Nuffield and Leyland Tractor Club

The 46th Ross-on-Wye Steam Engine Society’s Welland Steam and Country Rally, was held on the 23rd, 24th & 25th of July at Woodside Farm, near Upton-on-Severn. Although titled a steam rally there were many other attractions and plenty of vintage and classic tractors to see, the theme for this years Rally was ‘Nuffield Tractors’. In the evening 17 ‘Showman’s’ steam engines in full steam powered the generators for the various rides, the sight and sound was just amazing. All the engines had their canopy lights on, clouds of steam and smoke from the funnels as the boilers were stoked. Another well attended attraction was the ‘Tractor Pulling’, two Nuffields and three Leylands took part with two of the Leylands showing the rest a very clean pair of heels, well done to them! The pulling event started at mid-day and lasted until midnight under flood lights. There were many other show attractions for those members of the public who weren’t too interested in tractors or steam engines.

The Nuffield and Leyland Tractor Club stand attended with a fine display of 47 Nuffield Tractors. The condition of the tractors ranged from rough to pristine.

The Club awarded three cups:- Best Nuffield in Show, won by Roger Ball for his immaculately restored Nuffield 4/65, Best small or 3 cyl Nuffield, won by David Devonald for his well looked after Nuffield 4/25 and the tractor which the judges would most like to ‘Take Home’, this was also won by David Devonald for his restored Nuffield 4/65. Congratulations to both of them. The standard of all the tractors being judged was very high and difficult decisions had to be taken to separate the winners from the runners up.

Here are a few pictures from the Nuffield display.

General view of the Club stand

Visitors on the stand

Nuffield 10/60 with Victor Cab

Nuffield Universal Three with Perkins P3 conversion

Nuffield 10/105 with BMC 5.1 Ltr Truck engine conversion

This very rare picture has been unearthed from the archives and show a Nuffield tractor converted to a Crawler by Cantatore of Italy, it’s probably from 1961.

Here are some new pictures from the archives of the BMHIT, they show a brief history of the Bathgate Tractor production facility from 1962 to 1977.  All pictures Copyright BMHIT.

This is the first tractor off the production line at Bathgate in 1962, it’s a Nuffield 3/42. See how clean the floor is and how uncluttered the background! It’s not clear why the tractor has ‘Road Tyres’ fitted rather than agricultural tyres like the tractors behind.

By 1965 the Nuffield 10/60′s was being produced, this one, with flanged axles, is approaching the point where the wheels are to be fitted.

Queen Elizabeth visited Bathgate in 1968, she was driven around in a modified Land Rover. Here we see her viewing the machine shop in ‘B’ Block prior to visiting the tractor production facility in ‘C’ Block.

In 1977 the design of the tractor had changed dramatically, this 245 with a three cylinder Perkins engine is fitted with a ‘Q’ cab, required by law in many countries, to prevent excess noise damaging the drivers ears. Many changes had to be made to the production line to allow these tractors to be built.

‘The Year of the Clubs’ – The friendly indoor show at the Three Counties Showground Malvern, Worcestershire.

The ‘Not to be Missed’ show of the year.

This years Tractor World Show was again very successful, the attendance was high and we were kept very busy answering questions, advising on restoration projects, taking membership subscriptions and generally helping club and non club members to get the best from the show.

One of the ‘Stars’ on the stand was this very rare Nuffield 126, pictured below. One of six IMT tractors imported into the UK in the late 1980′s and re-badged as Nuffield 126′s they were destined for Nigeria. The deal fell through and the tractors were disposed off for non agricultural use. This tractor worked in a quarry for many years and appeared at last years show in less than perfect condition. It has now been restored to as near new condition as possible by its current owner. 

This fully restored Nickerson Turfmaster, one of only 7 produced, is based on a Marshall 302, and was featured in a recent edition of ‘Vintage Tractor’ magazine. It is currently for sale.

Note the Leyland 4100 in the background, this tractor won the Nuffield and Leyland Tractor Club cup for the best Leyland in the show.

Andrew Griffin has provided these pictures of a Marshall 954 working for its living!

Marshall 954 ploughing

Pulling out a stuck John Deere

James Morris sent in this picture of a Marshall 804 at rest between jobs!

Marshall 804 with attendant sheep dog!

While Neil Blades’ Marshall 100-4 spreads a tank full of slurry

Marshall 100-4 speading slurry

If you want your tractor shown here just send a picture to contact@thenuffieldandleylandtractorclub.co.uk and we’ll do the rest! 

This is exactly what Josh Halliday did. He bought this Nuffield 4/65 with a 6 cyl BMC engine. The first picture shows it on the day that he brought it home and the second after Josh had spent some time working on it to bring it into working condition.

From time to time we are asked whether Leyland ever produced ‘Industrial’ Tractors. The answer to this question is ‘YES’! They were painted ‘Highway’ Yellow although the decals remained the same as their Agricultural counterparts. The most ‘Common’ varient was the skid unit supplied to JCB and other specialist manufacturers, these skid units had either a mechanical gearbox or a ‘Brockhouse’ torque converter unit.

Here are a selection of pictures to show what was available.

International pictures from web site visitors.

Alan Fehilly from Eire has owned this Marshall Steyr D944 for a number of years and has found it to be a very reliable and capable tractor and every bit as good as his previous Leyland 272!

Melvin Zambrano from Venezuela bought this 1964 Nuffield 10/60 from his father in 1989, who had in turn purchased it from his uncle in 1980. With this family connection it is of great sentimental value to him. He uses it to look after cattle pasture. The engine was overhauled in 2000 with parts sourced from India.

This picture of a 1953/4 Nuffield 3DL Cantatore 4WD was provided by Giovanni Moda from Italy. The tractor’s history and where and when it was photographed is unknown.

To complete this “International” theme Robert Huijnen from the Netherlands sent in this shot of his beautifully restored Leyland 472.

If you would like your “Pride and Joy” featured here just send a picture to ‘Contact’ with a short story and I’ll do the rest. – JVP

Welcome to the official Nuffield and Leyland Tractor Club Web Site

TO ACCESS ALL THE AREAS OF INTEREST AND INFORMATION JUST CLICK ONTO THE INDIVIDUAL TABS ABOVE THE BANNER PICTURE 

The first stop for information on Nuffield, Leyland and Marshall Tractors. All comments and suggestions are welcome. Please contact us on contact@thenuffieldandleylandtractorclub.co.uk