A steam farm traction engine was not much more than a lighter weight railroad locomotive outfitted with rear drive wheels and front steering for use off rails. Like today's gas and diesel engine tractors, they pulled plows, and harrows, and powered balers and threshers with belts and pulleys.
The surviving farm engines are collectors' items that can be seen in demonstrations and competitions at fairs and Fall harvest festivals in the U.S. and the British Isles, some of them incredibly decorative in their ornamentation and paint schemes, some worth nearly half a million dollars (if you have an opportunity, it is worth your while to see an event at least once!)
This engine has a canopy that has had its share of collisions; some large engines even had enclosed cabs much like railroad locomotives (Timebinder will feature photos of some in the future). The combines always have a Rube Goldberg look to the uninitiated, appearing remarkably complex for what they are meant to accomplish, and making one wonder how much time a farmer spent keeping it operating, but what cannot be denied is the amount of work that was accomplished with such equipment. Individual farmers did own tractors and combines, but in many farming areas such equipment traveled the farming community circuits during planting and harvesting seasons for hire; crews were often made up of all the farmers and their hands who participated, going from farm to farm. With machinery came added dangers to an already dangerous occupation.