Don't see this very often - Waterloo Boy

David from Kansas · Sep 27, 2009

Just workin' away like it's no big deal. Fairview, OK Saturday.

cj in wisconsin · Sep 28, 2009

I believe in running them as they were meant to be run. I love seeing the old girls working and not just trailer queens!

Bill(Wis) · Sep 28, 2009

Looks to be about a 15' or so springtooth behind and doing as nice a job as any modern day tractor although I can't help but think it's another hangar queen at some sort of show given the cars parked in the background and the size of the field is more like a garden plot than most of the fields I've seen in Oklahoma. I wouldn't even consider doing any serious farming with a machine like that because of the open gearing and scarcity of parts. Better to keep it for display and an occasional "just for show" field demonstration which I suspect is exactly what's going on.

big fred · Sep 28, 2009

Good thing he got there before they decided to put manure on the "field". ;o)

Anonymous-0 · Sep 28, 2009

Nice dry level ground. I would like to see what it could do under real world conditions-wet, hilly, steep ground

It deserves it's retirement I guess.

IA Leo · Sep 28, 2009

Thanks for the photo! I worked in the factory on the banks of the Cedar River 40 years after the WB was built. The WB design came from the original Froelich Bros build, didn't it? An older JD engineer told me that they had a hard time competing against Henry Fords Fordson at $500 each when the WB was selling at $1200. Grandfather had two Fordsons in 1919, neither one very good according to my father. Leonard

LEH · Sep 28, 2009

Yes, I agree!! Nice to see & hear one working !! Wish I had been there !! All of the pre 1925 tractors are in a class of their own. Sad to see that so few are left. My 1921 Waterloo Boy 5 hp K engine is as close as I will ever get to owning a W-B.

F-350 · Sep 28, 2009

Its at a show.

Tom N OK · Sep 28, 2009

Hi David
Didn't make it to the show this year. The WB looks like the same one they had there last year
but he couldn't get it to run. Would of liked to of heard it.

Tom

David from Kansas · Sep 28, 2009

That nice red soil they have there is different than most as even though the soil was real moist, it doesn't stick to the tires and wheels like black dirt. That was in the corner of probably about a 10 acre field which had been plowed by old tractors and plows the day before. I even took my '51 JD AR and plowed a round just to see if it would pull a 2-16, I think it was a model 52 JD plow. They grow wheat and corn on the fields for use at the show. The wheat in bound into bundles and then threshed at the show. Corn is picked and then shelled at the show. A few years ago the show was always held in July and it was nice to be able to watch the pull type combines and the binders at work. They also do a house moving demo with a Case steam engine. This pic was taken last year.

PeterE · Sep 28, 2009

Yes, the Fordson hurt the Waterloo Boy (and everybody else) badly. There were over 5,000 WBs sold in 1920, and less than 80 sold the next year.

This is one of the biggest reasons that Deere stuck with a two-cylinder engine. The original model D engine was very similar to the late Waterloo Boy. Deere engineers at the time knew the future lay in four-cylinder engines, but management told them there was no money to research a new design, so they stuck with doing the best they could on two.

Bill(Wis) · Sep 28, 2009

That's what I thought was going on. Nice to see that. What I meant was I would hate to see someone wear a tractor like that out doing regular farm work when there are so few of them left. When they're gone they're gone.

Lesformore · Sep 28, 2009

The Western Development Museum where I do some voluntering has this one. It only gets out on parade once a year. This is me driving it in the Parade of Power a few years ago.

Don't see this very often - Waterloo Boy

David from Kansas

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big fred

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