True Story of the US Army's Earth-Shaking Land Trains

Рет қаралды 37,703

Күн бұрын

At 570 feet long with 54 driven wheels, the colossal TC-497 off-road land train is one of the most incredible vehicles ever made. But why? Who built it? And what happened to the largest overland rig the world has ever seen?
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Back in the 1950s, America wanted to build a line of remote radar stations above the Arctic Circle to guard against Soviet bombers. Problem was, without any existing roads or airstrips or seaports, there was no obvious way to get all the materials and supplies up there. So the U.S. Army called up a brilliant inventor named R.G. LeTourneau to see if he had any bright ideas.
And he did. LeTourneau's company designed earthmovers and other heavy construction vehicles, and he was already hard at work on a concept that could do the job: a trackless overland train. Using a hybrid diesel-electric powertrain with hub motors, giant wheels, and self-propelled trailers, LeTourneau's giant land train could punch through the Arctic wilderness while carrying just as much as an actual train.
Over the next eight years, LeTourneau perfected the idea and built four different land trains, each larger, more complex, and technologically advanced than the last. In 1962, he delivered his masterpiece to a U.S. Army proving ground in Arizona: the TC-497, nearly 600 feet long with 54 drive wheels and rudimentary computer-controlled steering.
But that same year, the only thing that could defeat a land train was entering the picture. And it wouldn't be long before his incredible machines were scrapped, sold off, and in one case, abandoned on the side of the road.
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Пікірлер: 65

@BurningRubberNz 3 ай бұрын

Too bad you couldn't interview a driver or mechanic that got to take it through the actic circle bet they have some good stories

@makina323 3 ай бұрын

Looking at the wheels on Bigfoot really gives perspective on how ridiculously huge these things really where D:

@FaithinThoth 3 ай бұрын

Look up Letourneau log Stacker. Still being used by some. They unload my log truck every so often.

@markbloom2105 3 ай бұрын

Automobile Polo Anyone??? Back in the early '50s, it was common for moviehouses to show newsreels of recent events and a cartoon along with the main attraction. (For ten cents a ticket, it was a steal --and 10 cents for a bag of popcorn, also)! One time, MovieTone News reported on a game of Polo played in a stadium, if I remember correctly, with automobiles inside of spherical roll cages and a ball around 8-10 feet tall! The drivers drove towards the ball and bumped it towards their goal all the while other drivers are positioning their cars to interfere in order to make a goal themselves...half the time rolling their cars, head over heels during the action. Could you locate and show that newsreel? That would be great! Thanks.

@Mygg_Jeager 23 күн бұрын

IRL Rocket League

@katecheromcha9675 3 ай бұрын

Fascinating story! Too bad there wasn’t a Matchbox cars version!

@RolandDrehtRaeder 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for this video. Well done and presented.

@NielsHeusinkveld 3 ай бұрын

Gear reduction increased the torque at the wheels, but power stays the same!

@newt2010 3 ай бұрын

Seen this many years ago, but really liked your video and explaining how it worked and the variants . Cheers

@halfwaytobedlam3234 2 ай бұрын

amazing, I absolutely loved this. A nice bonus is that I finally know where that picture of the goofy bigfoot monster truck came from and that it is real

@jpkosoltrakul 3 ай бұрын

8:01 That drawing is for the Antarctic Snow Cruiser from late 30s, has not to do with the LCC-1.

@gingerriviera3654 2 ай бұрын

I just found this channel and it's awesome.

@drive 2 ай бұрын

Thanks! Lots more to come!

@urbanstrencan 3 ай бұрын

Once again learned something new, these videos are just amazing, keep up with great work :)

@davidbarnsley8486 2 ай бұрын

I do like stories about these vehicles

@stephenpike3147 3 ай бұрын

Extremely interesting, well presented and a credit to LeTourneau, an engineer I’d never heard of before. As a child I remember seeing pictures of the ore carrier road train vehicles they had in Australia which were similar to this but if I remember correctly, had hoppers instead of flat beds like this. I assume the railways (up to 8km long trains) were the demise of those.

@chilledburrito 3 ай бұрын

I saw a video about the latest model a while back. I didn’t know there were earlier versions that’s so cool.

@carltonbankz9273 3 ай бұрын

Crazy I lived across the street from Letourneau university for 5 yrs where they built huge earth movers in Longview tx. Which also happens to be where R.G is buried. They sold the plant to some other company some yrs ago and they changed the name sadly.

@DairelFoleur 3 ай бұрын

Author Patrick Tilley utilized a land train in his science fiction series, "The Amtrak Wars". There was even a companion guide that illustrated the book's version of a land train. Dark Visions: an illustrated guide to the Amtrak Wars.

@AbandonedRaven 3 ай бұрын

Reminds me of the Mammoth car from Speed Racer.

@brabblemaster401 2 ай бұрын

I could still see a use for this type of vehicle as a mine train. Some of the mine in the Canadian artic struggle with profit from the high cost of trucks shipping ore, and the extreme cost of building railroads. Places like the Mary River Iron mine could use it to haul high grade ore to southern baffen Island instead of to the north. Having ice free ports 10 months of the year instead of 5

@piesareround 3 ай бұрын

I learned something. Thanks.

@drive 3 ай бұрын

got you

@WilliamBurdine 2 ай бұрын

Great Find and History.... LOL Restoration on these bad boys!

@SmallBlogV8 3 ай бұрын

The fact that he unwittingly aided the invention/popularisation of monster trucks only makes this whole story EVEN MORE American.

@jameseastwood4984 3 ай бұрын

Great story, v interesting.

@drive 3 ай бұрын

happy you liked it

@snoop-pay 3 ай бұрын

This is super cool😮😮

@BucketList22 2 ай бұрын

He ( LeTourneau) invented a bunch of cool stuff, and alot of it is displayed at LeTourneau University.

@danylovarshavsky7639 3 ай бұрын

Calum does a really good longer form video on these things

@robdgaming 2 ай бұрын

I read somewhere that it was proposed to power the DEW Line stations with small nuclear power plants that could operate without a crew for extended periods. This would greatly reduce the need to support personnel at and deliver fuel to the DEW Line. But, like so many strange military ideas circa 1960, it didn't get very far.

@drive 2 ай бұрын

you are correct, and the reactors were to be brought in on the TC 497

@HoonAgain 3 ай бұрын

Have you done a video on Bob Chandler and Bigfoot? If not, please do. Who (over 40) doesn’t remember Bigfoot the monster truck. Incredible story.

@glennmorgan4197 2 ай бұрын

4:51 And now the hottest version of electric power trains is hub motors powered by the existing engine in a hybrid fashion 👌 😀

@nicholas2113 2 ай бұрын

I got to see one of these bad boys in Yuma. It was in a shockingly good condition

@jimtaylor294 2 ай бұрын

Australia would have loved something like this 😁👌

@jackgee3200 2 ай бұрын

It's a complete myth that the tracking steering of the Overland Trains' trailing cargo and power cars was computer controlled or co-ordinated. It's clear from any serious thinking about the problem that would've been extremely challenging with the technology of the time. The actual solution - easy, low cost but ingenious (as befits RG LeT) - is right there in the original LeT drawings & advertising docs available online . Ppl have falsely imagined the need for there to have been a complex solution - and conjured up a "technological innovation that still impresses today" to suit. The real systems absolute simplicity is the thing which is impressive. "A little learning is a dangerous thing" (Alexander Pope 1688-1744)

@j.daniels7429 2 ай бұрын

This technology should be added to semi trailers today on the interstate system to make trucking more efficient. 6 trailers per truck ans they can only drive in the right lane.

@Heakz 2 ай бұрын

For some reason all I can think of when I see that TC-497 is Land-Train Centipede.

@ricepony33 3 ай бұрын

Visio Racer channel covers these types of vehicles in more detail.

@ΘάνατοςΧορτοφάγος 3 ай бұрын

The reduction gear in the hub does indeed increase wheel torque...but not power (kW)

@jamesstuart3346 2 ай бұрын

Not to be picky, but the Canadian flag you show did not exist until 1965

@SpartanONegative 3 ай бұрын

We need space trains 🚂

@AndrewDasilvaPLT 3 ай бұрын

GE999 was my autistic interest as a youth.

@FaithinThoth 3 ай бұрын

Biden said there would be rail ways crossing ocean's soon. But that's a elder dream.

@mikeks8181 Ай бұрын

I have a TOPIC! The Australian Truck Trains!

@Heakz 2 ай бұрын

I mean, 150 tonnes is no where near how much trains even of that period could pull I would imagine of course it was 0 without tracks and 150 is much better than that. We still kind of have these, they are called road trains.