Hide Article Text (OCR)
:h.1-P.:ealso’sin:si-fdA1-LeTourneau Land Train MayCause Shipping 'Revolution'tsal-l-yITei-i-i.yitoLONGVIEW, Texas, (Special)--Severai types of a giant cross-country freight train, now being constructed here, promise to open new doors to the expansion of world commerce into underdeveloped areas.One of the nation's leading industrialists and inventors,Robert G. LeTourneau, said to-lt;f day hev is convinced' that commerce is about’ ' to undergo a broad extension' beyond. thebounds of highways, and railroads” due to this new concept in transportation.Travel on Tires The* cross-country freighters differ considerably from the railroad Variety in that they travel on huge rubber tires instead’ of rails, and especially because each car is self-propelled with all-wheel drive, rathbr than pulled by single lead engine.lt; Three of the transporters already have been completed by R. G, LeTourneau, Inc., of Longview, Texas. A fourth has just been contracted for by the Army Transportation Corps, and several others have been ordered by private industry for use in the United States and abroad.•Alaska Operation* TA six-car freighter recently delivered to northern Alaska, is transporting cargoes of freight to isolated areas, LeTourneau said. Field reports indicate it is meeting with complete success.Another transporter, with eight cars, currently is being used to move timber and heavy equipment over a 12,000-acre proving ground which LeTourneau.maintains here.While the job the Army has in mind for its cross-country transporter was not revealed, LeTour-neau said others now are. being readied for the transportation, exploration, and heavy construction industries.LeTourneau, a pioneer in the design of heavy equipment,, built 70 per dent of all earth-moving equipment used by. the Armed Services during World War II, For the past two years his firm has devoted practically all its resources to the development of land-clearing, logging and other types of industrial equipment for off-road use.How Freighters OperateOne reason the new cross-country'carriers operate wher^ other equipment will not is because of their all-wheel drive arrangement. LeTourneau explained that every wheel of every car has an individual electric motor tucked into its center. Thus a six-car train, with six wheels per car, would have a 36-wheel drive.Another reason is that tires on some of the freighters range up to 10 feet tall and four feet wide, offering more than 50 times the ground contact area of an ordinary automobile tire. Such size, plus the fact the tires operate on as little as five pounds air pressure, . allows.. the . freighters to travel through sand, snow or lowland areas where conventional equipment would quickly bog down.Still another feature which adapts the trains to rough, rockyterrain are flexibly-mounted axles, LeTourneau . explained. These allow wheels to roll over such obstacles as stumps or ditches without reflecting jolts to the rest of the car.Unique SteeringA unique steering arrangementassures that the last car of the freighter will follow the identical tracks of the first car, regardless of how many cars may be in between. Thus, when the lead car makes a sharp turn around a given obstacle, every other car will come up to the same spot and make the same turn. The effect is that of a train being guidedby permanent tracks, except these, freighters choose their routes asthey go.It also was pointed out that, while ordinary railroad trains require that grades be nearly level, these rubber-tired editions can climb a steeper grade than an automobile. Thus the expense of tunneling through mountains or zig-zagging up hillsides, is virtually eliminated.Importance of the- new transporters to commerce is closely tied to the economics of road-5«riidiing’ LeTourneau noted. While the trains of course willrun faster on a good road than a bad one,” he said, “they can beoperated satisfactorily cross-country or along rough jungle trails during the early stages of a development program. Later the routes can be improved and the\Tsame trains operated at faster speeds and lower costs.”• Many Prices.Another favorable factor.is the wide latitude in the cost of various designs in the LeTourneau's line of cross-country carriers. Price tags presently range from about $30,000 to more than aquarter of a million.dollars.%“It is no longer difficult to envision trains, carrying valuable cargoes of passengers or supplies, criss-crossing the vast . African deserts, or the frozen regions of the Arctic, or South America’s impenetrable jungles, LeTourneau declared.“Nor is it difficult to envisionthe economic' wealth which canbe derived through tapping thefabulous natural resources whichhave lain for thousands of yearsbeyond the reach of road-boundcommerce.■ ■“And perhaps even more .important,” he said, “is the new contact and understanding which can develop Between diverse peoples of the world through such commerce.”Plenty of RoomHe noted that, not only is there room for industrial expansion^ abroad, but there also are vast areas of our own'country which are not fully developed because of the lack of economical transportation.A two-color booklet, showing photographs and concepts of some of the equipment in action, is available by writing: R, G, Le-IIITouroeau, Inc., 2399 South Mac- $ Arthur, Longview, Texas,Squadron Chief Marks 1st Year At Ladd Fieldtbt:Lfc. Coll Julius C. Lowell, commanding officer of the 5001st Motor Vehicle squadron at Ladd AFB celebrated his first anniversary as squadron commander this week.The colonel was presented acake by officers and JMCQ's of the squadron at a squadron staff meeting._ Colonel Lowell was commissioned in April, 1941, as a second lieutenant in the army air corps at Kelly Field; Texas.During World War II, he commanded the 74th Fighter squadron of the 23rd Group in the GBI theater. ■ .He was- released from active duty in 1946; and remained a civilian until January; 1948, when he returned .to active duty as a T/Sgt. Later in 1948 he was recalled from reserve status as a major and served in Germany during the Berlin, airlift.Previous to his present assignment here, he was assigned to the air force ROTC at Texas A and M college.t:sliptipWest's Diplomacy Seen in New EraLONDON, Sept, 23r (IFI—Foreign Secretary Harold MacMillan said Thursday Western diplomacy is entering a new “long haul” phase of negotiation from equality” with Russia instead of “negotiation from strength.In a major policy address, MacMillan said that in the H-bomb era the West’s power can no longer be used “even for bargaining purposes as- a superior weapon.OPE
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Fri, Sep 23, 1955
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
WA, USA 15 Sep 2020
Other Publications Near Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Daily News Miner
Fairbanks Weekly News Miner
Fairbanks Evening News
Fairbanks Daily Times
