Beet harvesting output

The pictures of the hino hotels and long timber trailers bring back flashbacks.
Same trailers down here but usually pulled by Dafs.

A friend from west cork often reminds me of an acquaintance who took a load of beet to mallow after too much drink. Not sure if it was a Hino or DAF but he had to ring the boss and tell him that the wing mirror got broken.

When asked how did it happen, he informed the boss that the lorry had leant down on it......
 
The pictures of the hino hotels and long timber trailers bring back flashbacks.
Same trailers down here but usually pulled by Dafs.

A friend from west cork often reminds me of an acquaintance who took a load of beet to mallow after too much drink. Not sure if it was a Hino or DAF but he had to ring the boss and tell him that the wing mirror got broken.

When asked how did it happen, he informed the boss that the lorry had leant down on it......

The mother's uncle had a cattle lorry all his life. He was never that good a driver but nevertheless he continued on until he was eighty. I often went with him to wash out the lorry and try and give him the directions. We were coming home from the factory one morning and a queue of traffic built up behind us. I suggested that maybe it would be a good idea to pull in and let the traffic go. After the usual " what are ye saying and speak up" he says " Sure what's the problem arnnt we going hard enough?". Forty miles an hour was his limit. Of course the guards were waiting for us in the next town. The young guard says " theres a woman after ringing us complaining about you holding up the road. The uncle goes " give me her details and I'll deal with her myself and don't delay us any further we're in a hurry"
 
The pictures of the hino hotels and long timber trailers bring back flashbacks.
Same trailers down here but usually pulled by Dafs.

A friend from west cork often reminds me of an acquaintance who took a load of beet to mallow after too much drink. Not sure if it was a Hino or DAF but he had to ring the boss and tell him that the wing mirror got broken.

When asked how did it happen, he informed the boss that the lorry had leant down on it......
The Hinos were over time replaced with mostly Daf 95's, a Volvo FL10 and a MAN M90-292 most of which ended up exported after the demise of Irish Sugar.
 
Land is starting to get soft with all the rain. Went to four different fields today with the armer before I found one dry enough to work in
 
Land is starting to get soft with all the rain. Went to four different fields today with the armer before I found one dry enough to work in

You must have got more rain down there, there were lads pulling a wet field up here earlier.

There's very little drying these days either when it's not raining. Are the tops getting bad yet?
 
You must have got more rain down there, there were lads pulling a wet field up here earlier.

There's very little drying these days either when it's not raining. Are the tops getting bad yet?
We got a lot of rain. A few inches in the last few days I’d say. The tops are still ok we weren’t leaving any beet at all today. I have the thyregod in Meath for the last few weeks pulling a couple of days a week in between the armer pulling in Wexford. Tops seem worse up there
 
We got a lot of rain. A few inches in the last few days I’d say. The tops are still ok we weren’t leaving any beet at all today. I have the thyregod in Meath for the last few weeks pulling a couple of days a week in between the armer pulling in Wexford. Tops seem worse up there

I know all about the rain down here!! 45mm the other night alone. I'm only a few miles from you but still surprised land is soaking as well.
 
Purple car is an old Jaguar that was converted to diesel, the Hinos would stay going just to spite you, a 6 speed gearbox with 4th struggling to do 30mph and a big step to 5th which would pull 50 mph, 6th was for downhill or empty, there were 3 that had Eaton 8 speed that came from Scotland, View attachment 60814Google brought up one of them with Lairds and I think our man bought 3 of them at the time, a different Ryans and no relation to the lads you know, the 8 speed was a better job if you could remember where the gears were, 1st was where 3rd would usually be located, 2nd at 4th, 3rd at 2nd and 4th at 1st, flick the switch and go round the box a second time so effectively clockwise to go up the gears and anticlockwise to go down. The trailer axle is still there, just the wheels missing on the middle one.
How come everything was left there, as opposed to being sold or weighed in?
 
How come everything was left there, as opposed to being sold or weighed in?
Good question, there were changes of ownership going on and while that was happening the price of scrap collapsed so missed the boat.
 
Purple car is an old Jaguar that was converted to diesel, the Hinos would stay going just to spite you, a 6 speed gearbox with 4th struggling to do 30mph and a big step to 5th which would pull 50 mph, 6th was for downhill or empty, there were 3 that had Eaton 8 speed that came from Scotland, View attachment 60814Google brought up one of them with Lairds and I think our man bought 3 of them at the time, a different Ryans and no relation to the lads you know, the 8 speed was a better job if you could remember where the gears were, 1st was where 3rd would usually be located, 2nd at 4th, 3rd at 2nd and 4th at 1st, flick the switch and go round the box a second time so effectively clockwise to go up the gears and anticlockwise to go down. The trailer axle is still there, just the wheels missing on the middle one.
We a Mercedes tractor unit drawing the beet for years in the eighties and ninetys and it had the same setup for the gears,everything upside down.It took me ages to get used to it. I found out after the lorry was gone from a mechanic that worked on them that it was a very simple job to change it.Just remove the two arms on top of the gearbox (that are attached to the gear lever) and rotate them 180 degrees. It would have saved me a lot of grief if I had known that.
I was chatting to one of the lads driving one of them yellow Hinos in the que in Mallow one day. The lorry he was driving had a fair bit of rust on the cab. I made some remark about it and his reply was “Ah this one is grand but the one I used to drive was so rusty that the windscreen fell clean out of it one day when it hit a pothole “
 
View attachment 61099 View attachment 61098
Getting another few tonnes out today. Leafs in good order and beet coming out better than expected. Ground conditions are better than expected too considering we had 60mm in one night last week.
Nice outfit there. Tops look really good. They’re starting to deteriorate around here had a lad on today he says his are disappearing fast. We’re close to the sea the salt air Knocks back the tops from now on
 
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Stafford’s had a lovely Bull nose Mercedes drawing beet . I often got a lift in it when I missed the school bus and it was a lot quieter than the two Stroke Commers or the Leylands .
 
Nice outfit there. Tops look really good. They’re starting to deteriorate around here had a lad on today he says his are disappearing fast. We’re close to the sea the salt air Knocks back the tops from now on
The sea is less than a half mile away so I know what you're saying about the salt air and Atlantic winds.
We got the armer in 1991 and it had 3 seasons done at that stage so it's doing it's 30th season.
 
a silly question but what are the wheels at the back of the harvester for ?
Not a silly question at all.. The wheels are designed to help carry the weight across the full width of the machine especially when in soft wet land. They are linked to the hydraulic circuit and lift in and out of work with the front end lifting gear. More or less hydraulic pressure can be applied as necessary. There is also a soil leveller incorporated too to level out a soil ridge left by the front turbines.
 
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