Last year at this time we were shovelling snow from outside our big shed, before being able to get some spanner work done. This year, at the time of writing, has been almost balmy even, without a hint of serious rain. Unseasonal, but it does make life easier.

We recently had a walk past our winter wheat which is growing very thickly, an indication that we may have put too much on. However, it will probably have to suffer some proper weather and plenty of pigeon attention during the winter so there should be plenty left for spring growth and harvest next year.

In the shed the main focus has been to make progress on the Fordson Major E27n tractor. Having got most of the engine assembled it was time to start some checking. The first job was to look for water leaks before filling the engine and gearbox with oil. With a hose which seemed to go half way round Stowmarket we started the filling process. It wasn’t long before we had the floor awash with water and the engine dripping from every joint around the radiator and cylinder-head gasket. There were some very long faces that morning with the realisation that all the gaskets we had taken as ‘old but OK’ were in fact falling to pieces. A modern radiator is a fairly lightweight affair made of aluminium and plastic but our piece of work has a cast iron frame, is made of copper, and can just about be lifted by two stout fellows with another giving instructions! So the front of the tractor had to be jacked up, the front axle removed and the whole cooling system taken off to be cleaned and new gaskets fitted. This took the team a whole day and another half day to put it all back together. After another wrestling match with the hose, the cooling system was filled and the number of leaks, thankfully, could be counted on one finger.  We are in business! The old tractor has an electric starter which had be untried, but a hook up to a battery seems to show that all is well. We all take electric starting for granted on machines these days but in 1945 it was a bit of a luxury; when the day of the big start up arrives, the starter button should surely save much cursing, swearing and cranking.

Beside the Fordson sits the Smythe seed drill. We have started taking some bits off in order that an assessment of what needs to be done may be made. An initial examination reveals plenty of rust requiring some tinwork repairs, however we expect to see it in action in the spring. At the moment the implement is set up for a crop with a large seed; probably beans or peas. This means that we must search our collection of spare parts to see if we can find or adapt a seed barrel with smaller cups suitable for sowing wheat and barley.

We have regular visitors to the museum who have spent much of their working lives operating machinery like ours. They never miss a trick if they think we’ve ‘got it all wrong! We have many most enjoyable discussions with them, learning about what they did and sharing fond memories of time past.