Vintage tractors, former air base combine for unique safety challenges

RANTOUL, Ill. — As a tractor collector and enthusiast himself, Craig Hill readily admits a truth about vintage farm equipment.

“All of this equipment is old and it wasn’t necessarily safe when it was brand new,” said Hill, a retired Kankakee County Sheriff’s Deputy, who retired with the rank of sergeant.

Hill coordinates the safety logistics for the Half Century of Progress show and presents the safety program to everyone who will be operating conveyances, from golf carts to tractors to steam engines, on the grounds during the show.

The equipment itself can pose safety challenges, for both operators and audiences. Hill stresses awareness.

“What we tell people who are going to be operating, especially out in the field, is that you need to have an awareness around your machinery and your tractor. Before you engage the tractor or corn picker or whatever you have, have an awareness that there are people who are not aware of how that thing is going to maneuver, how it is going to start up, how it is going to operate,” Hill said.

The audience also poses a safety challenge, since many may not have seen farm equipment up close and personal and in use.

“Those operators need to understand that they have an audience who may not understand all of that, so just make sure it is clear before you take off,” Hill said.

For the operators of the steam engines that will be working at the show, Hill takes his safety presentation to them.

“It’s hard for them to come to me so I go to them. Theirs is a little different. We talk about making sure that the people around that equipment are aware of the heat and the steam and all of the things that go along with those engines,” he said.

It’s not just the equipment that is vintage. The site of the Half Century of Progress is the Rantoul Airport, the site of the former Chanute Air Force Base, which was decommissioned and closed in 1993.

Whether it’s new or old, Hill said he urges everyone participating in the show to respect the surroundings and to expect the unexpected as they are moving around the airport grounds.

“The airport closes for 10 days and they allow us to play in their sandbox. In return, we need to return it to them the Monday after the show in good shape,” Hill said.

Participants may encounter equipment that is part of the current airport or the former Air Force base.

“I always tell people that there are a lot of things at the airport that are individual. For instance, there are these little blue lights along the runway. Invariably, someone runs over one, purely by accident. But if we can avoid that, it saves everybody a lot of money and we don’t have to get it fixed before Monday,” Hill said.

He also emphasizes the importance of respecting the major infrastructure of the current airport — the concrete areas.

“We ask them to be kind to the airport and not destroy their property, especially the concrete, where the planes arrive and leave from. We ask them not to load and unload on that concrete, not to damage it,” he said.

The structures from the former air base also can present unexpected obstacles.

“In the middle of a cornfield there can be a sewer access box, there can be a big hole created over the summer from a tile, because the place is tiled. There can be electrical boxes that are sitting in the middle of nowhere and nobody knows why they are there. It was for something that they did 40 years ago,” Hill said.

Hill himself owns some 20 tractors, mostly green. He will be bringing some orange paint to the show this year.

“You’ll see me at Half Century on an orange one because I like that little tractor. I bring something every time. I graduated to this little Allis and as I’ve gotten a little older, it’s a little easier to get on and off of and easier to manage,” Hill said.