THE mechanical monsters of the agricultural world will be converging on North Yorkshire later this month - to mark the nation’s first-ever National Tractor Day.

Newby Hall near Ripon will be hosting the spectacular event on June 12, in association with the Yorkshire Vintage Association.

It will be part of the association’s fifth annual gathering at Newby - and will be the largest outdoor vintage tractor show in the UK.

The show will include machines from as far afield as the USA, Holland, Germany and Ireland as well as from the length and breadth of Britain.

Altogether the organisers are expecting more than 1,000 exhibits. Including many never shown elsewhere, and the featured manufacturer will be International Harvester.

One of the highlights of the whole weekend will be a world record entry of Titan 1020s. More than 50 models of this classic, built between 1915 and 1921, have already been registered.

YVA Chairman Richard Sturdy stressed the important role the giant work-horses played in Britain's history.

“The Titan 1020 was imported en masse from the United States during World War 1,” he said.

“They replaced the agricultural workers who had gone to war and so effectively stopped the country from starving.”

The Titans, with their distinctive steel wheels, were once so popular that they were still in common use until after the Second World War.

There will also be plenty of even older tractors on show, with the most venerable being a Hart-Parr from Germany, dating back to 1904.

The Yorkshire Vintage Association Rally 2012 will take place on June 11 and 12 in the grounds of Newby Hall, Ripon from 10am to 5pm.