Packed into a shed in Pigeon Valley are ageing tractors that were once the work horses of the land and this weekend they will roll onto the soil once more as they join the display for the Nelson Vintage Engine and Machinery two-day show.
The club by the same name has just celebrated its 50th anniversary and every Thursday night, keen members are at Higgins Heritage Park, restoring and maintaining machinery and engines that date as far back as the early 1900s. Dave Holmes has been a member for four decades, along with his son, David, and says the drawcard has always been about keeping the old machinery going. Most arrives in need of restoration and members find bits and pieces to put them back together again.
“You pick up enough bits over a year or two and it becomes an exhibition.”
Many of the tractors are still owned by families and individuals, including the R and P Tractor that is owned by the Quinney family and once worked the land. It was made in 1917 in the United States before finding its way to New Zealand, where Dave says it would have replaced draught horses and been hooked on to horse-drawn implements. Just three of the R and P tractors are restored in the world and all three are in the South Island. It will head out onto the grass this weekend for the exhibition that attracts up to 2,000 people each year.
As well as rides on a trailer behind a traction engine, there’s rides on an old railway jigger around the track, or a ride in an early 1040s Wadsworth school bus that operated in Tapawera.
