UPDATE - I did it! I tracked down one of these overland trains and visited it IRL. Check it out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KpWv68xECrY.html
In my summer after the 2nd grade, my Dad (RG's son) came home unexpectedly in the middle of the day and told me to jump in the car. As we pulled away I, of course, asked where we were going... "You're gonna' go for a ride like you've never been before and will never go again!" We then proceeded to the proving grounds at the factory where a bunch of Army Brass and other dignitaries were assembled around the final Snow Train (as we called it). He hoisted me up in the cab and took off "once around the park"... 8 years later I spent my summer testing the world's largest front-end loader that you referenced in this amazing video. My heartfelt gratitude to you for these amazing memories...
Wow, that's incredible! What an amazing story Mike, thanks for sharing. Your grandfather was one heck of a charcter and I enjoyed reading his autobiogrpahy and researching all his incredible invenions and philanthropy greatly. This was my favourite project to creator by far. Check out Mark Moore's Overland Trains coming out soon - it has even more info on the second generation leTourneau Sno-Freighter and all the adventures it got up to on the DEW Line.
@@CalumRaasay Thanks again. Look at the family photo in the center of "Mover of Men and Mountains"... I'm the infant in the lap of my beautiful mother on the right. She and my aunt (the pregnant lady standing behind her), are both still with us, but are the last of that generation!
Pretty cool video I work in the logging industry and around the modern day log loaders even log loaders from the 70s with hard to get parts because some were limited production products. I did notice the snow train section with semi trucks you referred to them as Mack trucks when they were clearly Kenworth A model trucks one man is even pictured right in front of K/W emblem. But cool video
My dad worked w/ some of the earliest monster trucks and one of the most memorable ones was Bigfoot w/ the big Sno-train tires on it.... I even have pictures of me standing inside of the rims as he drove.
LeTourneau, was a pioneer. He designed some of the most unique and largest equipment ever built even today. I'd love to get one of these beasts running one of these days. You should consider doing a video on the mad genius that was ,LeTourneau. It's kind of like that episode of South Park "The Simpson's Did it:, or whatever the episode was. He was a mad genius and I would have loved to have worked for him.
Have you found any military test films of these monsters? Should be hours of interesting viewing. Thanks for your work, enjoy anything about the snow train.
I have operated a front end loader with articulated steering and 6 foot tall tires. By no means does that qualify as a small piece of equipment. But this thing had tires not much shorter than that entire loader was tall. Puts things into a visceral context for me.
@@CalumRaasay Even when you have references nearby, like a human to show the scale. You cannoot truly admire the size of these monster until thew are right there in front of you. Thery make you feel tiny, but at the same time they make you feel enormous for 2 reasons, 1 we can operate them and 2 We, humans, designed and created them for us to use.
@@CalumRaasay haha okay, sorry. He has a script writer with the name calum. A name I've never heard before but i guess it's a pretty common name in the UK. Keep up the good work!
I’m surprised the there was no mention of the most famous land train of all time, the Mammoth Car!! When Spritle and Chim-Chim got trapped inside the Mammoth Car I thought the race was over! Seriously, the Mammoth Car land-train was one of Speed Racer’s most famous recurring nemeses. It wasn’t much of an exaggeration from real land-trains other than their speed and really spoke to the world’s imagination in the 1960s.
@@CalumRaasay One can never include everything for everyone; certainly not everything every goof-ball on the internet thinks is important. Haha! Thanks for the response. This really was a fascinating video. The Alaska portion of the story is worthy of a Hollywood feature film!
I remember that I saw cartoon or anime of sorts in 80-90s about some sorts of racing cartoon where there was truck like this... by any chance anyone knows name of this cartoon?
My dad worked for RG in the early 60s. We even lived in one of his Quonset huts (ex WWII hospital) in Longview. My dad was a diesel mechanic and worked on the scrapers building Stemmons Freeway in Dallas and the tree crusher. He told me about the land trains, but he was assigned to other projects. When a company leased equipment from RG, the lease came with a dedicated mechanic and that is what my dad did. The unique aspect to his work was having to possess a combination of mechanical and electrical skills due to the unique combo of diesel powered electrical wheel motors. I am going over today and play this for him. Cheers from Texas.
I lived in Nacogdoches, and had relatives in Longview in the 60’s. never knew what the quonset huts (some really very long) were for. My mother had told me that some were there to hold German prisoners. Had never heard about some being hospitals. The ones that we always saw when driving in from the south were gone the last time i was in Longview a few years back. And glad that i can watch info about this land train. I remember reading about it in Genius Book of World records years ago but always wanted to see it. Thank you
Used to work for the Letourneau rebuild Facility. They had some interesting ways of doing stuff. In his day they made their own steel as RG couldn't find what he needed to make what he wanted the way he wanted to. He even made his own bolts. He had a 3/8 fine thread double lead screw. It looked just like a 3/8 NF thread bolt but a bolt of the same size would not fit it. A 3/8 NF tap would match up with the threads on the bolt but the bolt would not thread into a hole tapped with it. Think of a bolt that had one thread started at 0 degrees of the bolts circumference and then another thread that started at 180 degrees. yes 2 different threads at 180 degrees apart. Rebuilt so many different things there. He designed and built his own motors and generators, both DC and AC. all of the components. They did all of their machining work in house. You got it all right, spot on, and correct as best as I can remember.
Thanks for that comment Joe, what a facinating place to work that must have been. I find it really interesting how much was done in house - explains why they were able to fabricate so quickly and easily as they had access to everything on site.
I kept one of these 1/2" bolts as a souvenir from a C9 Wheel Motor. I've drug it out many times in the last 20 years to show Engineers what Engineering looks like.
I don't think I will ever understand the 3/8 bolt explanation. But I'm sure you are right about it. I only had the pleasure of running some of the scrappers and dozers when around 1971 going through my union apprenticeship program.
What's the point of a double entry thread? Do they screw in faster because they have to be a higher pitch but they hold just as much as a standard fine thread because there's that many threads per square inch?
I worked construction in Alaska in the 1990s and we used a huge LaTourneau forklift to lift concrete bridge girders. It was a strange machine. The noises and movements it made are so unlike other construction equipment, it really seemed so odd and fascinating.
Thank you for honoring Mr. LeTourneau. One other thing of interest is that he wasn’t getting the quality of engineers he wanted, so he started his own engineering school. LeTourneau University is highly regarded as one of the premier engineering schools in the country. There is a museum at the university in Longview that is amazing to tour.
I am attending letourneau now. Not for engineering (been there, done that) but for professional flight. He loved his airplanes. He got in to a car crash and after that, he flew everywhere. He said it was the safest way to travel. He used to use a converted ww2 bomber as his business aircraft! Letourneau offers several aviation degree programs. All include getting your A&P license(airplane mechanic), including mine which is a concentration in aviation management. (You get your commercial pilots license, and A&P license along with management and aviation law classes)
You've hit another one out of the park! Well researched, interesting and your VO conveys the information in a clear and concise manner. I'm loving your longer format documentaries, I always feel a bit smarter after watching them. I'm just now watching the outro. Well done!
Haha thank you! They are great fun - I always feel like there's nothing more satifying that exhaustivley researching a subject so you can truly tick it off in your own head.
@@__Mr.White__ To do or perform something extraordinarily well; to produce or earn an exceptional achievement. An allusion to a baseball that is hit hard enough to land outside the stadium. A home run.
His machines may have been outlandish in size and ludicrous in purpose, but you have to admit that R. G. LeTourneau was little short of a mechanical genius.
During WW2, RG designed and produced some small cute looking tracked tractors that would fit inside a DC-3. Had a winch on the back for an equally small bulldozer blade or for pulling stumps.
"In order to make this thing work, I took some electric car motors and stuck them all over the place and then I grabbed some parts from a train that crashed and then I wired it all together and it kind of just worked!" -R.G.
@@vsGoliath96 Actually the overlay text on the video says 'Locomobile', which was an early automobile, and not 'locomotive'. It was mis-read in the video.
As a young lad the Amtrak Wars captured my imagination. Imagine my surprise at finding out such outlandish science fiction vehicles were actually in use decades before I was even born. Thanks for the extra ramble at the end. Love your work, clearly you do too, thanks for sharing it.
Calum, please don't stop doing documentary peices. I truly love them, and would love to see more on what ever mechanical misfit and unique creation catches your eye and ear.
I met R.G.Letearno in mid 60s in Bowling Green Ky. He was trying to Recruit a friend Henry Vernon that had helped him make a Jungle Clearing machine. I was 14 yrs Old and got to spend a couple hours with this Very Kind Uplifting Man. I had no idea his accomplishments until I read his book few years later.
For those curious about letourneau's plant in longview, it was sold to joyglobal and eventually acquired by komatsu. The buildings are all still there and to my knowledge are still running pretty well. Love to see videos about it!
@@CalumRaasay one of the domes was destroyed a couple of years ago by a tornado… mighty close to my parents house too! My dad worked there and rode his bicycle to work everyday
At some point in time LeTourneau was bought up by Penn Central Holding Company. They had to downsize the operation after business became slow then sold it to Rowan International, who was an offshore drilling operation. They sold it later on to Joy Global who in turn, sold it to Komatsu.
This is awesome! I’ve read a lot about these things, but this video goes far more in depth than anything else I’ve seen. The vintage footage and photos are so cool to watch. Clearly a lot of work went into this, thanks!
One amazing feature of RG was his refusal to let others stop him. His designs required very thick steel plates, but his total purchases were small compared to other users, so he had low priority to get deliveries. His solution was to build his own steel mill. He built an electric arc furnace for melting, bought molds to cast ingots, and made a 10 foot wide rolling mill to produce the plates. I got to visit the plant in 2010 ( a rare event) for a job interview. Coming from major steel plants the shop looked a little jury-rigged to me, but it WORKED! It even had a vacuum degasser, which produced some of the highest quality plate in the world for very demanding end uses. A remarkable man.
I've actually seen quite a few of these vehicles online before while looking for inspiration for Space Engineers. I feel like if this guy had Space Engineers to test ideas, he'd have ended up making Overland aircraft carriers
LeTourneau has a small universtity he founded just after WW2 out here in Longview, Texas where I go. They're quite proud of the land train and have a little mini museum in one of the building that I pass by omw to some of my classes there that has a large section talking about the train. He really was a brilliant man and a devout follower of God as well.
I've fond memories as a child watching the massive LeTourneau machines unloading the log trucks at the sawmills. They are a testament to the engineering skills of the company, that these old machines are STILL active today!
Amazing news! My friend Mark has written an incredible history of the overland trains, I'd highly reccomend reading if you like the subject! amzn.to/3EysUC9
I can easily imagine something like this being built as a mobile Mars base. It makes a lot of sense given the flat ground and the need to avoid year long dust storms that would cause incredible problems for a stationary base. But of course the size & weight of it makes getting it into space an impossibility !
Sounds interesting but it would be a tough sell with our current level of tech. Mars regolith is incredibly damaging to mechanical surfaces. Opportunity drove roughly 28 miles before DOA. It had a wheel, probably bearing, failure around half that. As weight increases so too does the damage regolith can do to mechanical surfaces. This means any vehicles will need to be small and relatively light. Probably 3 to 4 people max capacity. It will also need to be small enough to fit inside a shelter for maintenance and protection from dust storms because they can cover the entire planet. This limits the type of vehicle to short excursions. It's no joke to say it's quicker to walk then drive. No matter what the movie "The Martian" would have you believe.
@@diGritz1 You make some really good points. I wondered why the wheels got so trashed and attributed it to an overly enthusiastic weight saving protocol Vs incredibly sharp Martian rocks. Also the vastly over extended mission duration. Your point about Martian dust Vs wheel bearings is also a really good point. Someone is going to have to develop a grade of grease that can handle Martian conditions.
@@diGritz1 Spirit and Opportunity rovers were planned to operate for 90 sol days (just less than 92.5 Earth days) on Mars. After five (Earth) years and three months it was Spirit that got stuck in some soft sand and could not get out. It had travelled 7.73 km (4.8 miles). Opportunity travelled 45 km (28 miles) in almost 14 and a half (Earth) years when it went into hibernation mode for a dust storm and did not wake up after. The rovers were over-engineered for their original 90 sol day mission and had no servicing while on Mars. It is amazing that they lasted for as long as they did in such an extreme environment considering all of the dust that may get into moving parts. If there were a base, or a vehicle, with people on Mars (or any similar place such as the Moon) then it will be engineered to carry the load properly and to be maintained, or fixable at the very least. I don't know where you get the idea that walking will be faster than riding a vehicle but even if one to assume that it was correct there are still disadvantages. A vehicle offers extra protection from the environment, it doesn't tire the person out, and it allows far more good to be carried with oneself.
Mars dust is toxic and incredibly abrasive. Dust storms can envelop the whole planet so the only safe option is to wait them out under cover, probably underground. That will require energy systems that don't need solar or wind power. Nuclear is the only option. Probably molten salt as it's (relatively) light weight and intrinsically safe.
@@davidelliott5843 Thank you for this ! This is another of the many reasons I get angry at Elon for pushing his self promoting "Mars Colony" fantasy. Let's not forget Mars has virtually no magnetic field either... SIGH PS: I should have specified I was talking about the mobile base being part of a manned explorer mission NOT a colony.
I didn’t recognize the train until you mentioned that it’s currently in Fox Alaska, and then I realized that I used to drive by it almost every day and I had no idea the story of how cool it was. Excellent video!
I operated Letourneau Log machines converted to lift and move ocean container in the 1980 on the Railway here in Canada. Once you got used to operating them, you could move a lot of containers in 8 hours we had 3 of them. They would pick up 70,000 lbs with no problems. They would burn a lot of fuel though running at 2100 rpms steady to run the generator.
Born in the 50's and growing up in the 60's it seemed anything imagined could be built. Lived near the Big Muskie dragline and my agriculture class got to tour it. The DEW line construction always a favorite subject of mine. Retired and living in Thailand this was just the type of content to make my day. Thank you
@@CalumRaasay I have been to most of the radar sites up here in Alaska. Most of the old troposphere communications antennas are gone and satellite communications is used.
Hah, I was watching this thinking of the Amtrak Wars ( which I read as a teen) as I always thought massive land trains were a cool idea and then you bring it up at the end! I can’t believe these were actually real and I’ve never heard of them until now. Great video, I love this stuff, I’ll be keeping an eye out for the book too. … . Time to go dust of my copy of ‘Cloud Warrior’ which I still have kicking around…
From 2004 till 2021, I rebuilt hundreds of letourneau generators, DC and AC motors, and many other devices for various machines still in use today. Old technology, but it will get the job done.
my great grandad once said literally: "If it wasn't for corporate lobbying, we'd have trucks the size of buildings delivering stuff for my wife to buy."
Which is your favourite of the overland trains? Like what I do? Buy me a whisky! 🥃 www.buymeacoffee.com/calumraasay Patreon: www.patreon.com/calumraasay Get comfortable lads, it's gonna be a long one.
I had the opportunity to tour the LeTourneu plant in Longview Texas on business some years ago. I got a bit of a history lesson there and examined several absolutely enormous earthmoving machines used in mining. they also had on-site several components of jack-up oil rigs that operated by a gear system so massive it was difficult for me to believe. I was greatly impressed by the company's mechanically simple and efficient solutions to issues. Thank you for making this video. I greatly enjoyed it.
Amazing video as always. They have a real Thunderbirds vibe to them and I just can't get enough of that retro futurism attitude of just making everything atomic powered with living quarters onboard.
Oh yes. I've been waiting for this. Also funny that Sacred Cow Shipyards did the Long Tom Artillery from battletech which is mounted on an overland train,
Oh, wow! This is SO CLOSE to that one weird and cool arctic vehicle I was trying to tell you about a (long) while ago. Just imagine this with wider and treadless wheels and with only one trailer (which also has the same big cushy tires). Every once in a while I try to find out what TV program I saw it on. It was a Discovery show, I think. (sigh) I'll keep looking... 😉
You are talking about the Antarctic Snow cruiser, it was pretty terrible but looked awesome, the Russians built a more successful tracked vehicle for a similar purpose. One of the Big-Foot monster trucks used surplus tyres from the snow cruiser.
@@popuptoaster The show was about these monster vehicles that hauled immensely heavy loads, like tanks of aviation fuel, across the ice. They were high tech. The cabs were big and heated so the driver could be comfortable for long journeys. They would have two vehicles for each trip with one basically being a support vehicle just in case one broke down along the way. They had built in cranes for changing the big wide tires if they had to. They had multiple sets to support the giant loads. They looked like something from a scifi movie. I'll find it someday... 😉
@@popuptoaster But the antarctic Snow Cruiser was Calum's first big break. I'm sure Cybershaman already saw that video and is pretty sure it's another similar design made for hauling other stuff.
It took me a while to work out what the Land Trains' aesthetic reminded me of, but I finally pinned it down: they're like something out of the second series of Tom Swift books, the ones written in the 1950s and '60s and starring the son of the original 1910 character. If they had ever actually built the nuclear-powered one, it would be _exactly_ a Tom Swift Jr. creation. _Tom Swift and his Atomic Land Train_ would absolutely have been a title in that series. Hell, the whole Arctic convoy thing wouldn't be at all out of place as a Tom Swift Jr. storyline, except that in addition to the elements, Boris-and-Natasha-style Communist agents would have been trying to stop them the whole way. :)
absolutely fantastic video mate, have loved this series as you put it! honestly i think it would be brilliant if you kept this LeTourneu train rolling and just did a series on some of the crazy machines he built that you mentioned during the outro. keep up the good work as always mate, Happy holidays and good health to you and yours.
Fascinating, to say the least. I was in the U.S. Air Force and stationed at Eielson AFB in Alaska in the late '70s. There was a DOD disposal yard not far outside Fairbanks. In that yard was a lot of pieces of one of those trains and that included the power unit and it was a skinny one that sat down between the tires. It was very interesting to see such a machine. I had never seen tires that big before. I wonder if that's where Big Foot got his wheels and/or tires. Everything in that disposal yard was for sale. FYI, Tok, Alaska is pronounced with a long "o". I believe that LeTourneau is now owned by Joy Global which is owned by Komatsu.
Bob Chandler found the Firestone Tundra tires for Bigfoot #5 in a junk yard in Seattle, WA in the 1980s. It could be possible they were intended this machine.
I was stationed at Ft Wainwright 2006-2011. The LCC-1 sno train parts were in that same junkyard outside of the back gate until 2011. I tried to contact the owner with no success so I called the real estate company when it was being cleared and asked to enter and take some photos. Unfortunately the gent I talked to denied my request, the owner perceived too much risk. The LCC-1 and parts disappeared soon after, I thought it was scrapped. I didn’t find out until later that it went to a museum. Thankfully it was saved. As of 2011 there was still a land train trailer in Tok in addition to the land train power unit and a couple of cars between Fairbanks and Fox.
Outstanding content! (Although when I saw the tyres as depicted circa 0:09 I got a little worried that this might be a reminiscent of the Arctic Cruiser... fortunately further images confirmed that the tyres had treads).
As a young man (a very long time ago) I eagerly looked forward to a monthly LeTourneau newsletter. It was well rounded in that it gave news of the university, some spiritual messages, and news and photos of the latest giant earth-moving equipment. To say I read each one more than once would be a real understatement. Lots of memories.
I literally just binged all your vehicle videos a few days ago. I'm so excited for this video. Please keep doing what you do sir. Your channel is of exquisite quality and entirely underrated. Thank you.
These designs date back to a time when it was apparently believed that driving a wood factory into the middle of a forest and cutting down the whole thing was a good idea. It's definitely a good thing for both the inventor and Mother Nature that the logging train wasn't put into production, but it's still kind of cool that he actually built a prototype of it.
The "preserve the nature by all means imaginable" aspect of nowadays is often exaggerated, piloted by people who somehow gain much traction and who are somehow overly loud (become very much visible with loads of followers) on media and of course the internet, without realising that even such "traction" and exaggerated fanatical approach tends to be destructional, including for nature - most often such attitude seems to be advocating not the nature, but their own agenda and over-swollen "face". One very topical example is the EV craze where an industry which is globally encompassing (been in place for more than a century) and is becoming gradually cleaner and cleaner will have to be re-invented, re-done, re-manufactured, re-industrialized, re-standardized and re- everything - with very often much more harm done than the magical "saving the earth" which the panda, penguin and polar-bear lovers see in their slightly zombified minds. One specific example is digging for lithium (not mentioning thousands of other spheres which will have to be completely re-done in all fields imaginable) - if one sees how we've been engaging in extracting minerals so far, been to some of the oldest old-fields - imagine a new mineral (lithium) now coming into play - many pristine territories, even countries will be dug up - just because the EPA (propogated by the green-glassed penguin people) and the appropriate EU institutions have said "no more ICE-cars until 2030". So while I'm categorically against throwing your crap and waste around you without regard, I don't think "ooooooh, mother earth will revenge and rise against us, I need to hug some trees" and similar attitudes can be based on anything serious - apart from serious mental issues.
@@JurisKankalis lesser of the two evils is kind of the point, we do need to halt c02 emissions, the oceans cannot become acidic at all costs or we're looking at a mass extinction event, even if that means pillaging the ocean shelf for lithium.
@@JurisKankalis you’re right on about lithium especially and most “save the planet” people not having a clue about the actual cost of what they believe to be saving the planet…organic vegan food comes to mind, grown with bone and blood meal from slaughterhouse floors 😂. That said, I think it’s in inescapable reality that our natural resources are limited and there is need for better engineering…there are some 3 billion plus more people in the world than when I was born, and every one of them wants cell phones and cars with rare earth minerals, pure silica, etc. I am a firm believer in the conservation of specific wilderness areas that preserve our nation’s (I’m American) patrimony. Basically I agree with you that most people are clueless bout the actual cost of what “clean” stuff they are buying, and that they are just buying into the marketing, but I think there is an inescapable reality behind the need to find better ways to do things. Logging is a great example. It used to be thought clear cutting was they way to go, most efficient, greatest margins. But the logging companies themselves found in the longer run that they were depleting their own future resources, losing all the old growth and growing skinny, pathetic monoculture trees in their place. So they’ve had to shift tactics.
Thank you, Calum for this film. These machines have always intrigued me. Inevitably, your thorough research and presentation have completely satisfied my curiosity. One thing, though. Nothing can be very unique - well, at least not in the UK; they can be distinctive, notable, remarkable. This doesn't detract greatly from the quality of the film. Well done!
What an interesting Video. I must say, I am surprised how well these huge vehicles like the Land Trains or Kharkovchanka worked yet they never managed to take off because they were just in this very niche market. Thank you for documenting these peculiar vehicles, it's hard to find well made documentaries about obscure vehicles I always thought only existed as concept art. Keep up the good work!
longer that about 100+ft for simi's aren't realistically legal on I80 ect as the laws are written in 2019 as this road train is. it might not help that the usa 🇺🇸 government in the 40's-90's was super paranoid about sharing technology like this equipment designs and may have stunted the civilian/other market for things like this. and at the time being so big vs what normal freight companies need or used in 1970 aka a little to big 7-car vs 3ish-car long, may work better in-today's market place as the need for moving more freight with less labour and quicker/cheaper is more so appetising than in 1970
Calum I can't begin to describe what a good story teller-researcher you are. I remember subscribing to your channel after I came across your video about an ancient tomb. And here I am watching a very long video about stuff I didn't know existed and never would have guessed would consider interesting. Thank you so much!
A modern land train seems like a novel idea for scenic desert tours in Nevada, and transportation in places like the Sahara and Australia. Cheaper than building railways through or helicopter flights, and tall enough to peer over most rocky outcroppings and sand dunes.
They have trucks in Australia that tow several large sized trailers, this kind of vehicle is found only in Australia and are used extensively in the interior
Thank you! Really dredges up the memories. In 1965, I was a radar technician stationed at a DEW site on the west coast of AK. About 100 guys in the main site down in the valley and 6 of us up on the mountain with the radar set. Don't think that they would have built it with road train. So much difficult terrain. We were right on the water so they probably brought the materials in by barge (when the sea melted in summer!). While there, that was the way we got the years supply of bulk goods. The rest came in by air - when the weather allowed, which was not that often.... Now a retired Old Coot, I live about 40+ miles from Longview tx . (Is that the Longview where this beast was built? Or was it different Longview?) Have a great New Year and keep up the good work....
I have actually operated LeTourneau scrappers and dozers when I was in an apprenticeship program around 1971. The Union program had a fleet of army surplus equipment for the trainees. Super loud screamin engines to produce electricity and toggle switches on the controls. Moved slow as a snail but were easy to operate with toggle switches - provided you did not two-block a pan or dozer blade and break a cable. We spent a lot of time fixing cables!
Calum this is an astounding piece of documentary. You must know this, but you've got a gift mate. These types of videos, same as the like of Jago Hazard and Tim Traveller, are titans of niche transportation documentation. You're a legend and thank you for producing these. 👍
The lack of such vehicles and plenty kinds of them in past, feels like looking on documentary about extint megafauna, where only medium size species survived with single two- three large species. Back in time you had giant hovercrafts, giant tanks and giant supercsonic jet planes, space shuttles. But not nowdays. Replaced by smaller and more efficient vehicles.
Incredible! Fascinating history. The dry/gross weight ratio is interesting on these machines. I'm sure with more design and prototyping they'd be able to reduce the dry weight. But a 2/3 ratio is laughably miniscule compared to tracked trains.
@@CalumRaasay wondering if the v2 was ever even loaded? I may have missed it, but I cannot remember seeing a picture of any cargo - only machinery and spare tires. Anyway, incredible video. These machines have stuck in the back of my brain for years and its great to have a go-to video to scratch that itch.
Speed Racer captured my imagination for giant land trains as a child. I had no idea that R.G. leTourneau gave birth to the vision! Now I work in his Peoria factory where we build electric drive mining trucks that weigh 1.4M lbs, more than a 747 or an A380! The technology continues evolving and is a critical element of delivering the copper and steel required for the future of electrification.
As a young man hauling logs in northern British Columbia Canada, I used to have the logging truck unloaded by a giant diesel electric Letourneau log unloader.
aww man, your quality keeps going up! I'd love to see you do a video on British Columbia's heavy off highway log truck companies like Hayes and Pacific. There are so many things about these companies that are being forgotten to time, considering both companies are long gone. Their trucks, however, are still going strong.
That would be awesome, I grew up in Nanaimo. Still remember the sights, sounds, and the amazing cedar smell on the ferries. I blame Pacific for my love of trucks 😂
@@RuzzP Ey, I grew up in Nanaimo too! Mind you, it was probably a lot later than you. I both love and hate Nanaimo, it's weird. The smell of the Mill every morning sure is something I'll think about.
I appreciate the metric conversions (15:10 for example) but they should stay on screen longer, you barely have time to register them before theyre gone. Great video!
Agreed. Also, at 29:35, we see the metric weights "40,8233 KG" and "27,2155 KG". Commas are in the wrong spots (maybe for comedy? (also also, the weights should/could be in metric tonnes)). Otherwise, a great video! Loved machines like these since reading The Amtrak Wars novels.
His mother called him "restless, inquisitive, energetic, determined and ambitious" while he said of his mother "the only book she reads is a thesaurus"
The simplistic design is my favorite part of the Land Train. I don't mean simple as a pejorative. I mean it as an engineering compliment. A vehicle like that could easily carry a bunch of its own spare parts. A second cab on the other end with two more Cummings would give the entire train added redundancy and the ability to easily reverse course.
Four huge tires originally made for the LCC-1 Sno Train were used on the Bigfoot 5 monster truck and you are correct in saying it was just the tires used on the monster truck not the wheels from LCC-1.
The "second hand electric car motors" that LaTourneau used were traction motors from electric trolley cars. At the time America was scrapping out all her old electric trolleys. Interesting to think that the motors from some of those trolleys ended up prowling the trackless tundra...
DON'T WRITE OFF this technology quite yet... Depending what they find when humans actually get there, @elonmusk and his #marsmission might be able to use this tech as the foundation for a heavy carry high capacity long distance transport system on Mars. Getting the materials there will be difficult but I don't think that Elon will be put off by that...
@47:15 mark - LOL, if i had of just watched the video (to that point) i would've saved myself a pile of self-detective work in figuring out where the Alaskan Freight Lines Sno-Freighter was located. Another great video, on a series of great subjects. Thank you for including all of the links in the description section.
Late 50’s and early 60’s we lived and worked on his 10,000 acre ranch as I went thru jr high and high school. Went to school in Hallsville, Tex. My dad managed pop’s radio station. Working on the ranch I was able to drive many of his machines.
I was an electrician working on one of their oil rigs for awhile. They were a shit outfit to work for. I made it 3 months and told them to shove it. Every night when you came in you had to listen to a 20 minute bitch session of what all they'd fire you for and I finally had enough of their 🐎💩 and told em to pack it in their mule. Not long after I left they were getting ready to put some 250 ton leg extensions on the rig. The crane operator told them about the brake drum of the crane being cracked and told them that it couldn't make a lift that heavy until it was repaired. They told him to either make the lift or he was fired. He refused saying he wouldn't have someone's death on his conscience and they fired him. Come the day of the lift, 3 welders were tied off at about 60' and when the crane, with a new operator, went to lower the leg extensions, sure enough the brake didn't hold and it started into a free fall. (I don't know how much the new crane operator knew about the condition of the crane) One of the welders required a very lengthy hospital stay involving facial reconstruction, the other 2 were killed. The fired crane operator agreed to testify, in court, that LeTorneau knew of the condition of the crane and how he was fired for refusing to make the lift. They had em. LeTourneau was convicted of not only negligence but GROSS negligence which insurance doesn't cover. It comes straight out of the owners pockets. It changed names afterwards. I hate that such a sad thing happened. But, greed does that to you. As far as the company, I'm DAMN glad they got hell sued out of them and I hope every one of the 💩 bags went bankrupt. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch of SOB's.
Damn, who let the cook drive the giant, expensive, one-of-a-kind monster vehicle??? No surprise that he managed to crash it, with so little experience. What a shame. Not blaming the guy himself, but whoever let someone that inexperienced drive it in the first place.
I randomly saw one in Whitehorse Yukon while driving to Alaska in my semi truck, and I absolutely freaked out. Damn near jackknifed, slammed my brakes so hard. Ran over to that thing like it's my long-lost sweetheart. Which it is.
For Dutch-speakers the name "the Snow Freighter" does not need a cool nickname, because it sounds like "de sneeuw vreter" (the snow eater) which would be a very cool name
Wow . So Kool... What a piece of American history... This shows what America ment... At one point... This is the very definition... Of America... What a wonderful story
These things WILL be making a giant shining centerpoint for my post apocalyptic zombie tabletop roleplaying games. I can see communities of these roving and herding zombies to clear entire swathes of places for habitation again.
All of the American and NATO attempts at traversing the Antarctic failed. It took the Soviet team designing an overland vehicle that finally traversed these places
Damn the post war and cold war eras went hard. Giant wheels trains, giant done structures, MiGs, nukes. Love this shit. Wish we could go back. Software is boring and dumb.
