Innovative County cutters in the 1970s

Mike Gormley recounts the story of how a County 4000/4 tractor was modified for grass-cutting motorway embankments back in the 1970s.

Images: Mike Gormley Collection

While the County tractor equal-wheelers are perhaps best known for being superb at pulling substantial soil engaging implements they have, of course, been used successfully for many other applications over the years.

Back in the early 1970s, when I was a young and enthusiastic member of the County sales team, I always kept an eye out for unusual opportunities that might make a sale, which led to some interesting projects, both above and below ground.

In those days I lived in Wiltshire and the M4 motorway was one of my routes to my area of southern England. It was also my route to London’s Heathrow airport, which I used frequently when heading off overseas on County business. While using the motorway I’d noticed that the grass on the often extensive and steep embankments on either side of the road was typically only partly cut.

Large sections in the middle had been left, which got me thinking that ‘we’ could get on there and cut that with County machines. So, one day I took it upon myself to pay a visit to the Berkshire Council’s M4 service depot, which was based near Reading. I got an appointment to see the manager in charge of grass cutting and, within minutes, we were engaged in a conversation about the problems associated with cutting grass on embankments. I quickly got a feel for the issues the task presented, and what would be required to get the job done.

I well recall driving away after that meeting feeling quite pleased with myself that the hunch I’d had based on casual observations could well result in a project for County. While I had my own ideas about what the best solution might be, it was clear that serious input from my colleagues at Fleet was called for. So I arranged a meeting with David Tapp at County HQ, as he really was the ‘go to’ person for more unusual projects.

With David being the company’s engineering liaison director, it fell on him to consider these sorts of issue and to suggest an engineering solution that would enable County to solve problems for the client. We talked through the needs and, of course, he visualised all the challenges with ease. The council required a cost-effective and safe way to get the grass on the steep banks cut and kept tidy.

The plan we formulated involved using a County 4000/4, as that model’s lower power would be perfect, although we needed to maximise stability to make it safe to use on the slopes. To be practical, the tractor would need to be able to traverse the embankments as well as go straight up and down, so a low centre of gravity was essential. Therefore, small-diameter wheels provided the way forward, combined with the widest possible track.

Of course, County already had a reputation for using different wheel and tyre sizes, and working with these variables was one of David’s specialities. Initially, to try out the concept, a set-up incorporating the County Dual Wheel Cones and dualled front wheels was used, with the more easily obtained tyres and rims. These proved the idea, but dual fronts didn’t really help with stability so, as ground clearance wasn’t a particular requirement, we opted to go lower using smaller wheels.

However, there was nothing in the ‘normal’ inventory to suit, so David went ‘tyre shopping’, in search of suitable sizes for an unequal front and rear set-up that were compatible – it was crucial to achieve the correct ratio between front and back. With the County small front-wheel drive system there was a little leeway on this as the front axle could be disengaged for use on hard surfaces. Ideally the wheels would match, but some ‘lead’ on the front wheels was acceptable. 

We also needed to ‘dual’ the wheels – especially the rears – to get as much stability as possible. Unfortunately, The County Dual Wheel Cones were too large to use, so we had to search for another dual-wheel system that was small and strong enough for the purpose. In time David sourced a suitable tyre combination and a dual-wheel system that would do the job, and I returned to the council with representatives of the local dealership, Wilders of Reading.

The council was keen on the idea but, understandably, wanted to see a convincing demonstration before committing to the project. County was confident, too, and set about getting a set of tyres and wheels fitted to the in-house demo 4000/4. When all was set, we fixed up a live demo on the M4. Of course, in those days health and safety wasn’t the issue it is now, and a group of us simply went to the agreed location, stopped on the hard shoulder and got on with the job. Nowadays I imagine that the whole motorway would have to be closed!

The project triggered plenty of interest among my colleagues, and more or less the full team of sales field staff gathered on the day to watch. John Hull was in the less-than-easy-to-sit-in ‘hot seat’ and the 4000/4 didn’t let us down. It did a superb job which, although we were confident that it would, was a relief for all concerned considering the amount of work and expense the company had invested in the pitch.

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing and one issue that arose concerned the driver’s seating position, and the angles that were encountered. So we devised a plan to create a tilting seat. Another concern related to the risk to passing traffic if one of the dual wheels should break free, which was a fair point. In fact, one did come off so, after that, the second wheels were secured by a chain, as a ‘just in case’ measure.

The upshot of all this was that the company secured an order for three, suitably-modified County 4000/4s and it always gave me a great deal of pride whenever I saw those machines working so effectively on the M4 embankments as I passed by. This conversion also found its way into County history as one of the more unusual 4000/4 set-ups and now, more than 50 years later, we’re still talking about them!

This feature comes from the latest issue of Tractor & Machinery, and you can get a money-saving subscription to this magazine simply by clicking HERE