The History of IH Doncaster
The Doncaster factory at Wheatley Hall was purchased from Doncaster Corporation in 1936, but with the onset of war it was requisitioned by the govenment for making of munitions. IH bought Wheatley Hall with the intention of manufacturing agricultural equipment.
Reopened by IH in 1946, it started to produce service parts for machines manufactured in the USA, Canada, and Europe.
Production was expanded, and in September 1949, the Farmall M, the first British made IH tractor, came off the assembly line. This first tractor was built using parts imported from the U.S. On the 30th June 1951 the first truly British built tractor, a Farmall M was completed and driven from the line.
In 1952 the first British built first diesel tractor was introduced into the product range, known as the Farmall BMD.
The factory soon began to make other industrial and crawler tractors as well as farm implements. These implements included balers, bale loaders, power mowers, disc harrows, and manure spreaders.
In 1954 the BWD-6 was launched, a diesel version of the W Series tractors. Using the same 50 hp diesel as the Farmall BMD.
Years built 1954 until 1958
In 1957 the B-450 was launched. The International McCormick Farmall B450 Tractor was a re-styled version of the BWD 6. The engine was a four cylinder indirect injection diesel unit of 55 h.p. The transmission was via a five forward and one reverse gearbox. Standard features were differential lock and self-energising disc brakes. An engine mounted pump provided the live category II hydraulic system with thin oil from a separate reservoir which gave all-weather response. The B450 was fitted with a two-stage response control designed to improve traction in hard-going conditions. The first two thirds of movement with the control lever progressively transferred implement weight on to the tractor and the final third was used to raise it from work.
The 1959 price for the B450 was £795 plus £90 for the optional power take-off and hydraulic linkage.
In 1964 The B-614 was launched. Effectively a development of the B-450, it was fitted with the BD281 engine, rated as 62.5 H.P. The transmission changed from 5 Forward to 8 Forward and 2 Reverse Gears. The B-614 was fitted with a Diff-lock, independant ‘live’ hydraulic system.
In 1969 The 634 was launched. A great development of the B-614 fitted with lower link sensing draught control, it was a very complete tractor. The engine was still the BD281 rated as 66 hp, this still had the long stroke, hang on torque that had been a common factor of all of the British built IH’s since the BMD.
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