Some people collect stamps; Chris Wathen collects tractors. And not the small ones that fit on a shelf. Chris has a penchant for the really big stuff, as can be seen from this tour.
KEEPING IT BRIEF
- Chris Wathen has over 80 articulated tractors in his collection.
- He farms in Evansville, Indiana, with his daughter.
- An open day will hopefully take place in August 2026 at the Wathen family farm.
Chris Wathen has been a collector for most of his life. “I used to collect motorcycles,” explains the friendly farmer, who is based in Evansville, Indiana (USA). “Then it was the early Farmall tractors.” He even took them to rallies and other events. “However, there were usually a lot of other Farmall tractors to see there — I much preferred to collect something that nobody else had.” That idea took root while he was ploughing with his Steiger Panther tractor.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with the big tractors,” he comments. “But I hadn’t heard of anyone preserving and collecting these old agricultural giants.”
So, he decided to search for rare workhorses, the bigger the better, that had once been used in the fields of North America. That was in the late 1980s, and the foundation was laid by the tractors already on the farm. Chris duly parted with most of his motorcycle and Farmall collection over time. In their place, more and more heavy iron rolled onto the US farm, hauled by his own truck and low-loader, making the job that bit easier. One of the first tractors he brought back to the farm for the collection was a 1963 Steiger 2200, which came from the factory equipped with Terra tyres and extra-wide fenders.
True legends
Chris has now amassed around 80 large tractors, although, for him, condition is less important than their rarity. To the untrained eye, the farm appears to be a small junkyard. But, to the expert, it’s immediately clear that these are true legends: the likes of Steiger, Wagner, Versatile, Allis Chalmers, Big Bud, Minneapolis Moline — big names, most of of them having long since disappeared from the market.
“Big Bud, Wagner and Steiger — for me, these are the true pioneers,” says the articulated tractor specialist, and this explains which machines he’s most passionate about. “The Wagner brothers, in particular, were among the first to build large articulated tractors.”
The 64-year-old has now amassed over 30 Wagner articulated tractors on his farm. He’s always on the lookout for something special: unique pieces, special models, or machines with a unique history. That’s how he tracked down two of the very rare Steiger forestry tractors (Loggers), as well as the only Big Bud built in orange for industrial applications, or rather the remaining fragments of it.
Barn finds
Chris has always been a big fan of Steiger articulated tractors. Naturally, his collection includes several examples from the ‘Barn Series’, the ‘barn’ name referring to the original production site of these tractors. The Steiger brothers started their tractor production in their farm workshop after their first self-built tractor generated orders from their neighbours. The early models, from the time before Steiger began mass-producing tractors, therefore bear this ‘barn’ nickname. But one shouldn’t be fooled by the ‘old iron’ on the farm. It’s not that Chris doesn’t appreciate a fresh coat of paint. On the contrary, he and his daughter, AJ, have already skilfully restored several of these tractors.
Two particularly beautiful and very striking examples immediately catch the eye in the large machinery shed: a Minneapolis Moline G1000 and an IHC, both FWA models. FWA stands for ‘front wheel assist’. Unlike here, in the USA only the large articulated tractors are considered to be true four-wheel-drive tractors. Standard type tractors with a four-wheel-drive front axle are reckoned to only have it as a ‘support’.
“I try to restore about two tractors a year,” explains the farmer. A generous stock of spare parts on Wathen Farm is more than half the battle. But, as is often the case, time is, of course, short. Currently, the father-daughter team is working on a Big Bud KT-450, which still has to sleep outside.
Incidentally, while modern machines like a Case IH Axial-Flow combine harvester are also available on the farm, Chris likes to use some of the models from his collection on the farm as well. A Big Bud roars in front of the shallow cultivator, and a Steiger Panther KP-1360 pulls the heavy disc harrow across the fields on the banks of the Ohio River.
More than a DIY project
But it’s not just the big names that appear in his collection. Unique pieces are also now parked on the farm grounds, such as one of the most important tractors in the Wathen collection. Like many farmers in the 1960s, Chris Wathen’s father needed a powerful tractor. So, he built an articulated tractor for his farm using tractor and construction kit components. Among other things, the parts from an IHC 1466 were used.
Later, the tractor was sold and disappeared for a long time. With a lot of patience, luck, and persistence, Chris was able to track down the ‘family heirloom’ again and save it from being scrapped at the last minute.
“I now have several of these homemade creations in my collection,” he says happily. “I’m fascinated by the ingenuity with which farmers back then built functioning tractors from all sorts of individual parts.” With a mischievous grin, Chris adds: “Even if they sometimes look a bit quirky.”
Ever growing
Chris Wathen has built up a strong network, including good connections in Canada’s major agricultural regions.
Several times in a year, he travels up from Evansville to collect new tractors and spare parts for his collection. His latest acquisition came from the US state of Montana, home to many large articulated tractors: a John Deere Wagner, which he personally picked up with a low-loader — a journey of several days and thousands of miles. That’s the reality of life across the Pond.
The collection is constantly growing, and every two years the Wathen family opens it to the public for an open house. The next event is being staged in August 2026.
Lucas Colsman
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