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Fifty Years of Farm Machinery  
Hardback book , 246 x 189 mm, 256 pages, inc 320 illustrations
 
Brian Bell  
Published 1999
 
 
 
Price £14.95   add to cart  
ISBN 0-85236-525-X
 

Going A-Z by manufacturer, this book describes the host of tractor models used on British farms since the end of the Second World War. It includes machines produced before 1945 but still in common use and it also shows a wide range of imported marques.
The most obvious development over the period has been the growth in tractor power, from an average 25 hp in the 1940s to an average of 110 hp in the late 1990s. Four-wheel drive, once the exception, has become the norm and in-cab computers have taken control of some of the functions that used to be the driver’s responsibility.
Famous names in the tractor world have disappeared since the mid 1970s while others have merged to form world-wide organisations. One of the pleasures of Brian Bell’s book is to browse through and see just what a wide range of manufacturers and machines there have been during this golden age of the farm tractor.

 
Fifty Years of Farm Machinery - Brian Bell
 
  The J C Bamford Master-Loader was made for the Fordson E27N Major. The first JCB loaders wer dark green; the colour changed to red in 1950 and the familiar bright yellow was adopted in 1957.
Massey-Ferguson 500 combine, 1962.
 
  The extension chute of the Lundell 60 off-set forage harvester could be angled to fill a trailer towed alongside or behind the machine. It was also sold in the Massey-Ferguson livery.