We're getting read for our 2025 Tractor Spare Parts Calendar, and we would love your support, and your favourite photos of your tractors!
It is turning into a very cold and wet summer here in the beautiful Peak District, despite
tongue in cheek reports (well hopefully tongue-in-cheek anyway) on social media that this is
going to turn out to be the warmest June on record, as May was, despite not feeling very
warm.
June should be a time for getting your old Nuffield tractor out of the shed and giving it some
good hard work to keep the engine, clutch, brakes and hydraulics working properly. It is
great to see these old vintage British-built tractors working in the fields in the summer and
earning their keep. However, this year, it may not be the case for so many. With such little
time to cut the grass and gather it in, in between showers, no wonder a lot of the more
modern larger tractors are being deployed this year – there just is not the time between the
rain showers for the old machinery.
It is a strange year, and with no signs of consistent dry days to allow haymaking and I think
that a lot of wrapped bales will be made. These wrapped bales are great, and we use them
ourselves for our Highland cattle, but they are not great for allowing your Leyland tractor to
have a job in the summer.
Here at Tractor Spare Parts Ltd we have numerous Nuffield, Leyland and Marshall tractors
that we work on our smallholding, and Andy’s Dad, Michael, uses Marshall tractors on his
farm where he breeds Aberdeen Angus cattle. Michael has a Class Quadrant baler and he
couples this with the Marshall 100. This Marshall 100 is actually fuelled to be a Marshall 125
and this tractor copes well with this baler, but round balers need a larger tractor outside the
range of the Nuffield, Leyland and Marshall marques.
Don’t get me wrong, there are always jobs that can be done, and it is great to use these
older tractors. For example, we use our Leyland 472 as our workhorse tractor around the
farm. It pulls the trailer that we are using for our house renovation, it gets attached to the log-
splitter for making fire wood for the winter and it also goes onto the fields when a 4 wheel
drive tractor is needed because it is too wet (so that will be the past 18 months then!). Our
BMC Mini tractor has a link-box on the back and is used to clean up sticks and fetch and
carry things. This BMC Mini tractor also has a small topper on the back. Our Nuffield
Universal 3 tractor is a tractor that has been through our workshop and is fully restored, so
this tractor is not worked hard doing mucky work, but is more than happy to come out for a
drive around. The Nuffield Universal 3 will be going to our village wakes service on the 23 rd
June as a display. It has also attended the local agricultural show, Manifold Show, which this
year will be held on Saturday 10 th August. https://manifoldvalleyshow.co.uk/ The Leyland 285
is a great vehicle for collecting in the bales, and it is good to give it a bit of work. The other
tractors in our collection have their own jobs too, but we leave the grass harvesting up to the
Marshall 954 XL and the Marshall 100.
In years gone by we used a convoy of Leyland and Marshall tractors to collect bales from the
fields, as this picture below shows. Here we have our Leyland 472, Leyland 285 and our
Marshall 954XL ready to receive their goods. What a sight that was!
So while it may not be shaping up for a summer of hard work for these vintage tractors, and
there may be more wrapped bales than hay bales this year (fingers crossed, it is not too late
to change its mind), there are still jobs that these vintage machines can do, and we should
work them.
But why do we need your help?
I started this blog by saying that we needed your help, and me complaining yet again about
the weather, and telling you what we normally do with our tractors doesn’t really explain this.
Well, the long and short of it is that the weather has been so miserable that I have forgotten
that it is early summer already. Normally by this time I have been inundated with pictures of
Nuffield, Leyland and Marshall tractors who have been out doing all sorts of things; pictures
that I can use for the Tractor Spare Parts Ltd calendar.
What type of pictures do we need?
For those of you who do not know we create an A4 calendar every year, and each month
has a picture of a Nuffield, Leyland or Marshall tractor on it (although I am not against boats
or any other vehicle with a BMC or Leyland engine in it). These calendars are available to
purchase on our Merchandise page.
We started doing these calendars with our own pictures of our own tractors, but it soon gets
very boring seeing the same 15 tractors over and over again, so I ask for customers to send
in high resolution pictures of their tractors. These high-resolution pictures can be taken with
a phone as long as they are good enough quality – I really want these pictures to print nicely
to showcase your tractor.
Below is a mock-up of the 2023 calendar, showing the front cover and the 12 pictures I
chose, and what each individual month looks like. It should give you an idea of the types of
pictures I have used in the past.
I have always fancied doing a calendar one year with pictures taken from the drivers seat of
tractors. So, pictures showing the landscape from the drivers view point. So feel free to send
in some pictures like this as if I collect enough I may well include these.
Below are some more examples of previous years calendar pictures, so that you can see the
type of pictures that have been included in previous years.
These pictures are offered to me for free use on my calendar, and in return there is the
prestige of being in the Tractor Spare Parts Ltd calendar and I will also send you a free
calendar with my thanks. You will also have the knowledge that the picture of your tractor will
adorn kitchens and workshops across the globe.
There are just a few things that I look for in a picture, and I have put them below:
- The pictures work best of they are in landscape orientation rather than portrait. This
works well with the page layout. - I prefer not to have people in the pictures, although if it is a working shot then of course this is unavoidable. I do not want people to be the main focus of the picture.
- I like a nice background to the picture. At the end of the day a lot of our customers have these calendars as their main household calendars so all members of the family have to enjoy the pictures, not just the tractor enthusiast!
- I like photographs from all seasons and from all over the world. I try to match the photographs loosely to the month that they would have been taken in.
- I like photos of tractors doing a range of work or in a range of landscapes. Being based in the Peak District there is a limit to the types of activities we do. We love to see arable farming, forestry work, snow pictures etc. I even like a picture of a tractor in a shed or workshop, so don’t rule these out because they are not landscape pictures; I have put these pictures in before if they have caught my eye.
- I will remove number plates from the tractors before I send the pictures to print, so that the tractors are not identifiable (unless you have something very distinguishing on your tractor).
- I only want pictures of Nuffield, Leyland or Marshall tractors. Last year I was sent so many pictures of other brands of tractor, and while they were fantastic pictures and would have made a wonderful calendar, Tractor Spare Parts Ltd specialises in Nuffield, Leyland and Marshall tractors, so that is what I want to showcase in my calendar. I would make an exception for a boat or a truck that had a BMC or Leyland engine in it, as we sell a lot of marinized parts.
- The pictures must be high enough resolution to print on the top half of an A3 sheet of paper. Occasionally I have had really nice pictures that are poor quality and I have had to no use them as a result.
So, I would appreciate any picture that you would like to put forward for the Tractor
Spare Parts Ltd 2025 calendar to be send to me. The best way to send a high-resolution
picture is by email or We Transfer. My email address is sales@tractorspareparts.co.uk .
WeTransfer is a website that will allow you to send large files to me by sending a link to
my email address and I follow the link to download the picture. You can find the
WeTransfer website here https://wetransfer.com/
Tractor Spare Parts Ltd needs your help. Let’s fill the 2025 Tractor Spare Parts calendar
with great pictures.
