The message
from "Piers Finlayson" contains these words:

I too am interested in this topic.

I have a couple of comments:

- I recently seriously toyed with the idea of getting an old JCB (one was
going cheap nearby), but decided against it, as the thought of a JCB with
wheels on my muddy fields was a bit of a nightmare. (SWMBO's hysterical
laughter at the suggestion follow by a "oh, you were serious" didn't help).
I decided in the end that if I do get something it will
- be small (not blumming enormous like a JCB)
- have tracks.

I have also wondered what would happen with something as heavy as a full
size JCB on soft ground. I don't know for sure how much they weigh but
one advert claimed 7 tons which must be at least twice the weight of my
neighbours tractor.

- If you're lending the digger out to neighbours, could you expect the
neighbours to sort out the travel arrangements? (And if you're just going
1/2 mile down the road do you really care about having a _decent_ transport
solution?)

Not thinking about going on the road at all. That was half a mile across
the fields and it would be me doing the driving, not my elderly
neighbour who won't even drive his own tractor. What I am concerned
about is wearing out the tracks unnecessarily and dying of boredom
getting to the other side of his farm and back again. I have only ever
seen mini diggers move at a snails pace. Being retired myself I have
plenty of time to help out but life is too short to spend half a day
travelling half a mile. :-)

--
Roger Chapman