The throttle shows some honest wear. I guess the reason I focused on the throttle is because it is very familiar to me. A kid working that little lever while driving a tractor feels like the king of the world.
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Wayback Machine: CRP Recon Joys
CRP signups made for intense workdays. The county Farm Service Agency offices would often have dozens of new cases or renewals, and every field had to be inspected. I would map out the whole county to reduce backtracking, make a soil map of each case, and look up the history of renewals so I would know what had been planted. After seeing each case, the landowners had to be interviewed, and then the new plans could be written. Conservation Reserve pretty much controlled my work for all of my years working for Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It wasn't what I expected when I hired in, but it was good work that actually changed the landscape of the counties I worked in. All that driving and walking meant that I saw lots of interesting sights. Here are a couple of good ones from the spring of 2012 in Hamilton County. The tractor is an Allis-Chalmers WC; the barn is probably melted down to the tin roof by now.
The throttle shows some honest wear. I guess the reason I focused on the throttle is because it is very familiar to me. A kid working that little lever while driving a tractor feels like the king of the world.
The throttle shows some honest wear. I guess the reason I focused on the throttle is because it is very familiar to me. A kid working that little lever while driving a tractor feels like the king of the world.
Early production WC - before the 'styled' tank and engine shrouds.
ReplyDeleteOur WC was a war production model - Grandpa got approval for a tractor from the Rationing Board - he often told the story of hearing the news that FDR had died the day he drove it home.
We used it to mow with a John Deere sickle-bar mower, to bale hay with an AC Roto-baler (hand brakes and not having live PTO made THAT fun!) and belted it to a speed jack made from a Chevy truck transmission to run an elevator to put the hay in barns.
I was living out-of-state when they had the estate sale - I don't know where it went, but I suppose it went for scrap iron.
I am fond of old Allis tractors, but you can spend more on tired than a tractor is worth. Park them indoors at night to reduce condensation in the fuel tank.
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