Land Train???

[wreckerman893]

[QUOTELIFE: Overland Train Arizona - Hosted by GoogleQUOTE]

Look at the cab....the freaking thing had RADAR on it.

I'd pay 500 bucks to be able to drive that by weigh station on the interstate.

 

[5tonpuller]

I can almost bet that if it don't sell, with junk on the way up. He will get his $$ one way or the other. Sad to see a bit of history go to the dumper. I showed it to the wife. That was a mistake.

 

[cranetruck]

The era of aluminum MVs...Gama Goat, M113, Mover (m656)...
The tires look good for 1/2 century.

 

[n1bnc]

Can Ferro trailer it back??

 

[wreckerman893]

I think it would take a corporate sponsor (are you listening GL) to recover and restore as much of one complete train as possible.

Would be awesome to see one (even with only the control car and one or two trailers) in operating condition.

 

[DDoyle]

The vehicle on Ebay is part of the LCC-1 Overland Train, also known as the Overland Train Mk. I, was developed in the mid-1950s by LeTourneau to deliver large quantities of supplies to remote army bases far from road networks: in particular, to personnel building and manning the Defense Early Warning (DEW) Line in northern Canada. The LCC-1 consisted of a large control vehicle at the front, linked to three four-wheel cargo trailers. The control vehicle comprised two articulated compartments: a heated driving compartment in front for a three-man crew, and a rear compartment with a 600-horsepower Cummins VF-12 diesel engine with an inline generator and fuel tanks. The generator provided power for electric motors driving each wheel on the control vehicle and trailers; thus, the control vehicle did not actually pull the trailers. During testing an additional power/fuel car was added to the rear of the train. The 173-feet long LCC-1 was similar to, and based on, the 1953 “Tournatrain”, which also inspired the 150-ton capacity VC-22 Sno-Freighter, which LeTourneau built for the private company Alaska Freight Lines.

For the Army, the LCC-1 was only a stepping stone to the TC-497, with a 450 ton gross weight and 572-foot length. While the LCC-1 was powered by Diesel engines, the TC-497 had four gas turbines....the power car of the TC-497 is the vehicle on display in Yuma (where it was tested).

Best wishes,
David Doyle

 

[Stretch44875]

Thanks for the info! Anyone know if any land trains are still operating/driveable?

 

[yetti96]

I too showed it to my wife ans said we should get one. Surprisingly she responded not with a why or are you crazy, but WTH do you carry on it

Sure looks like a really cool piece of history and equipment.

 

[fuzzytoaster]

I ran into this too on ebay, simply an amazing piece of equipment. The "books" say it can provide commendations up to 6 crew. I want to see inside pictures!

 

[CGarbee]

A buddy of mine who was in AK during the fifties while in the Army sent me a bunch of photos that he took, including some of the Texas gocart built by R G LeTourneau Longview, Texas. The LeTourneau College website states that the power unit for the overland train was seen in a salvage yard north of FT. Wainwright in 1998. Jerry says that he only saw it once come through Ft. Greely but that he did see it inside an aircraft hangar at Ft. Wainwright sometime later on.

To see Jerry's photos (including those of the Land Train, go to:
Miscellaneous Photos

Enjoy.

 

[gunboy1656]

CGarbee,

Thanks for posting that. A lot of cool trucks in there. That land train really is huge, I bet it would be a bear to move down the road on a semi trailer.

 

[Snarky]

Roads can be rapidly built most anywhere so we don't need Land Trains any more, unless you're driving on ice, but Road Trains do exist.

 

[sigo]

This thing is about five minutes away from me right now. I've been talking with the seller to see if I can get in the yard and take some photos up close. If I do I'll post here. The owner has some other interesting bits in his salvage yard I'd like to take a look at as well. It's actually located directly across the street from teh Ft Wainwright DRMO site.

There is another land train that looks to be privately owned just north of Fairbanks. It's parked alongside the road. I've been meaning to stop and get some pics of that one too.

 

[83GMCK2500]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one foolishly surfing eBay and drooling over this. If we could get mopre pics of that bad boy, that would be great.

 

[Michael]

I saw this in the eBay listing: "The enclosed pictures are of a sister unit here in Alaska." which tells me that the pictures are not of the actual unit up for sale.

sigo, do you live next to the actual unit for sale? If so, pictures of it would be highly entertaining for us and might help the seller also. I know I wouldn't bid much without actual pictures of what I was bidding on.

 

[wreckerman893]

This thing is about five minutes away from me right now.

Since it is near Fairbanks and there is access to roads, it could be shipped via truck to the lower 48......at what cost is another issue. It would take several tractor trailers to move all the pieces.

Also would it be feasible to get it to operating condition or just make a static display?

According to the seller the manufacturer still has parts available.....well...maybe.

Depending on the variation it was either powered by a V-12 Cummins or a gas turbine engine.....both fuel thirsty power plants.

The comany is still in business in Texas. LeTourneau Technologies, Inc.

You would think that they would be interested in preserving it since they made them and they were at least somewhat successful at their intended purpose.

If I were an interested buyer I will be making calls before I made the first bid.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Can Ferro trailer it back??

Not all at once! And why tow when you can DRIVE!

WM, I'm going to take a wild guess, and say they used diesel electric locomotive technology to power and move it. Locomotives work the same way, diesel generator, powering motors on the wheels.

Having said that, if someone knew the current requriments and voltages of the wheel motors, (anyone got the TM?) I bet I could find a locomotive powerplant that we could plop in the body to get her rolling again. Could then rebuild the originally powerplant for a reinstall when you got it to the final destination.

Is there a Napa near its current location? I can get anything running again with a Napa nearby.

 

[gunboy1656]

According to NAPA's website there are 4 nearby. Think you might run into height issues getting it home. But it would make for a fun trip.

 

[CGarbee]

The comany is still in business in Texas. LeTourneau Technologies, Inc.

You would think that they would be interested in preserving it since they made them and they were at least somewhat successful at their intended purpose.

I talked to the folks at LeTourneau a couple years ago when they had a pair of historians working on an official history of the company about this, and again when a different historian wanted to do a book just on this vehicle. In both cases, they wanted permission to use the photos on my site (which actually are Jerry's) and for me to put them in touch with Jerry (both to see if he had any more photos and to interview him about his experiences with the vehicle). Other than that, the current company isn't really interested in preserving the rig (not that R. G. was ever in the mind to preserve things that he built back when he was in charge either...). To them, it's a chunk of steel made by a former varient of thier company that did it's purpose (made the customer happy and made them money), but nothing truly spectacular or odd especially when compared to other things that R. G. LeTourneau created.

 

[mcmullag]

Le Tourneau

I have the paperback autobiography of this man,
"R.G. Le Tourneau: Mover of Men and Mountains" by Moody Press.
It only has a few pages of black and white pics of some of the stuff his company built. There was a thing called the 'crash pusher' with what appears to be the same tires as the Snow Train, to push crashed bombers off the airstrip. A huge thing called the jungle crusher, to clear forest or jungle quickly. He came up with the tractor with two wheels only, that pulls a scraper. Really interesting guy. His company built other military vehicles too.

R. G. LeTourneau - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia