Ploughing Memories – Grey And Gold Ferguson 35
Everytime we drive along the M62, past Normanton, we remember the first farm my husband worked on. All the family look at the small fields which he used to plough with a Ferguson 35. It was a four cylinder with a gold painted engine.
The little tractor was bad to start on a cold morning, even with heater plugs.
The over-riding memory seems to be the cold.
Ploughing started in November, then, because it was all spring cropping. An army trench coat – karki with brass buttons – kept out the cold and the wet. It was so thick that it absorbed the rain. A scarf wound round the neck, sealed the gaps from drips of rain or gusts of wind. A hat was made from a railway sack, with one corner pushed into another, so that you looked like a monk. Because the bag was so long, it was possible to drape it over the shoulders and right down the back, where it was held with a bit of Massey which was tied round the waist. This prevented the pointy bit over the head from blowing off in the wind. The bag was thick and heavy, but precious, because British Rail charged for them. This one must have escaped the system!
Cold hands and hot ache lasted all day. The Fergy was obliging – gloves were regularly slotted over the exhaust pipe so that they filled with warm fumes from the engine. This warmed the gloves, but the hands became fumey and smelt when eating dinner! Polythene fertiliser bags were put along the side of the engine, like an extension to the bonnet, so the fan blew the engine heat back round your legs.
The lunch bag was made of tough, heavy karki material with a thick strap which was wrapped round the air cleaner pipe and hung down on the side of the bonnet – wearing the paint off. It held a thermos flask and sandwich tin, which swung along in the bag. But they are happy memories, going up and down the field all day, and every day, with the little Fergy and the Ferguson plough on the back. The three furrow plough had 12″ furrows and general purpose bodies.
Decades later these tractors are still doing good service in Africa, allbeit with bonnets missing. Or, if the bonnet is on, the paintwork is worn off with so many people riding on it. Maybe my husband passed his tractor on his recent visit to Kenya. There are many Fergusons there. They are fantastic, well-made tractors.
Yesteryear memories from TopVeg
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Hi there this is anthoy ive wrote the story above yours about helping in the fields when i was a boy driving an old fergie Its such a small world as soon as i saw normanton on the screen i was drawn to it i used to live in normanton just off m62 on castleford road and now im in wales,do you remember the old baths in normy we used to goto them when i was a lad from school there closed now maye=be even knocked down which is a shame growing old is not fun but the memories we hold are like a library we need to keep telling our stories keep em fresh in our minds and to keep alert i enjoyed your story and suspect the fields may of been behind our old house that i could see from the bus that used to take us to the baths as a young boy, Small world all the best anthony
Can you tell me if you get a model of the ferguson fe 35 gold and grey tractor. thankyou .jk
can you tell me where i could get a model of the ferguson 35 grey/gold tractor? thanks Laura
Hi Laura,
Sorry, I haven’t seen a model of a grey/gold. If I find one anywhere I will leave a comment below.
Steve.
Hi, i am looking to buy a gold belly 35 tractor with 4 cyl engine in need of not too serious restoration preferably in good mehanical order .Do you have any possible links .I am in rep of Ireland Thanks