Thursday, August 20, 2015

What Do You Get When You Cross A Locomotive And A Snowmobile?

     Here comes one now!

The Lombard Log Hauler. The ultimate carpool vehicle! Except nobody ever wants to be stoker.

8 comments:

Old NFO said...

Somebody with WAY too much time on their hands... What a neat rig though!

Roberta X said...

They were used in the early 1900s to haul logs in the Northeast.

B said...

I knew of one that had wheels AND skis, so it could be used year round. Dude used to show it at steam shows. Took at least 3 pipple to operate. ... Musta been a bitch keeping em from freezing in the winter though. I think it was retired because the boiler wouldn't pass inspection.

Neat machines. They were geared very low and could pull several hundred tons on snow...I understand they killed people on downhill slopes as there was no way to brake the sledges so they overran the tractor.

JC said...

Not really a Locomobile (http://www.locomobilesociety.com/history.cfm_), but more like what they use for Cat-skiing up in Canukistan. Still neat, though.

Roberta X said...

B, they also had steering issues, as in they weren't very. The steersman's position is so exposed because that way, he can jump clear if he is unable to avoid an obstacle.

You'd think it would be all NOPE; but it was apparently more efficient and safer than the horse teams it replaced, which also had downslope issues.

JC: did I *say* it was a Locomobile? This kind of straining at nits to pick is one of the less-attractive features of Our Digital Future.

rickn8or said...

I've been lucky in that I've never wanted/needed to get to work that badly.

Well, I had one employer that would keep me at work if the weather was wonky and my services might be necessary...

Roberta X said...

My employer dispatched 4WD vehicles to transport essential employees during extreme weather. I'm told during the Blizzard of '78, they used snowmobiles.

Chas S. Clifton said...

Was the coal carried on board, or should there be a tender. Whatever, it looks like just the thing to pull the armored snow-train after the Big Collapse.