crawler

A haunting image with an equally haunting narrative. Sad as it was then, these deplorable conditions can still be found in many countries today.

Interesting, here in Sydney Australia, "to doss" is still in common usage, as in "can I doss here for the moment". Wonderful insight into this slice of history.

Going by the style of tracked tractor or crawler I suggest that the photo date could not be before the late 1920s. This style of tractor could be seen working well into post-WW2 years though. The bonnet and tracks guards look like it maybe a CLETRAC (Cleveland Tractor Co.) crawler. Jenny

The first single-cylinder Marshall tractor to be introduced was the Marshall 15/30 in 1930. It had an 8-inch (200 mm) bore with a 10-inch (250 mm) stroke (= 8.237 liters) and the maximum speed was 550 r.p.m., or 9.1666 revolutions per second. In 1932 the 15/30 was upgraded to become the Marshall 18/30. This model featured the same bore and stroke dimensions but the maximum r.p.m. was increased and the tractor's transmission was heavily modified. The Field-Marshall tractors were commonly used to pull agricultural machinery such as threshing machines from site to site. Once in place, the Field-Marshall would be used as the powerplant for the threshing machine, the tractor's belt pulley coupled by a large flat drive belt to the threshing machine's pulley. Field-Marshalls with tracks were produced under the Fowler brand name, being converted in the Fowler factory at Leeds. The first was designated the "Fowler VF", later ones were "VFA"s. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Marshall#:~:text=The%20first%...