The Sno-Freighter is a one-of-a-kind land vehicle designed by LeTourneau Technologies (now part of Cameron International) for Alaska Freight Lines in the 1950s. During that decade, Alaska Freight Lines won the contract to transport construction material to build the

Distant Early Warning Line The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska (see Proj ...

(DEW) in far northern

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. At the time, no roads crossed the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

in North America, there were almost no runways for air transportation, and the polar ice cap prevented seaborne transport. LeTourneau had built a series of prototype "land trains" for use in roadless environments, and Alaska Freight Lines contracted the company to build a special model for cold-climate transportation on January 5, 1955. The contract called for an off-road vehicle capable of transporting of cargo in temperatures, through deep streams, and deep snowdrifts.Orlemann, p. 66 Using parts from its previous land trains, LeTourneau manufactured the Model VC-22 Sno-Freighter, completing it on February 17. It left the factory in

Longview, Texas Longview is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and county seat of Gregg County, Texas, Gregg County; a small part of Longview extends into the western portion of neighboring Harrison County, Texas, Harrison County. Longview is located in East Tex ...

on March 16. The "locomotive" (serial # 5198) Orlemann, p. 31 of the Sno-Freighter contained two

Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, controls, air ...

NHV-12BI V-12 diesel engines operating at 400 horsepower each. These engines drove 24 electric motors (one for each wheel on the locomotive and trailing cars). Each car (serials # 5199-5203) measured in length and was wide. They carried 30 tons each for a combined payload of 150 tons for the long Sno-Freighter.Orlemann, p. 67 Its first trip under power was in the Fall of 1955, when Alaska Freight Lines began their 400-mile trek north from

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

to the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

.Bishop, p. 46 During its second trip north in the Fall of 1956, the Sno-Freighter jack-knifed and its engines burned just north of

Eagle, Alaska Eagle ( in Hän Athabascan) is a city on the south bank of the Yukon River near the Canada–US border in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. It includes the Eagle Historic District, a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The ...

.Bishop, p. 51 The cargo was off-loaded onto either "Cat" trains (

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

bulldozers A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...

pulling cargo sleds) or one of the eleven 1956 Mack LRVSW semi trucks that Alaska Freight Lines had purchased to supplement the Sno-Freighter. Today, the Sno-Freighter is abandoned and lies next to the

Steese Highway The Steese Highway (known as the Steese Expressway within Fairbanks) is a highway in the Interior region of the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from Fairbanks to Circle, a town on the Yukon River about 50 miles (80 km) south of the Arc ...

Fox, Alaska Fox is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. It is part of the Fairbanks, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census the population was 417, up from 300 in 2000. Geography Fox is loc ...

Notes

References

# *Orlemann, Eric C
LeTourneau Earthmovers
MBI Publishing Company, 2001. # *Orlemann, Eric C

Iconografix, 2009. # *Bishop, Clif

Publication Consultants, 2009. # *Holderith, Peter
The Incredible Story of the US Army's Earth-Shaking, Off-Road Land Trains
The Drive, 2020.

External links

* {{osmrelation, 11143855 Off-road vehicles Transportation in Alaska

See also

Notes

References

External links