Caterpillar RD 6 Diesel Crawler Tractor 1936

The Caterpillar RD 6 Diesel Crawler Tractor was powered by a six cylinder diesel engine of 78 h.p. at the belt pulley. Starting was by the means of a two cylinder horizontally opposed petrol powered donkey engine.  The Caterpillar Tractor of Illinois was formed when the Holt Tractor Company, (who had already registered the Caterpillar name) merged with the Best Tractor Company in 1925.  While Holt/Caterpillar tractors first appeared in the United Kingdom in 1915, all sales were handled by importers or Caterpillar appointed concessionaires until 1950 when the American Caterpillar Company set up it's own spares depot near Leicester.  The first British produced Caterpillar tractors were made at Glasgow in 1958.