For Ken and Pappy (and any/all others)

wcwbf said:
an amusement park in New Jersey dedicated to those loving construction equipment!

https://www.diggerlandusa.com/
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If only old history such as this could talk, the stories it could tell.

The hands that operated it (ghosts of the past)... the ground it moved and plowed, the generations of families that owned it.

I always find it so interesting to think about, but what I really love is how time embraces it. The rust, the wear, the weathered look. Still sitting proud after all these years.
 

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Aunt Bea said:
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This is so great! Wow, 1911!

I'm lost for words... I thought the piece of machinery that I posted required an engine... truly believed it was motorized originally, so now knowing that it was operated strictly on horse-power, is even more amazing, and funny, too! Funny that I thought it was motorized.

It's so big, it would be so heavy, those poor horses. The one I took a picture of looks much larger in real life than the one shown in the ad.

Really appreciate you finding this for me, Aunt Bea!

Can't wait to show dear husband.
 
Ken N Tx said:
Thanks for the picture and info.💓..About 10 years ago the prices for scrap metals was high and a lot of these old machines were sent to the scrap yards!!! :(
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What a shame.

I'm glad the people who have this on their property hung onto it. We drive by it all the time and it always has a way of making me feel like I've been transported back in time.

Ken. To think I thought it was motorized still has me chuckling away this morning. :giggle:
 
I knew what it was because the little town where I was born had one parked in front of the highway department garage as an ornament.

It was one that my great uncle used when he worked for the highway department. After the horses retired they pulled it with a truck or farm tractor until it was finally retired. It sat behind the highway garage for many years until it was rediscovered and painted.

One day it disappeared from in front of the garage and no one had a good explanation of what happened to it just a lot of whispers and winks.

Ken is right about the scrap value of these old items. Before zoning laws went into effect many farmers kept private junkyards and every year or two when scrap was high a buyer would come through the area and cut a deal to buy the scrap machinery and haul it away.

Many antique items were also lost to the scrap drives during WWII. The bells in our city haul were taken down and donated to one of those scrap drives. It was a different time when people felt a duty and a responsibility to their country.
 
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Aunt Bea said:
I knew what it was because the little town where I was born had one parked in front of the highway department garage as an ornament.

It was one that my great uncle used when he worked for the highway department. After the horses retired they pulled it with a truck or farm tractor until it was finally retired. It sat behind the highway garage for many years until it was rediscovered and painted.

One day it disappeared from in front of the garage and no one had a good explanation of what happened to it just a lot of whispers and winks.

Ken is right about the scrap value of these old items. Before zoning laws went into effect many farmers kept private junkyards and every year or two when scrap was high a buyer would come through the area and cut a deal to buy the scrap machinery and haul it away.

Many antique items were also lost during the scrap drives during WWII. The bells in our city haul were taken down and donated to one of those scrap drives. It was a different time when people felt a duty and a responsibility to their country.
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Wonderful story, except for the part about antiques and bells in the city being lost.

I was never much for rusty old junk when I was younger, but as I age I sure have an appreciation for stuff like this. Painting and restoring something along the lines of a grader like this would be nice, but there's just something about seeing it in it's natural, raw weathered state that calls out to me.
 
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