{"id":7874,"date":"2021-03-11T10:43:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T15:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7874"},"modified":"2021-03-11T10:55:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T15:55:23","slug":"episode-279-the-massey-ferguson-demolition-an-idea-dawns-in-my-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7874","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 279 THE MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION: AN IDEA DAWNS IN MY HEAD"},"content":{"rendered":"

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EPISODE 279    THE MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION:  AND IDEA DAWNS  IN MY HEAD<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 2021<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
THE demolition of the Massey-Harris \u2014 Massey-Ferguson Toronto factory was not an easy one day<\/div>\n
job.  It took months.  The factory sprawled  along King Street \u2026 many old red brick buildings blackened<\/div>\n
by time and the soot of passing coal fired locomotives.  Most of the buildings were utilitarian in design\u2026boxy,<\/div>\n
three stories high, loading ramps.  Unchanged and no doubt inefficient.  After saying all that, I loved<\/div>\n
them because  I felt close to the Massey family who contributed much to early Toronto after moving their tiny Newcastle factory <\/div>\n
to Toronto.  Thousands of Torontonians eventually worked for the Masseys.   Their company in the late 19th<\/div>\n
and early 20th century was exporting farm machines all over the world.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
For a short few months in the 1980\u2019s I even owned a Massey Harris 44 tractor.  Bought it for $500 at a  farm sale<\/div>\n
North west of Erin and drove it to our farm.  That was a great joy\u2026the trip on the big red machine which was<\/div>\n
by 1980 long past its glory days.  A drag tractor.  No hydraulics.  As obsolete as the Dodo.  \u201cNice tires, must<\/div>\n
be a good machine\u2026new paint\u2026new Massey Harris  logo.\u201d  I was fooled by appearance. The tractor had<\/div>\n
wheel baring problems, ignition problems which  were bad enough but the big problem was the turning <\/div>\n
radius.  Our farm is small with many obstructions.  Just to turn the Massey 44 around involved forward, then<\/div>\n
reverse, then forward, then reverse.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So I drove it down to Sherwood Hume’s farm auction and Sherwood nearly got me my money back.  Maybe<\/div>\n
lost a hundred dollars but that was not a loss because I had the joy of the overland trip to the farm<\/div>\n
on the summer day when first purchased.  Worth a $100 loss.<\/div>\n

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The Massey Harris machines had  a  good market in the British empire hence<\/div>\n
my colonial helmet above.  They also had a good market as  far away as Russia.<\/div>\n
But by 1980 the market had shrunk and the machines made in Toronto struggled to <\/div>\n
compete with John Deere and International Harvester.   By 1980 not much<\/div>\n
was being made in those Toronto factories.   <\/div>\n

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So the wreckers were called and arrived with their wrecking tools like the one<\/div>\n
pictured below. Small tool.<\/div>\n

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The teeth of this Excavator could chew the Massey factory into tiny bits of scrap\u2019…<\/div>\n
bricks, beams, and line shafts.<\/div>\n

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Line shafts?  What in hell\u2019s half acre is a line shaft, some readers might ask?<\/div>\n
Take a gander below.  A line shaft is a long iron cylinder with a series of pulleys<\/div>\n
of various sizes.  The big pulley\u2026the drive pulley\u2026I call it the bull wheel\u2026was<\/div>\n
pictured in Episode 274.   A huge wheel that was once the pinnacle of industrial <\/div>\n
technology.<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Memorize this line shaft.  It is part of my story.  It took me several weeks to have<\/div>\n
the courage to remove these pulleys because they were so high above the floor.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you mean, Alan, that you removed all these pulleys?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHard to believe, I know.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy would you do that\u2026sounds  insane?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLong story \u2026 which is why I am sending this Episode.\u201d (#279)<\/div>\n

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Most of the Massey buildings featured post and beam construction.  Hundreds of<\/div>\n
white pine pillars painted factory green and bashed all to hell by hand carts carrying<\/div>\n
cast iron pieces.<\/div>\n

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Eventually the factory building  became a jumble of mixed parentage as shown above.<\/div>\n

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I got in the habit of dropping into the demolition site daily between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m.<\/div>\n
before going to my teaching job at Parkdale Collegiate nearby.  At first I just watched<\/div>\n
and took pictures.  The demolition crew got used to seeing me and began to accept<\/div>\n
me as part of the demolition project.   Nice fellows.  They could have told me to bugger off<\/div>\n
but did not do that.<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
Then  one day a whole caravan of trucks and  trailer arrived. Painters,  carpenters,<\/div>\n
set dressers, actors,  directors, even a movable cafeteria.   Now why would that happen?<\/div>\n
The answer was  simple.  Movie makers like demolition sites for certain movies.<\/div>\n
Old  demolition sites are really good for the making of period movies  In this <\/div>\n
case it seemed to be a special 19th century set that was  desired.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Something clicked in my head.  Maybe the Massey factory could have another life.<\/div>\n
If the movie people like this stuff so much then maybe I can help them out\u2026for<\/div>\n
a price.   Just suppose I start to rescue bits an pieces of 19th century technology.<\/div>\n
And let the movie people know what I have rescued.  Future movies may want<\/div>\n
me as much as a bear wants honey.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Where should I start?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cFirst thing,\u201d said the foreman, \u201cyou must have a hard hat\u2026not white one<\/div>\n
because white hats are for the big shots\u2026and you need  steel toed boots<\/div>\n
then there will be no problem.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Then, where should I start, I thought.  The answer came quick enough.<\/div>\n
Start with the line shafts.  Remember what your dad said about those<\/div>\n
line shafts  when he first started work back in the 1920\u2019s making pneumatic<\/div>\n
tires for the car industry?   Remember how a couple of guys  died<\/div>\n
on those line shafts.   That is  where to start.  Puts a little tension in the job.<\/div>\n
Danger stuff.   Like any good  story.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NEXT EPISODE:  GETTING THE LINE SHAFT PULLEYS REMOVED<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
arch 2021<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
POST SCRIPT<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
THINKING BACK on those days at the Massey Factory I have one regret.<\/div>\n
Regret?   Yes.  I should have got all the fellows and girls I worked with\u2026the<\/div>\n
teachers at Parkdale C.I\u2026should have got them down to help me with<\/div>\n
the line shafts.  Regret that I was so selfish keeping all the adventures to<\/div>\n
myself.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NOTE the hole in the brick wall, three stories up.  That hole and<\/div>\n
the window beside it will have future meaning.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
I know some of my staff members are missing here\u2026sorry about that.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 279    THE MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION:  AND IDEA DAWNS  IN MY HEAD alan skeoch March 2021 THE demolition of the Massey-Harris \u2014 Massey-Ferguson Toronto factory was not an easy one day job.  It took months.  The factory sprawled  along King Street \u2026 many old red brick buildings blackened by time and the soot of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}