NEAT club members enjoy breakfast tractor ride to Wellesley

Staff at the Schmidtsville Family Restaurant in Wellesley were thanked by members of the North Easthope Antique Tractor Club following the group’s annual breakfast visit. From left are Lavina Sauder, Kristy Good, Sydney Gilchrist, restaurant owner Miriam Kuepfer, Linda Jantzi and NEAT member Keith Schmidt. In the back are Wayne Gerber seated on the tractor, Dave Neeb and Dwayne Snider. In front is Riley Esbaugh, described as Kuepfer’s honorary grandson. The Allis-Chalmers D-15 Series II tractor pictured will be auctioned at the May 30 Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg. Gary West photo

By Gary West

Members of the North Easthope Antique Tractor Club (NEAT) took to the back roads of Perth and Waterloo counties last week for another one of their popular summer breakfast excursions.

Driving tractors that were once common sights on local farms throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, club members travelled to the Schmidtsville Family Restaurant in Wellesley for breakfast and fellowship.

The club continues to attract new members each year and welcomes antique-tractor enthusiasts from across Perth, Waterloo and Oxford counties to join its weekly summer outings.

Among the newer members is Harold Bruulsema, who proudly drove his 45-horsepower Farmall M tractor to the breakfast gathering.

The Farmall M was one of the most popular tractors found on local farms during the 1950s and 1960s and became well known for its reliability and versatility.

Bruulsema grew up on a farm near Carluke, near Hamilton, before later spending his working years in St. Marys as an engineer at the St. Marys cement plant.

He said the drive from his home between Gadshill and Rostock to Wellesley offered an enjoyable tour through much of North Easthope Township’s countryside.

The Farmall M was sold during the same era as the International Harvester W-6 tractor, and both models were commonly used on farms to power threshing machines and hammer mills using belt pulleys to prepare livestock feed.

Club members also took time to thank the staff at the Schmidtsville Family Restaurant for hosting the annual breakfast stop.

The antique tractors parked outside the restaurant drew plenty of attention from passing motorists and local residents, continuing a tradition that celebrates the region’s rich agricultural history and the machinery that once powered family farms across southwestern Ontario.