Fowler VF tracked tractor cutaway drawing and technical specification
This is a cutaway drawing of a Fowler VF tractor; these tracked tractors were used by the Forestry Commission and contractors in peat ploughing and drainage operations during the 1950’s.
There are other images and reminiscences of the Fowler VF crawler tractor, drawing ploughs elsewhere in this archive (e.g. images: 1029, 1031, 1032, 1939) are examples of this type of tractor at work. I have also made available a pdf document of the tractor cutaway drawing, along with a list of the mechanical specifications for the tractor. The engine is a single cylinder, two stroke diesel, with a capacity of 4,890cc and affectionately known by many as a “Pompom”, due to its characteristic exhaust note and has maximum revs of 750rpm.
These tractors were built in 1948, after Fowlers was acquired by Marshall, Sons and Co. in 1947, as the two companies had major interests in manufacturing diesel tractors.
In 1949, as part of the Marshall group, Fowler’s were making VF tractors at Leeds, West Yorkshire, co-ordinated with the production at Marshall’s factory at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.
Field-Marshalls with tracks were produced under the Fowler brand name, being converted in the Fowler factory at Leeds. The first were designated the "Fowler VF".
In 1952 the Fowler VF was replaced by the Fowler VFA.
Winches made by Marshall or by third parties were available and VF and VFA tractors were frequently fitted with these and used for timber extraction.
A hydraulically operated, variable angled bulldozer blade was also made by Bray Construction Equipment Company Limited, Feltham, Middlesex, to mount onto the tracked VFA tractor. Whether any of these operated in the forestry industry on site clearance or road formation, I do not know.
The drawing and specifications were taken from my late Dad’s book ‘Farm Mechanisation Handbook’, Tractor and Implement Operation and Repair, by T. Hammond Craddock, Temple Press Ltd, 2nd Edition, completely re-written and published in 1952.
Any further information or comments upon this or subsequent models of Bristol crawler tractors would be welcome.
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Groups: Tractors Ploughs and Drainage Machines