With patience and team spirit: Apprentices bring ‘Mole’ back to life
For many months, the apprenticeship workshop in Ronneburg has been working on a very special project: An implement carrier from 1955 was painstakingly restored by a team of apprentices. What started as a rusty barn find turned into a prime example of team spirit, craftsmanship and patience.
The project originated as part of the co-operation with the German Agricultural Museum in Blankenhain. The apprentices had already repaired two smaller machines for the museum, but the “Mole”, as the implement carrier is called colloquially, presented them with a whole new range of challenges: unused for decades, painted over with red paint and in poor technical condition, the historic tractor required a great deal of research, technical know-how and sensitivity with regard to dealing with historic components. The RS 08/15 was one of the first tractors of the former GDR - an implement carrier with 15 hp that was used in agriculture as a real all-rounder. “Only a few machines of this type were built which made the search for spare parts particularly difficult”, explains Justin Hänse, the HORSCH apprenticeship responsible in Ronneburg, who accompanied the project.
Step-by-step restoration
The restoration started in September 2023. The amount of work involved was enormous: for most of the broken parts, spare parts did no longer exist. They had to be painstakingly manufactured or could only be procured after lengthy research. Two apprentices even travelled as far as the Polish border to pick up an urgently needed engine part from a collector. “It took us three weeks of research before we even knew where to look”, Justin Hänse recalls. A structured approach was also required for the screws as suitable replicas hardly exist anymore. The team was also supported by regional companies, for example with regard to the use of a water jet machine to clean certain parts.
The restoration was carried out step by step - whenever new information or spare parts were available. The team's aim was to work in a structured way. First of all, the engine was removed and given a general overhaul before moving on to other components. “There often were moments when we didn't know what to do next or wondered who we could call to get information”, Justin recalls. The paint, too, posed a particular challenge as the tractor had been painted over with several layers of red paint - although it originally had been green. The paint was painstakingly removed. Remnants of the original colour were then found under the paint residue which the apprentices matched with a colour palette to select the appropriate shade of green to repaint the parts.
The structured realisation of the project was also due to a lucky coincidence: one of the apprentices involved has the same implement carrier at home and also still had an original manual. “Without these documents, we wouldn't have been able to reassemble a lot of parts correctly”, Justin says. Depending on the availability of parts, the team was able to work sometimes more, sometimes less on the project. Even though there were many doubts during the process and new solutions were required, the 60-year-old classic carrier was presented to colleagues and visitors just in time for the end-of-year event. The tractor is now a permanent loan from the German Agricultural Museum and, in the future, will be used in Ronneburg at training fairs, classic tractor meetings or events on site.
