Toying with Tractors with Collector Jim Wallrabenstein — Northwest Profiles (2016) — KSPS PBS

[00:00:00] Jim Wall-Robinstein: It's hard not to have good memories of being a farm boy. I grew up on a family farm in Northern Ohio. My father was a farmer, my grandfather was a farmer, and my great-grandfather was a farmer. I probably started driving tractor when I was 9 or 10 years old. Growing up and living on a farm, farm toys were natural attractions to me. I'm Jim Wall-Robinstein. I'm a farm toy collector here in Spokane, Washington. [00:01:02] Speaker 2: Behold the fabulous farm toys of Jim Wall-Robinstein. Since 1965, Jim has been an avid collector of toy farming equipment, especially toy tractors. With over 700 toys in his private collection, this top-notch farm toy enthusiast shares the horse-powered history of farming. [00:01:22] Jim Wall-Robinstein: There's seven or eight different manufacturers represented in the collection. My favorites are Alice Chalmers. My second is International Harvester because when I grew up, those were the two lines of equipment that I was most familiar with. I have smaller numbers of Case, Oliver, Ford, Minneapolis Moline. Most of the manufacturers are United States-based manufacturers. Two most notable exceptions are Cockshot, which was a Canadian firm, and also Massey-Harris and Massey-Ferguson, because both had their roots in Canada. [00:01:59] Speaker 2: Jim's titanic quest of toy tractors began in high school. He would plow around farm equipment dealerships and supply stores to uncover his pint-sized treasures. Through the years as the popularity of farm toy collecting grew, toy outlets, fellow toy collectors, even yard and garage sales would produce a cash crop of toys. [00:02:20] Jim Wall-Robinstein: When I first started acquiring farm tractors, how I would display them wasn't even, you know, I wasn't even thinking in those terms. I just had a shelf and I'd put them on there. As the collection grew and then I had to start thinking about, okay, now how am I going to display the toys? There was two factors. One was cost. In closed cases, it was just prohibitively expensive. The other thing is, is that I'm the kind of person that wants to not be separated from my toys. So it was fairly easy choice to say I'm going to use open shelving because there's nothing between me and the toy. If I want to reach out and touch it, I'm able to do that. So here we have a replica of two different tractors from my collection. Here we have the very first Alice Chalmers tractor produced in 1914. Here we have the last Alice Chalmers tractor to come off the assembly line in 1985. And it's so nice to have both of these in the collection and then everything in between because that allows me to share the history of mechanical farming. [00:03:23] Speaker 2: Along with the tail of the farm tractor, Jim's die-cast display yields vibrant memories from his childhood. [00:03:30] Jim Wall-Robinstein: As a farm boy, I became very aware early on that farmers were very color conscious. So my father farmed with Alice Chalmers orange, but the neighbor farmed with John Deere. You know, all his equipment was green. And another neighbor farmed with International Harvester and all his tractors were red. It was part of the rivalry. The collection was in my private home and so it essentially is not open to the public. But I love to share the collection. Part of the joy of having the collection is sharing it with people. This is all hydraulic, so he's not having... It's hard not to be excited and almost in awe to walk into a room with hundreds of farm toys. They come into this room and they look at around these toys and there's a recognition reflex. They are looking for the replica of the one tractor that they have a personal connection with. Maybe it was the grandfather's tractor or an uncle. Quite often, you know, all of a sudden they'll zoom in and go like, that's the one. That one right there? You recognize that tractor? [00:04:44] Speaker 2: Not only is Jim a farm toy collector extraordinaire, he's also a school bus driver [00:04:49] Jim Wall-Robinstein: and organist for his church. [00:04:54] Speaker 2: And each summer, you'll find him out in the field with full-size tractors working as a farm hand. [00:05:00] Jim Wall-Robinstein: Because of my roots in farming, when the opportunity presented itself to work on a farm, I took advantage of that opportunity. And so I've been working for this local farmer for more than 20 years. Started out as a truck driver to haul wheat. And then over the years, I've done a little bit of everything for him. During haying season, I drive tractor and operate a baler. And I just enjoy doing that. [00:05:26] Speaker 2: For over 50 years, Jim Wall-Robinstein has been celebrating the story of mechanized farming with his fantastic farm toy collection. This marvelous medley of machines pay tribute to a way of life that speaks to his soul. And you can bet the farm it will speak to future generations, too. [00:05:45] Jim Wall-Robinstein: People ask me, what are you going to do with your collection? Now I'm nearing retirement age. And my answer is, it would give me the greatest joy to have this collection, find a new home in a museum or in a public space. That would be a wonderful thing. There's many joys that I get from farm toy collecting. The room itself is very special to me. It's like a sanctuary. It's an ongoing connection with a part of my life, a part of who I am. [00:06:29] Speaker 3: If you have an idea for Northwest Profiles, send it to KSBS TV, 3911 South Regal, Spokane, Washington 99223. Northwest Profiles is a presentation of KSBS Public Television. [00:06:59] Speaker ?: Thank you. Thank you.