Road Run Fordson E27N and B250 tractors 164

Every so often around about our area someone or other organizes a tractor road run for charity in this case it was for their local church. We used to have a road run organized in the next village timed to be in between Christmas and new Years day but that one has now stopped, in a way it was a victim of its own success as over a hundred tractors took part every year come rain/snow sun and frost they always turned out, it took best part of half an hour for the stream of tractors to go through any point on the run.

Back to the run a fortnight ago, (October 2013) around fifty tractor turned up, this still took a good quarter of an hour for them to clear a road junction or other obstacle on the lanes.
It was decided that the oldest tractors would follow the lead tractor, with younger more modern tractors follow and bring up the rear, this was in case an old one broke down the others would be able to assist or tow the victim the remaining distance of the run.

I took two tractors, the first was the old Fordson E27N  a TVO fueled tractor  (Tractor Vaporizing Oil) the equivalent of this is what we use to heat our house, so that tank gets raided, but that fuel is too "dry" so we add a gallon of diesel to every ten gallon of "TVO". In fact when up to its working temperature it will vaporize and run on neat diesel.
As you may know or not know this tractor does not have a thermostat, don't think they had been invented when they designed these engines, so we have to manually lift and lower the blind on the front of the radiator.
For the likes of a road run it needs to be about half way down, in heavy work it would be all the way down, and as soon as you stop for more than five minutes, it essential the the blind is all the way up to keep it hot, if it cools it will not vaporized its TVO and will oil the plugs up and then be misfiring. When starting it from cold with a crank handle it starts on petrol  

A before picture as it was when purchased

After it had been done up, note the
 radiator blind is to the top 

Crank starting

Starting out with rad blind half way down

The second tractor I took was my old International B250, the one I drove from new back in 1956,  57 years old this was over hauled and sprayed up to almost new condition eight years ago,

This is both tractors at a spring road run a few years ago

The B250 was driven to the host farm some ten miles away, the Fordson had a lift on a trailer behind the Landrover. The road run was around thirty miles, both tractors run well, with the old International doing in excess of fifty miles that day.

Needless to say the Fordson was the lead tractor (behind the host tractor showing us the way) as it was the oldest on the run at 67 years of age , (1946 vintage) it does a steady twelve miles per hour.

The weather kept fine with only a hint of rain as we started out but heavy coats  and hatswere essential, especial to those younger tractor drivers who ar pampered by cabs and cab heaters.