Britains Farm Toys

Dating back to the late 1800's when William Britain Jr. founded a toy company, the company soon became famous for their innovative process of building toy soldiers. At the time the company was known as W. Britain, but in 1907 the company changed its name to Britains Ltd. The company was controlled by the Britain family until 1984 when it was acquired and renamed Britains Petite and then acquired one more time by Ertl in 1997.

Over the years a number of high quality Britains farm toys were made including diecast tractors and plastic farm animals as well. Some of their more famous diecast tractors included some Massey Ferguson tractors as well as some Ford and John Deere toy tractors as well. Today some of the vintage Britains farm toys have become hot collectors items.

John Deere Diecast Tractors

Deere & Co. went into the tractor business in 1912 and the first tractor produced by John Deere was the “Dain” tractor, referring to the engineer, Joseph Dain who had designed it. There were only 50 to 100 Dain tractors produced and sold, the reasoning behind the limited production of the “Dain” tractor was Deere Company purchased the Waterloo Engine Company also in 1912. This acquisition resulted in the purchase of a factory in which to build tractors. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any diecasts models of the Dain tractor, however a kit does exist. John Deere then continued building Waterloo Boy tractors until 1924 as they were cheaper to build than the Dain. Waterloo Boy tractors were given high praise during WWI. They were sold in the United Kingdom where they were given credit due to its contribution to producing food during the war endeavor. The next tractor produced by Deere & Co. was the Model D which was introduced in late 1923 or early 1924.

Ertl has been the leader in the farm toy business since 1945 and in 1994 Ertl produced the John Deere Overtime tractor from the Classic Vehicles line. The diecast version of the Waterloo Boy tractors were done in 1/16 scale and these models were based on the 1915 model year tractors. Another popular Ertl John Deere diecast tractor was model 5010 which was introduced in 1962. This model was the first two-wheel drive over 100-HP at the PTO and which included a drawbar. This particular diecast tractor has great detail and craftsmanship and is sought after today.

John Deere tractor diecasts continue to be much-sought items. Novices and collectors alike enjoy collecting, trading and admiring these great John Deere tractors. For collectors, these truly are a reflection of American history and farming culture which changed the way farmers worked, giving them these new, efficient tools to help provide for their families and bring food to the table of American's across the country.

Photo Above: Images Copyrighted by Historylink101.com & found at Story of Farming

John Deere Diecast Tractors

Like the saying goes, "Nothing Runs Like a Deere". For over 100 years John Deere has been building high quality tractor and other farm equipment. It's no wonder that Diecast John Deere tractors are among the most collected of all diecast tractors. With companies like SpecCast and Ertl producing some high quality diecast tractors, you have many choices.

Check out these Diecast John Deere Tractors!

Diecast Massey-Harris Pony

The Massey-Harris Pony was a small tractor produced by Massey Harris in the late 1940's and early 1950's with a total of over 85,000 units produced.  At just 10h.p, the Massey Harris Pony was a small, but mighty tractor that found favor among farmers everywhere.  With an optional PTO it could be purchased for less than $1000 during its time in production.   Even today, though they are old, a Massey Harris Pony can be a handy little tractor to have, like the one pictured here that is used for cutting grass.
 
 

Diecast Massey-Harris Tractors

Impressive Toy Farm

You might enjoy this video that I found on YouTube of a pretty impressive Toy Farm.

Farm Toys For Sale

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