last of the sled train tractors

loggah · January 05, 2013, 08:22:57 PM

Some of you here have seen my post about my Lombard log hauler ,and sled train logging, well Great Northern paper co up in northern Maine used Lombard tractors up to around 1940,then they started hauling there logging sleds with bulldozers ,they made the roads with the dozers and then pulled the sleds with them.In the 40's they used TD-18 International bulldozers to haul the sleds. In 1952 Great Northern bought 2 Oliver Cletrac model FDE crawler tractors,these machines weighed around 20 tons with the big carco winch attached.They were powered with a 160 H.P. Hercules diesel. These tractors were the last ones used for sled haulage before Great Northern switched over to haul trucks. I got this tractor out of northern Maine around 30 years ago,it has had the cab removed and a homemade nose for a cat d-7 blade ,but it still has the hardwood "sliders" Great Northern put in to replace the top roller assembly, here are some pictures of the tractor with a Great Northern 1959 calender showing it working,and yours truly !! ;D Don

Dave Shepard · January 05, 2013, 08:59:37 PM

Very interesting. Thanks for posting, and keep'em coming. 8)

loggah · January 05, 2013, 09:06:02 PM

Dave ,Heres two more pictures,in one you can see the complete Great Northern calender.in the other one a big ugly gomer holding it!! Don

Mooseherder · January 05, 2013, 09:08:34 PM

Those are great pictures loggah.
I was born and raised there and am familiar with Great Northern.
That machine is moving a lot of wood.

Dave Shepard · January 05, 2013, 09:08:57 PM

I've never seen a big Cletrac down here. Just the smallest ones, even a few "F" models, which I like. I like the TD model IHs. We had two TD-6s, both are gone now.

loggah · January 05, 2013, 09:17:38 PM

Dave, I have a few smaller Cletracs also, actually 4 of them. The FDE was the biggest Cletrac built, then in 1952 Oliver was finishing up with the FDE model and came out with its OC-18 which they changed quite a few things more horsepower and about 3 tons heavier ,with total air steering. Don

pasbuild · January 05, 2013, 10:26:53 PM

Amazing the amount of wood it is pulling

barbender · January 05, 2013, 11:09:34 PM

I'd never seen that set up before, that is really something. They are pulling a lot of wood with that dozer.

Seaman · January 06, 2013, 05:09:36 AM

Love the pics. Living in N.C. I can't even imagine snow like that all winter, much less working in it!

HiTech · January 06, 2013, 06:13:29 AM

Great pictures. It nice to see the past remembered. I would imagine they still used axes to some extent back then. The good days of yesteryear.

g_man · January 06, 2013, 07:30:40 AM

Great pictures. How do they get a big train like that started ? Can't imagine the initial tug it must take to break free. Start off headed down hill probably but once you get going there is a lot of weight to hold back. Amazing what they did in those days.

loggah · January 06, 2013, 07:43:27 AM

g man, lombard parented his own sled irons, you could buy sleds from him ,or just the irons. the nosepiece irons and reachpole irons all had bigger holes in them then the pins they used resulting in a bit of slack just like a railway coupler. when the tractors spotted a train of sleds for loading they would back up taking the slack out of the castings. When the tractors started out they were only breaking them loose a few at a time.If they had to stop a loaded train they did the same thing back up a few sets of sleds . The sleds Great Northern used averaged 7 cords of pulpwood to the set,i think there 15 sets you can see in the pictures just the sleds alone weigh close to 2 tons a set.I see your up in northern VT,lombard tractors were used up there at Wenlock,and Maidstone. Don

Maine372 · January 06, 2013, 08:54:21 AM

2 tons/set x 15 sets = 60,000lbs of sleds
assuming spruce/fir at 4200/cd x 7cds = 29400lbs of wood per sled
29400 lbs x 15 sleds = 441000lbs of wood
441000wood + 60000sled = 501,000lbs!

a half million pounds!

thecfarm · January 06, 2013, 09:00:40 AM

Maine372,good to hear from,how's that baby doing?

loggah,quite the insights you have on those haulers. Lots of history with them.

loggah · January 06, 2013, 09:26:43 AM

Maine 372, Those are the sleds we can see ,im sure there are more out of sight. The old steam lombards were capable of moving 150,000 board ft of hardwood on sleds and their sleds probably weighed three tons to the set. Don

Ed_K · January 06, 2013, 10:25:23 AM

That is way kool, never knew cletrac made a crawler that big.I owned a td 6 for a few yrs,cost me $$$ every time i started it ;D :D :

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thecfarm · January 06, 2013, 10:29:40 AM

My brother had an old cletrac,maybe made in the '20? just a small thing,I think it would fit in the back of a pick up truck. He brought it for some reason,did not run good,I don't know if he ever got it straighted out or not. He was always buying something old to make it better,but at the same time did not want to spend any money to make it better. :

sandhills · January 06, 2013, 11:23:24 AM

Quote from: thecfarm on January 06, 2013, 10:29:40 AM
My brother had an old cletrac,maybe made in the '20? just a small thing,I think it would fit in the back of a pick up truck. He brought it for some reason,did not run good,I don't know if he ever got it straighted out or not. He was always buying something old to make it better,but at the same time did not want to spend any money to make it better. :

Heck I didn't know we were brothers!! ;) Those are great pictures loggah, can't imagine pulling those loads, I'd be willing to bet the old pucker factor went through the roof a time or two.

Maine372 · January 06, 2013, 01:56:42 PM

Don: I guess there is a reason they called them trains! I got to experience logging with a crawler but we used a two cord trailer made out of a truck frame. dad always said you could move more wood that way than with a skidder when you were in small wood. cutting swamp fir and coastal spruce you could fill ten chokers and only have 1.5cd. and you spent most of your day tangling with cable.

Cfarm: babygirl is 9mos now and fairly mobile. very social and growing like a weed. I was over your way ice fishing new years day. limited out on brookies.

Charles Barnes Sr · January 06, 2013, 02:06:47 PM

I enjoy looking at old logging pictures. Ever thought of putting together a book of pictures, history, and stories?

thecfarm · January 06, 2013, 02:17:59 PM

Maine372,they are hitting Norcross hard. There was 12-14 cars there the other day. Compared to a few years ago ,there would only be 2-3 there. The neighbor set his on Mosher. I don't have a license,but will go down to visit with him.

loggah · January 06, 2013, 02:21:34 PM

I'm not capable of doing it!!I do have a friend in Windham Maine who could be capable of doing it he has written about lombards and Railroad history.I do have the photos and experiences, he has picked my brain all ready about a lot of this history. Don

newstick · January 06, 2013, 02:53:16 PM

I am very interested in the old logging equipment, thanks for posting. There is a tracked dozer very simular in a logging display in my home town of Big Falls MN . I remember someone had it running when I was a kid. I will try and get some pictures and post them when I get back up there . I live about 65 miles away now.

1270d · January 06, 2013, 05:51:45 PM

Great pictures loggah. So, were the roads watered before each trip?

loggah · January 06, 2013, 06:07:00 PM

I know with the Steam and gas Lombard log haulers they had water tank,sprinkler crews. Usually they did the watering at night and basically they had the water openings to open over the sled runner grooves. With the higher horsepower full-crawler type tractors i'm not sure ,they could have still been using icing sleds. I know when you pull a fully loaded sled over the snow it makes its own ice where the runners travel. Don