For those who may be interested.

That is impressive! Do you have any estimate of the hours you have in that, PHPaul?

Loved the Binford Tools reference.

quote:

Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:
That is impressive! Do you have any estimate of the hours you have in that, PHPaul?

Loved the Binford Tools reference.

Thanks!

I didn't/don't keep track of the time involved as it's therapy for me anyway, but certainly several hundred over 3 or 4 Winters. A detail may occur to me that takes a few minutes, or a project like the quarry may take several hours spread over a few days.

I thought you might enjoy this. They have added the skyscrapers and such. Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Even my Dad who was into model trains was impressed.

Wow. The amount of maintenance required to keep all those trains, switches and tracks operating must be massive!

One thing that really strikes me is the amount of open space included. Even if I had that much real estate to work with, I'd go broke doing the scenery.

Awesome! Curious... How big is it overall. That would be a cool county fair exhibit!


You stirred a few memories for me...

The infamous International TA.
Was familiar with two, both on 560s.

Father in law had one that was bad and was disabled when he bought his 560 used. I replaced the head gasket on that tractor for him once, had to pull the head off and replace it with a chain hoist!

Best friend's Dad bought the first 560 in the county new, would have been mid to late 1950s. That 560 was the talk of the county for a while they say! Friend still has it in full operational condition, third generation farming the same 1,000 acres. No telling how many hours on it now but they maintain their stuff well. He also has a Super C and an M both bought new by his Dad... Both operational, and a couple bigger modern ones. I used to help them fairly often on the farm and have run the 560 quite a bit. The TA still works on it but they discourage its use.

They had head gasket trouble with their 560 too, requiring one roughly yearly back when they were running it a lot as their main tractor. That 560 left the prettiest plowed field I have ever seen to this day with the 5 gang 12" plow that came with it.
I have helped run it 24 hours a day a few times in shifts during spring/planting time. It was a job just to keep it fueled! IIRC it would burn ~100 gallons a day.

He also has a Model A stake bed farm truck his dad bought almost new. Chain drive to the rear axle. Neve drove it but I have seen it driven, but not for around 30 years. Garage kept its entire life.

Ah the good old days!

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
Awesome! Curious... How big is it overall. That would be a cool county fair exhibit!

About 4x5 feet. I'd love to see it on public display but I've fallen into the "Build a Sailboat in your Basement" syndrome: No way to get it out without basically destroying it.

The 560 had a horrible reputation around our part of Michigan. Basically an M with new sheet metal and a more powerful engine. Transmission/rearend problems were rampant and it's reputation never recovered from it, at least in our neighborhood.

And speaking of 24 hour operation...

We had an unusually wet Spring one year and nobody could get on their fields to till and plant (this was well before no-till became a thing).

When the weather finally broke, a dozen or so farmers all got together, brought their equipment and went from farm to farm in a caravan. We had 120 acres (small to medium for the time and place) and about 100 of it under cultivation. When they got to us, there were like 6 (maybe more) tractor/plow rigs running. Dad told them what he wanted plowed (and pitched in with our McCormick Super W6 and three bottom plow) and the dirt started flying. That crew ran day and night for several days, wives and kids brought meals, coffee and gas (or in a very few cases, diesel, this was late 50's) and tractor drivers swapped off now and then so they could rest.

The biggest rig was an Oliver 1850 Diesel with a 6 bottom semi-mount plow. Biggest tractor I'd ever seen up to that point. They had our acreage turned over in nothing flat. Lot of farmers were saved by that operation.

Nice job!

I admire the devotion and the attention to detail! Nicely done.

Anyone ever tell you that you'd make a fantastic narrator or voice actor?

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
I admire the devotion and the attention to detail! Nicely done.

Anyone ever tell you that you'd make a fantastic narrator or voice actor?

Aw, shucks...

Way back in 1991, I was hospitalized (and damn near croaked) with a massive throat infection. One reason it was so serious is that it got into my vocal cords. Changed my voice quite a lot, some say for the better. Others not so much...