By Cindy Ladage

 GREENVILLE, Ill. – Heritage Days at Greenville’s American Farm Heritage Museum and Grounds was a big event featuring the Massey Collectors of Illinois, and the Tempered Tracks Rustic Rails Crawler Show. The event took place July 29-31. This event also included steam engines, and several other brands of antique tractors.

Onsite there was the Lil’ Red Barn display as well as Hill’s Fort, a military display, and train rides, music, food and a flea market. The Massey folks were set up with a nice Massey Collection. Tom Jansen had his beautiful historic Massey on hand. Another rare Massey was a 1948 Massey Harris 20 Special roller tractor owned by Ron Albers, of Posey, Ill.

Mike Timmons, who oversees the crawler show, was delighted with his turnout. “We have 40 crawlers today, and that is a good start with the bad weather we have had.”

Timmons had a great Midwest and beyond representation. “We have owners from the states of New Jersey, Ohio, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa.”

Many of the crawlers were out working in an area set aside for a bit of tractor fun. “Several will be plowing, pushing dirt, pulling graders and dirt pans. A Caterpillar RD9 this afternoon will be pulling an 8-bottom plow.”

There were a variety of early crawlers at the show. One was a rare John Deere General Purpose Orchard Lindeman crawler. “It just had the citrus fenders built for it. It belongs to Steve Walters from New Jersey,” Timmons said.

One of the crawlers is from Europe, the Playtpus. There were Fordson conversions moved from wheels to tracks, and seven BO Lindemans in the crawler mix. There was also a Bates steel mule, a John Deere 430 LP hardnose crawler and a Terra Trac G456 that is serial number 1. John Tichenor had his Oliver Hart Parr I29, which is one of one known tractor conversion, along with his Case Model C Trackson Conversion. There was also a cute little Lennox Kitty track that is made by the same company that makes Lennox heating and air conditioners.

The rare Platypus crawler belonged to Mike Neiner, of Manteno, Ill. “My Platypus 30 was made in England in 1954 or 1955,” he said. “They made it in both a wide and narrow gauge, and this one was a narrow gauge. It was probably made for vineyards, and it has a 4-cylinder diesel engine.”

Neiner added that he isn’t sure, but a gentleman made up a sign saying that there were 444 of these made. He found his European crawler in the United States. “I bought it from a family in Ohio.”

Besides the Platypus, Neiner had a cool 1944 HG crawler. “It has orchard or citrus fenders for either orange, or apple orchards. These were so the cleats didn’t pull the trees down. The tractor is easy to drive, but there are no brake pedals.”

When asked how he got started with the crawlers, he said, “I am a farm boy, I grew up putting in drain ditches and golf course ponds. Dad and I put in a stone quarry, and I was running heavy equipment.”

He was exposed to machinery at an early age. Neiner added, “My grandpa introduced me to it. As a kid, my grandpa had a 360 Altman Taylor, and 65 horse Case steam engine. It ran a sawmill. We belonged to the Will County Thresherman.”

While his father wasn’t into the hobby, he practiced it with his grandfather and when he had grandchildren, Neiner decided he wanted a small crawler and got back into the hobby. “Now,” he said, “I don’t know how many I have.”

He laughed and added something he heard someone say about the number of crawlers in his sheds. “I have more than some, and less than others.”

Neiner likes the antique tractor hobby because, he said, “I meet a lot of good people. I bought my first crawler from Mike Timmons (called aptly, Crawler Mike).”

John Tichner, a Coles County Ill., resident, said that his Oliver Hart Parr I29, a one-of-a-kind tractor conversion, came from north of Portage, Wis. He learned about it at the LeSueur Swap Meet. “A guy described it to me, and two weeks later called me back. We made a deal. He said it was used in the cranberry bogs. I brought it home and worked on it.”

The Case Model C Trackson Conversion that Tichner owns came from the Erdle sale in New York. “I bought this for Jim Esbenshade. It has never left, so I guess it’s half mine,” he mused. “I think there are only five or six in the U.S.”

Not far from those crawlers, Karl Jansen, of Jansen Brothers Garage in Sigle, Ill., had a rare Bean crawler. The crawler was made by the Bean Spray Co. “It’s mostly made for California, and out west for the orchards,” Jansen said. “It is a heck of a ride.”

The Bean crawler, he explained, “Is a single track with two wheels that swivel in the middle. I think there are less than 10.”

Of those, he knows of two in California in museums, and one in Michigan, and he added a friend just purchased one. Jansen’s Bean crawler was in this great shape when he purchased it. He added, “It’s a 1919, with a 1915-1916 patent.”

The Bean Sprayer crawler appears to have two wheels to navigate, but Jansen pointed out that the top is the steering wheel, and the bottom is the clutch.

These are a few of the crawlers that came to Greenville for the Tempered Tracks Rustic Rails Crawler Show. Lots of crawlers worked in the dirt, and the event was a fun day for the men and women running the machines and those that came to watch them.