International T500 Wooden Track ploughing tractor
Photograph is courtesy of Jim Christie, Crook of Devon, a former senior mechanical engineer in the Forestry Commission.
This writer is delighted to have come across this image of a machine that he had only heard about and described by colleagues as far back as 1967. There was a deep peat area at Callop near Glenfinnan which was literally a shaking bog that had been ploughed the previous year. The workers all mentioned that this had been ploughed by a tractor with wooden tracks!
Looking at the beautifully detailed image it appears that the International 500 tractor chassis has been lengthened by the insertion of a block between the engine and the gearbox. The track frame lengthened a corresponding distance but with only a single top roller. The track plates appear to have a wooden core, about 24 inches long with an aluminium sheet covering all four edges. For grip and additional strength a light triangular cross section grouser bar runs the length of the track plate. This is fixed in place with bolts through predrilled straps welded to the grouser bar. Any details of where this tractor conversion was carried out?
Note the addition of a hydraulic Boughton winch and hydraulic hose to operate the lifting mechanism of the plough. Unfortunately plough is not featured but from memory it was a single furrow type.
Any more detail and memories of this machine would be very welcome.
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Groups: Tractors Ploughs and Drainage Machines