Fond memories of the good old M

They still have the old M! I was stunned to find the 1950 Farmall M, the first tractor I ever drove as a summer employee at what is now Notchview Reservation in the small Massachusetts town of Windsor, east of Pittsfield. 

The tractor is in an equipment shed off in the woods. Notchview is the old Arthur and Helen Budd estate, bequeathed to the venerable Massachusetts land conservation organization The Trustees of Reservations in 1965. The same organization owns Bartholomew’s Cobble and the Col. John Ashley House in Sheffield, Mass., and 109 other properties.

I grew up on the Windsor estate. Dad was outdoors foreman and he stayed on as superintendent with The Trustees. I drove the tractor summers to cut pastures and hayfields. 

I spent many an hour bouncing up and down on the M’s metal seat. Col. Budd believed in the International Harvester brand and had two IH tractors, three trucks, one hay baler so big it had its own engine and one bulldozer. 

As I operated the tractor, I rousted quite a bit of wildlife — rabbits and partridges and sometimes a fawn. 

I haven’t lived in Windsor since 1977. I figured the good old M, the most reliable machine you can imagine, had bit the dust. Nope. It probably just needs a fresh battery to start right up. Its recent use has been as a power source for a wood planer. I’m sure it would appreciate a run outdoors to clear its lungs. 

I have less kind things to say about the John Deere, which I also drove one season. Old Johnny Popper, with its two-cylinder engine, was powerful enough for the task. But it had a hand clutch. And a hand lever to raise the mower bar.

Imagine, if you will, trying to navigate a tight turn with that tractor, pulling back the clutch lever to slow down, raising the cutterbar handle with the right hand, dancing on the brake with one foot and trying to steer with the chin. Oh, and trying to duck beneath a tree branch.

The third tractor was something of a luxury. It was another IH, a Model 707, which for the first time (for me) had a hydraulic three-point hitch to raise and lower the sickle bar. It also had a hydraulic fork on the front, which was convenient for nudging fallen trees out of the way. It had a foot clutch. And best of all, it had a padded seat and real fenders.

The writer will save his bulldozer adventure for another time.