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Thursday, 18 September 2025

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The Old Machinery Magazine

The Standard Cream Separator Engine

The Old Machinery Magazine

I think it would be fair to say that with the vast majority of stationary engines that we see in preservation were intended to be used as a multipurpose prime-mover capable of performing a wide array of duties. However, there were a small number of...

By The TOMM Team

Foden Wagons on the Western Front WWI

In May 1918, five Australian Army Corps, under the total command of Lieutenant General John Monash as GOC, made history as the Australian Imperial Forces went in to action to achieve some of its greatest victories south of the Somme River, in the...

By The TOMM Team

Australian Moffat-Virtue Engine

Early in the year 2016, my wife Lynne and I took collection of a shipping crate containing a Moffat Virtue MV3 engine and pump which my good friend in Australia, Ken Cummings, had sent to me as a 70th birthday present. This engine, Serial Number...

By The TOMM Team

Pitfalls of the 1900s Working Man

Those of us who ‘play’ with our old machinery, know full well we must always treat it with much respect as, without a doubt, if we do not, it will come back and bite us. Safety is paramount on the rally grounds at today’s vintage events...

By The TOMM Team

Lives of the Engineers - Humble & Nicholson

Geelong was Victoria’s second important port city. It also served as the gateway to Victoria’s prosperous western agricultural district. To serve that district, the engineering works of William Humble was founded in 1861. William Humble was born...

By The TOMM Team

The Southern Sky Down at Ulidia

Not many years later on 8th November 1935, Kingsford Smith and co-pilot, John Thompson (Tommy) Pethybridge disappeared over the Andaman Sea during their attempt in the Lady Southern Cross to break the England-Australia speed record. Though an...

By The TOMM Team

The Toorak Cable Train Engine House

One of the more recent losses to Melbourne’s industrial heritage was the Toorak cable tram engine house on the north-west corner of Toorak Road and Chapel Street, South Yarra. In its place will rise yet another tower of apartments (this one 50...

By The TOMM Team

1918 Moline Plough Tractor

Bryan Hamilton, of Koorlong, a small town to the west of Mildura, Victoria, is a member of the Tractor Restoration & Appreciation Club Sunraysia (TRACS), and has recently completed the refurbishment of his unusual looking tractor - a 1918 Moline...

By The TOMM Team

The Little Grey Fergie Goes Red for the South Pole

The world suffered an immeasurable loss with the passing of Sir Edmund Hillary on 11th January, 2008, and at the time, Australian journalists paid amazing tributes to this great man through television, press, and radio. Numerous tributes referred to...

By The TOMM Team

The All British Winget 42 Tractor

I read with interest Hugh Cawdell’s article in issue #195 with regards to the Winget tractor, as manufactured under license by Pederick Engineering. I must admit that I was not aware of Winget tractors being built in Australia so I thought the...

By The TOMM Team

Stock Crawler Restoration

Stock Crawler tractors were manufactured in Germany in the early 1920s following the successful Motor Plough made by the Stock-Motorpflug Ag earlier in the1900s. This tractor is a front wheel drive crawler with clutch and brake steering. It is...

By The TOMM Team

The Mor-Lite Generating Plant

Patrick Knight successfully identified my engine in issue #155 page 12 and, since then, I have been searching for any further information on these generating plants. These units first appeared around 1912 and were phased out by 1920 with the company...

By The TOMM Team

The Atkinson Cycle Engine

Being more of an historian than a hands-on preservationist, I have always been fascinated by the various designs of internal combustion conceived in the early days of the internal combustion engine. This is something you will no doubt have noticed...

By The TOMM Team

98cc Villers Midget

Whilst photographing a Villiers Mk. I Midget for this article, I started to clean the area where the prefix and serial number are stamped, thinking it was a pre-War engine. It has the prefix CYZ and Serial No. 37594. I then noticed what looked to be...

By The TOMM Team

Fourth Generation Technology - 1920 International Harvester Titan 10-20 Tractor

When I first see a piece of vintage machinery at a show or in a museum, I initially react to it in terms of its appearance. Maybe it is beautifully restored, or alternatively, it might be proudly wearing the rust and patina of age. Maybe it is very...

By The TOMM Team

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