The World's Largest Overland Vehicles - LeTourneau's Land Trains
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
- UPDATE - I went to see one of these IRL! • Inside The Insane 1960...
In the mid to late 50s and early 60s, a series of innovative and unique vehicles were tested in both the punishing arctic north as well as the boiling deserts of Yuma, Arizona. Some fo the longest and largest vehicles ever built, they were as strange and uniue as they were revolutionary. But who built these vehicles, why were they made and where are they now?
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Big thanks to Mark at Overlandtrains.com for all his help - go visit his website look out his for his book! overlandtrains.com/
Buy LeTourneau's Earthmovers:
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Buy Mover of Men & Mountains:
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Buy Cliff Bishop: Trucking in Alaska:
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Big thanks to Daily Deisel Dose for the photos of the Sno Freighter!
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Video tour of the Mk II interior:
• Checking out the Overl...
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - RG LeTourneau: Born to Invent
04:52 - The Tournatow & LeTourneau's Electric Drive
08:45 - The V-12 Tournatrain: The First Overland Train
10:48 - Building The DEW Line & Alaska Freight Lines
14:40 - The Sno Freighter
17:15 - The Sno Frieghter Goes North
20:42 - The Sno Freighter's Firey End
22:05 - Where is the Sno Freighter Now?
23:14 - US Army Interest & The Sno Buggy
24:43 - The LCC-1 Sno Train
27:30 - Sold For Surplus
27:48 - Where is the Sno Train Now?
28:10 - The Final Overland Train
29:00 - The TC-497 Overland Train Mark II
31:00 - Interior Features & Crew Space
32:05 - Nuclear Powered Land Trains?
32:55 - Land Train Development Stopped
33:30 - The Rise of the Helicopter
33:58 - Where is the TC-497 Now?
34:34 - Bigfoot Monster Trucks
35:01 - RG LeTourneau: The End of an Era]
35:55 - LeTourneau after LeTourneau
36:30 - The Land Train Legacy
36:48 - Outro & Credits & Waffling on a bit
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UPDATE - I did it! I tracked down one of these overland trains and visited it IRL. Check it out: czcams.com/video/KpWv68xECrY/video.html
wicked man, when is the alaska train going to be investigated by yourself??
Agreed, seeing the Alaska overland train would be AMAZING if its still around ! ❤
haha I'm adding it to the list!@@punchingCameron
@@CalumRaasay You are related to George Rainy.
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!
I am a Longview native. How did the LeTourneau family come to have the headquarters in Longview?
Lucky
Naw ye didney
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.
Oh wonderful! What an amazing connection, let me know if he enjoys it! What a facinating wealth of stories youe father must have. Thanks for watching!
Would love to see his reaction.
How cool is that! Good on you and your dad!
I’m also from Longview, and sad to see the old plant torn down.
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
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.
Was it a 6594? Those big grabber fork things?
Do you mean this one? czcams.com/video/8Q7sfgwlxJ8/video.html
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.
Yeah such an amazing idea "I cant find good welders so I'll make a school to train my own!". Love it.
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)
@@PeregrinesFury
My son got a degree in Computer Engineering at LeTourneau and also met his wife there.
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.
3/8 double entry threads. On the large pumps I deal with they use acme type double entry threads. Those use 6 inch shafts tho
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 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.
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.
thats what you call not taking NO for a answer,,thanks for sharing,,x
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.
Yep you can clearly see where Patrick Tilley got inspiration from.
@@JamieSteam Amtrak Wars came to mind immediately when I saw the video.
Cheers for sharing! I hadn't ever heard of the Amtrak wars but I've just ordered the whole series!
AMTRAK WARS FOREVER! WHO'S FOR THE LADY?
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.
Thank you! I love making them so don’t plan on stopping!
Ten minutes in and it's a delight as ever, engineering obscura at it's finest. Thanks
Thanks so much for watching! engineering obscura is SUCH a great term
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!
Thanks for the info! Yeah as far as I know LeTourneau is going strong, albiet having been sold a few times!
@@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
I go to letu and one of the domes collapsed due to the snowstorm we had February 2021
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.
I’ve learned so much about the history of Longview from both the video and the comments
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!
Ah yes, a toast to the Turtle club, silver gulch is shut down for dining now.
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.
@@billwilson3609 I agree, sounds cute.
"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.
@@billwilson3609 I call BS. The M29 Weasel was the idea of Britain's Geoffrey Pike and designed and built by Studebaker
@@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.
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.
Very well said, I totally agree. Great work Calum, I really enjoy your videos.
" hit another one out of the park" what does that mean? What park?
@@__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.
@@socallars3748 Nice. I like the baseball anekdote.
As someone who lives in Fairbanks, I appreciate that you discuss the Arctic conditions, without being sensationalistic about them.
I remember seeing one of these trains sitting out in North Pole back in the 80's .
How can you be sensationalistic about arctic conditions in fairbanks?
@@__Mr.White__ is that a serious question ?
@@jimmymckay73 Yes. Is it beacuase of the movie with the boy who died in this bus in the wildness?
@@__Mr.White__ i would say no . It is very easy to sensationalize the arctic with the extremeness of it
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
I'm obsessed with the DEW line, especially all those now abandoned stations up there in the far north!
@@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.
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!
R.G. designed stuff that was simple, rugged and reliable so were kept in service for a long time.
Thanks for this. I am a grandson of RG and knew info on these trains but really enjoyed this video and it filled in a good deal of history for me.
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.
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!
Thanks Cameron!
This was an amazing documentary. I'm consistently blown away by the quality you put out. Good luck with the house construction!
Thanks Matt!
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.
Oh wow didn't really they had a section there at the Uni, that's amazing. but yeah in his writing it's 50% engineering and 50% god! Quite a guy.
Absolutely loved this, I’ve always been fascinated by Le Tourneau….can’t wait to get his autobiography. Another company you may be interested in is Linn Tractor, started by Holman Linn, another eccentric inventor who was pioneer in “half track” technology. He had a fascinating life starting out as the proprietor of a dog show, and later developing the modern day half track heavy duty truck.
Drop your email so I can forward his autobiography to you.
Thanks
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.
Thunderbirds is definitely the best comparison haha
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
RG LeTourneau would be an extreme builds Minecraft LPer these days
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.
The newsletters are amazing! Still some available online as well
Dam I bet your head is a wealth of information!!!
As someone who sees a modern D8 dozer on a near daily basis, it was very cool seeing its grandpappy in action in the Alaskan snow.
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.
Thank you! Glad I'm managing to build up a bit of a back catalogue now!
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,
Thanks for watching! Been a long, long overdue video!
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. 👍
I absolutely love these long documentaries that you make. This one is another banger! Keep em' coming!
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.
God I know, there’s so many strange inventions of his out there. Maybe a top 10 one day haha
@@CalumRaasay maybe you could at least do a video on how he acquired and used the domes
Fantastic documentation, this is amazing! You've put a lot of time into this and it shows.
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.
I was actually searching for documentaries on the Landrover 101 Forward Control and stumbled across this and your "Kharkovchanka" film - suddenly everything was scaled up massively! Just watched them back-to-back. Fantastic quality documentaries about vehicles I never knew existed. Extraordinary histories. Really well narrated too (no annoying background music). Thank you for taking the time to produce and upload them.
Haha funnily enough I’ve always wanted to do a video on a Land Rover- specifically a cuthbertson tracked Landy!
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…
Haha I know, Amtrak Wars is such a weird series but it's amazing just how similar those land trains were to the Mark II!
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....
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."
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!
Thank you! Always appreciated and glad you liked that video on the tomb! Really love the more niche stuff
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!
Thanks for all your hard work putting this together. Absolutely fascinating. I’m headed to the Yukon some day
Exceptionally well compiled and produced video, and quite entertaining! Museum level material, in my opinion. In gratitude.
Fascinating and informative as ever and I'm glad I found the time to watch this. How often does a 50 minute YT video feel like it flies past in 15 minutes. Excellent work and I look forward to the next one. Now to go down a landtrains rabbit hole.
Glad you enjoyed it! Best compliment is when I can turn a single subject into something interesting!
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!
ww1 dr. prorsa greman had one two and the concept can be used for HGV aka simi trucks to improve safety and hybridisation/solar powered/battery
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
I love how you gave this video such a personal touch, giving a nod to man behind the machine. Well done. Thanks for a great video.
Oh, my! I was expecting one of those low-effort video compilations, not a proper documentary movie!
What a pleasant surprise!
I wish I could thumbs up this more than once!
Some incredible photos and footage here that I have never, ever seen before. Magnificent work!
Thank you!
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.
I live about a mile from that Pete’s junk yard for 43 years and would drive and see those big machines
@@907Dave I remember that well. Kept meaning to go over and talk to Pete about it but was to late when he passed.
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.
@@chops0075 You’re exactly correct. Bob had a movie from the early 90’s that told the story of the tires.
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.
I've gotta say, as much as I loved the whole documentary, your outro and waffling on a bit was equally wonderful! Thank you!
You did an absolute fantastic job making this video sir.
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).
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. :)
Really quite amazing how ahead of their time those books were!
Looking down on it from a picture from above it looked like a gigantic snake
They also look like a car featured in speed racer, one episode has a racer in a car that's pretty much a train
Hi Calum, I enjoyed every second of your documentary! That's a lot of effort you put into it, not only the research and the level of detail - but also the presentation is made very well. Thank you very much. An addition: RG LeTourneau once stated (I think in one of his Now! magazines) that most of his money from selling his business to Westinghouse was spent up for basic research to make powerful electric motors compact enough to fit into a wheel. The mayor brakethrough came when they started to use fiber glass as an electric insulator in the motors.
What a fascinating piece of info! Thanks for that, and thanks for watching!
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.
Thanks for the idea! Maybe one day - I've a long list of propjects to get through
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.
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.
Agreed!
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.
"You see Timmy, Communists can hide among trees. That's why we use all-American know-how to clearcut the area. Try hiding now Ivan!"
@@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.
I admire the effort and extent which you go to with the time and research that obviously goes into your videos, I'm sure for your own satisfaction, but certainly to entertain us viewers. Top work and very interesting as ever. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This video is a work of art and dedication, thank you very much for sharing it!
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... 😉
Haha don’t worry I’ve a long list of things still to get through!
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... 😉
@@CalumRaasay You said that last time! LOL! 😜
@@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.
I worked on his Marine 100 tons cranes when I was a Q.M.E.D. engine crane maintenance aboard the SS SeaTrain Florida and etc for the Hudson Waterways Steam Ships division of Chase Manhattan Bank PK lines (Sam Kahn and Howard Pack). The 1-- tone trains were using the electric wheel principle to power the BOOM, Swing, Main HOOK and Aux Hook lifts. The 2 cranes could load locomotives and 100 cars of a railroad train unto the ship and tie it down.. We haul War Supplies during the Vietnam War from Helicopters to Beer. C-ration to Ammo, Tanks and Trucks, and what ever they wanted to load. These cranes were Letourneau built and used a Wheatstone bridge control hand to excite the series of generators to controls the motors. A 7 year old could operate the crane.
Amazing just for far reaching LeTourneau machines are. I'd love to see a few of these in person.
I wonder how the algrorithm hasn't led me to your videos until now, but now that I am finally here, I get to enjoy your fantastic storytelling and well crafted videos. Thanks for your work and giving us the chance to learn about amazing stuff done by people and mostly forgotten now.
Looking forward to seeing more of your amazing work:)
Thanks for putting this together. I really enjoyed the outro hearing your experiences and the people and work you put into making this for us.
Glad you enjoyed it! It's always fun creating these projects, you end up meeting so many great people!
Hi everyone- This account of a great man is amazing as he is one of my personal life time hero’s. I knew of his work with electric motors from his experiences with electric motors in the US Navy and early earth movers using tractors and electric control of a pull behind grader in road construction. Thank you for your extraordinary work on some of his other projects. When he sold his parents to Westinghouse he went into the forest industry and also the invention of self floating and self lifting off shore oil rigs. The legs were cranked down using large electric motors-of course🧐 thanks again!
Great comment! An amazing guy, I have in fact seen at least one LeTourneau device - the self jacking rigs have found themselves in Scotland a few times!
I cannot stress enough how great these videos are. Thank you for all your work!
Thanks for watching!
just found your Chanel. freaking outstanding have been interested in letourneau machines for a long time. this made my evening
gonna sub and probably have a bunch of video to catch up on.
Wow that's awesome, I have never heard about any of these massive machines or the Latourneau company. Thanks for bringing us this great video!
Our pleasure!
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
Great video on R.G., his unique contribution to earth moving equipment, and this obscure equipment! One last thing: R.G. holds the second most patents of any person, second only to Thomas Edison.
What a great fun fact!
So glad you mentioned amtrack wars, I am obsessed with land trains because of it and it's why I watched your video, great video :)
I just love how enthusiastic you are when you make these types of videos Man!! Keep up the great work! 😁
Great video. He not only had natural engineering abilities, but an incredible imagination.
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.
Yeah I was thinking that too!
@@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.
Great video! I'm lucky enough to have seen the still mostly intact TC-497 Overland Train Mark II back in the 1970s in Yuma. My dad worked for Bell Helicopter and often went to Yuma on business. On one trip he took my brother and I to a scrap yard where the Mark II sat waiting an uncertain fate. I say "mostly intact" in that the train was along an outside fence and ran the entire length of the yard! Except, that was only half of it! They'd seperated it in the middle and it ran the length of the yard TWICE! Just an unbelievable thing to see, especially when you weren't expecting it!
Wow, what an inredible story! How lucky were you to catch sight of that when you did. I truly can't imagine just how vast those trains must have been to wintess in person. Thanks for watching and hsaring that anecdote!
Gotta say... Really love the thank you notes at the end... It's a really nice touch!
Great video and great to see geared electric hubs and diesel electric drives. I would love to know more about the drivetrain and I could work with you on it. Obviously it’s very relevant today with diesel electric now taking over in large vehicles finally!
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.
czcams.com/video/BfmFs1Inqx4/video.html
This is pretty neat, a few months ago in a uni lecture I learned about the electric traction motors embedded in the hub like these; as they are used in those giant mining trucks. The lecture was more concerned with the power electronics involved in driving such motors. It's great to know they have such an interesting origin.
Calum, I'm a 62 year old former professional diver, ironically from Yuma, AZ. Late '60's- early '70's there was a large Mil. Surplus yard on the outskirts of town called "Jet Sales". There the MK2 Command Cab with several trailers connected sat for years. As kids we loved that place. Rode our bikes for miles in the heat of summer just to look through the fence. Sometimes the owner let us in & allowed (tolerated) us exploring. Raised on everything from John Wayne to Godzilla, & Tonka Trucks, we were always drawn with awe to the "Land Train". He'd let us play around on it but would never allow us inside. God forbid! Also nice to see a Nikonos V on your shelf. Thanks for the blast from the past! Subscribed! PS: Some of those same friends riding bikes with me are still employed at YPG running departments now, soon to retire.
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!
Noted!
Calum i wiser than NASA with their Mars Climate Orbiter mistake 😄
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.
He Returns!!!!!
haha I'm always working away on something!
Thank you for the great video. It was especially interesting to see moving picture of these landtrains. I've seen photos before, but never a video.
A stunningly informative and truly fascinating documentary. I'm now off to binge watch the rest of your content coz it's hard to find such unique subject matter that is well produced, exhaustively researched and presented in an appealing manner.
Thank you! Much appreciated
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.
Right? it's really quite hard to full visualise just how huge this thing was.
@@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.
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
Well this kind of reminds me of speed racer because there was a over land train in there as well 👍👍
Would it be accurate to say RG LeTourneau is the father of the monster truck?
Cheers to you, my friend! I stumbled across this gem, and it gripped me until it's end. You have 1 more new subscriber! Please continue making documentaries. Now I'm off to pilfer your video list. 🍻
Thanks for subscribing! Always a pleasure, thank you for watching!
Wow. This is an incredible story. I'm stunned I'd never heard of R.G. LeTourneau and stunned his story hasn't been made into a feature film. Brilliant documentary. Very well done. Bravo! 👏 👏 👏
Which is your favourite of the overland trains?
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Get comfortable lads, it's gonna be a long one.
- RG LeTourneau describing his land trains
@@CalumRaasay How DARE you set that up on a tee for us and then take away our opportunity to reply to you with jokes to that exact effect.
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.
@@CalumRaasay Is that a land train in your pocket or are you just happy to see us?
@@DIEGhostfish hahaha I need these likes they fuel me
What a beautiful history, hell it's hard to think how close we were to having these as a normal everyday occurrence....
I think this guy is becoming a personal hero to me
Whoa i love where this channel is going. This was SO interesting. Can't wait for the next one!
Fascinating presentation, Calum. His vision far outpacing the technology of the time was also a fairly common problem for those involved in software development (or so I've heard). Anyway, you've gained another subscriber my friend.
Great content ! Just found your channel. Thank you for your effort in these videos !
I've driven many modern vehicles derived from these originals. Some of this footage was a staple of elementary-school classrooms shown on 16mm movie projectors. The DEW Line was a big deal in Canadian schools back then. A lot of the still photos appeared in little magazines such as Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and others, back in the 50's and 60's.
Antiquated and useless. They never thought of how to stop the ICBMs 😂😂😂
This is one of the most fascinating videos I've watched in a long time.
Well done.
Thanks for this amazing doco . You have captured an important part of history ! My life has been enriched - i did not even know they existed . Very well done
Another brilliantly crafted and well researched video. Thank you so much for putting this together.
Thanks so much!
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.
That was great and a lot of fun. What an amazing man and company. Thanks for this great documentary.