new M-H 744D tractor that had just been released - only 16 were made at the Manchester M-H factory in that first year of production which was subsequently transferred to Kilmarnock in Scotland.

The 744D was fitted with a British made Parkins P6 diesel engine - a smooth quiet diesel if ever there was one with great torque.  However the tractor was basically the US built 44 but with British wheels and engine.  In the event they were not persuaded to buy.  The photo was found in the British M-H magazine "Growth" Vol1. No3  August 1945.  I was 1!  However I have one in my collection which was prurchased new by the local agricultural college.

Come on folks - drag out those family memories1!!
John 

Having covered my dad's 'Robinson' side of my old famiy tractors and related farming photo's I will move onto my mothers side and see just a glimpse of their activities.

To start off with here is another 'harvesting scene' and looks like they are preparing for a busy day with their early M-H binder, possibly a No 4 or 5. From conversations many years ago with my great uncle Joe he recalled his dis-like of having to mount and dsmount the binder from it's "transport truck", which was made of wood and heavy cast iron wheels, so definately before the re-design when the transport wheels were made easily removable.

I have a No 5 here in my collection which I estimate its manufacture to be in the late 1800's with the same style of "transport truck".



 

A local lad, not too gifted mechanically was working part time for my father, ,cultivating with our model F Fordson when he boiled it dry and seized it up. My father,definitely very annoyed, took it up to the farm buildings and intended to repair it but in the meantime bought a very second-hand Wallis 12/20 and got rid of the lad. He was so impressed by the Wallis that he later acquired an  MH 25/40 and 3 furrow plough.These two tractors worked the farm together for many years until the Wallis was about tired out and was .retired to the hedge bottom but the 25/40 was retained but replaced by a 744pd which Malcolm now has. The Wallis was then sold to collector Frank Smith of kirton near Boston and is still extant somewhere but I've lost contact with it.   I scrapped the remains of the  Fordson F But then regretted it so have managed to find another, same year, same spec. as recompense,...How daft (nostalgic) can you get???

Well done Jack for joining into this "family tractors" discussion with your recollections of your first tractor (the Fordson Model F) on your farm and how the demise of that led onto the first "U" frame Wallis 12-20 and then many more years of being a loyal Massey supporter which continues to this day with your two sons running M-F tractors. 

Here is a photo of Jack taken during 2023 sitting on the front wheel of his 744 PD as mentioned above. And one of the more modern M-F machines helping out with transportation of his Wallis 12-20.

We do want to see a photo of your latest Fordson Model F resurrection project on here Jack when you've had some music from the exhaust.
 

Continuing my mothers side of the family harvesting photos, here are an assortment of photo's showing my Great Uncle Joe's work of 'stacking sheaves' after being brought into the yard from the fields and the great attention to detail he loved to show in 'finishing off a stack'.

 

Good to hear from you again Jack on this MCA site.  Your father's conversion to Wallis/MH very much mirrors the experience of my grand father.  He bought a new Fordson from their main Ford delaers Quicks in Manchester but it was always a bad starter and they seemingly could not fix it.  In desperation he sent it back to them and went round to the nearby Massey-Harris assembly plant in Ashburton Rd, Trafford Park and bought an M-H 12-20.  It was an instant and resounding success and from thereon there folllowed a series of MH tractors.  The 12-20 according to my Dad was much fuel efficeient and easier and more comfortable to drive.

This picture shows the offending Fordson drioven by Tommy Moss with my Dad operating the M-H binder.

Hope to hear from you again soon Jack!
John

Here is Great Uncle Joe on the far right with his "Muck Leading" gang, you don't see many today with this type of 'muck fork' in their hands, its usaully hydraulically operated today or the job doesn't get done.
In the photo is an almost new Farmall M supplied by Achurch and Sons of Horncastle.