New McCormick Tractor for Hadlow College
10/10/07

Students taking any one of a number of land-based industry training courses at Hadlow College, the rural skills centre near Tonbridge, Kent, are getting behind the wheel of a new tractor to learn how properly to use such machines.

Machinery lecturer Andy Hall (second from left) receives the keys to Hadlow College’s new McCormick CX105 XtraShift tractor from Marcus Glover of Kent dealer LandTecnics, with Hadlow technician Graham Simpson (right) and McCormick area manager David Redman.

The college has taken delivery of a McCormick CX105 XtraShift, which lecturers will use for instruction and training on efficient operation and safe driving practices.

The McCormick was chosen by the college’s Machinery Department as representative of the sort of tractor students are likely to operate in farming and other rural businesses.

“We like to have a mix of tractors to give students experience of different makes and models,” explains Andy Hall, head of Hadlow’s machinery department. “The McCormick is representative of a good general-purpose tractor and we like its down-to-earth, uncomplicated specification.”

Another good reason for choosing the CX105 is that it is one of the most popular tractors of its size and power, adds Marcus Glover of LandTecnics, the McCormick retail sales and service dealer for Kent, based at Wrotham Heath near Maidstone.

“It’s the best-selling McCormick model in Britain so there’s a good chance that the Hadlow students will find themselves driving one in their future careers,” he explains.

The Perkins 1100-series engined CX105 is the most powerful of four models in the range, which spans 84hp to 102hp. It can be had with a basic manual gearbox or McCormick’s XtraShift semi-powershift transmission, as fitted to the Hadlow College example.

Learning how to operate a tractor safely and efficiently is covered in several of Hadlow’s Further and Higher education courses in agriculture, commercial horticulture, land management and equine studies.

“We teach students the basics of how to drive and properly control a tractor before they go on to do some field work, such as ploughing and cultivations,” explains technical instructor Graham Simpson. “Not all our students are from a farming background, so they need the experience – and even those that do come from farms benefit from being shown how to use a tractor safely.”

With its spacious cab, upholstered passenger seat, large windows for good all-round visibility, light steering and easy-to-use, logically-placed controls, the McCormick CX105 XtraShift is an ideal tractor for the teaching role as well as for commercial use operating a wide range of equipment and implements.

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