When a rural Manitoba community was looking for a novel idea for this year’s community fundraising project, Kristen Rubeniuk had a suggestion.
Maybe she could convince her husband, Craig, to open the doors to his impressive collection of White Farm Equipment machines and memorabilia.
”The Gilbert Plains Community Fund hosts a garden tour every year as a fundraiser and this year, Craig and I offered to host a White Farm Equipment tour for an extra option for the guys,” Kristen says.
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“The Community Fund raises money with events and also accepts donations throughout the year, and with these funds we are able to give back to the community to non-profit organizations’ projects.”
In early August, the Rubeniuks opened their farm to visitors, who paid an entry fee to get tours of the full collection and a lunch.
“We raised over $1,000,” says Craig.
The collection includes 28 running tractors and several others used for parts. The walls of the farm workshop and two rooms in the family home are filled with signs and other collectibles.
While there are many tractor enthusiasts with large collections of a single brand, collectors of WFE machines are uncommon.
“I guess you want to go back to my roots as a young kid driving around with my grandpa, Peter Rubeniuk,” Craig says about why he collects the brand. “He’d buy these tractors next to new, the 1855 and 1850s, the 2150. Just riding around with him, I just got the love for White.”
White Farm Equipment was created after a series of consolidations. In 1960, the White Motor Company acquired the Oliver Farm Equipment Company, followed by Cockshutt Farm Equipment in 1962 and Minneapolis-Moline in 1963.
The White Farm Equipment brand emerged in 1969, headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. By the mid-1970s, the constituent brands were melded into WFE, and the silver tractors replaced the old green (Oliver), red (Cockshutt) and yellow (Minneapolis-Moline) colours.
The Rubeniuk collection comprises 28 working tractors, which include the familiar silver WFE models and a few forerunner brands. Some of the tractors see regular duty on the farm, particularly the higher horsepower models.
“The four-wheel drives (are used most), just because we can pull the bigger footage with more horsepower,” says Craig. “The little ones we use occasionally for harrowing, mostly for stone picking, stuff like that.
“They all run. I think being a licensed mechanic got me into this. I can fix them myself and not pay somebody big bucks to do it. I think it wouldn’t happen if I had to pay someone to do everything I’ve done.”
Aside from the machines, the Rubeniuks have an impressive collection of signs and memorabilia, some of it sourced from former dealerships. Finding pieces for the collection required a lot of looking and travelling.
“Now with the internet, it’s handier,” says Craig. “Just calling old dealerships, word of mouth, contacting them, seeing if they had anything left, getting a little bit here and there. It starts adding up.”
Like any dedicated collector, Craig keeps his eyes open for other interesting pieces.
“Whatever comes up. To finish off the White line, I’m kind of grabbing the last of them from ’85 to ’87 before they merged with Allied. Probably one I’d look forward to is getting an AGCOStar, the 8425, Agco’s version of the White. It’s not a true White tractor but it’s the last (of the line).”
