November 25, 1920 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



Motor Trucks on Logging Railroads 



The possibility of utilizing mutur trucks as the motive power 

 for operating logging trains on standard gauge logging railroads 

 was described by 0. G. Ericksou of Detroit, Mich., before the 

 Appalachian Logging Congress in Knoxville, Tenn., last week. The 

 experience which he gave consisted of the employment of trucks 

 in this way on a sixteen-mile railroad connecting the operation of 

 a mill between Nashville, Tenn., and Atlanta, Ga., with the main 

 line of the Louisville & Nashville railroad. 



He was lead to experiment with the use of motor trucks instead 

 of locomotives because of the fact that the ties in this sixteen-mile 

 raDroad had rotted during a period in which the logging operation 

 had been abandoned, so as to be 

 unable to bear the weight of a 

 locomotive. His company de- 

 sired to be spared the expense 

 of replacing these ties along the 

 sixteen miles of the right-of- 

 way, and he conceived the idea 

 of using motor trucks with 

 flanged wheels in place of the 

 locomotives. "The problem was 

 to find a truck of sufifieieut pull- 

 ing capacity with the wide 

 flange that would be adaptable 

 to use on the railroad track, ' ' 

 said Mr. Ericksou to the Con- 

 gress. After looking over sev- 

 L'ral different sizes and makes 

 uf trucks, his company finally 

 bought two 2-ton trucks, which 

 it was found could be adjusted 

 to their needs. This truck had 

 M 4x.5 motor. 



"We put in three and a half miles of new track, over 20,000 ties, 

 and with one truck logged a mill of 500 logs daily capacity," he 

 .said. "We logged over 2,2.50,000 feet to the mill. We started this 

 work iu February and finished it about the middle of September, 

 a period of six months when the weather was bad." 



Mr. Erickson said that they had practically no cost for main- 

 tenance on the 2-ton trucks and very little trouble with them. 



He decided from their experience with the 2-ton trucks on the 

 railroad that gasoline as a power fuel "shows point of superiority 

 over steam up to a certain point. A truck has great power in pro- 

 portion to weight, permits a good hauling capacity over railroads 

 that will not bear a locomotive and requires no steaming up. 



"In connection with the trucks 

 comes a problem of ears or trail- 

 ers. These must be of light 

 weight. We purchased special 

 roller bearing mining car wheels 

 nnd axles. These wheels had a 

 "i^-inch face. When made up 

 into 8-wheeled cars they proved 

 '|uite satisfactory and did good 

 service. However, we found it 

 advisable not to continue add- 

 ing to this type of equipment 

 and later placed an order with 

 the same company for a light 

 logging car of 25,000 capacity. 

 This car was to have 24-ineh 

 wlieels with 6-inch face and 2 

 inch flange. Wliile the flange 

 might ride the frogs, this would 

 be no special disadvantage and 

 would insure against climbing 

 out over bad joints. A 1%- 



Photograph at top shows a "Mud Boat" heavily loaded with green logs. At the left is displayed the effectiveness of a tractor with a winch in place of a Mud 

 Boat. The photo at the right pictures a 5-ton tractor at work in a severe and unusual operation. 



The company had two camps, one ten miles from the mill and the 

 other sixteen. The railroad had a 7 per cent grade into the moun- 

 tain, and on the lead a 4 per cent grade with about a 35 per cent 

 curve. The 10-mile hauling job was taken care of by one of the 

 2-ton trucks, and 1,500,000 feet of lumber came out of this camp 

 at the rate of 12,000 feet a day. Cost of hauling logs was about 

 40- cents a thousand for gasoline. It was found possible to attain 

 a speed of as high as 20 miles an hour in hauling, but this was not 

 practiced. 



flange is probably the correct size, as it would be ample." 



Mr. Erickson believes that a demand is going to develop for 

 motor trucks adaptable to use on railroads, and believes that it 

 would be a good move for some company manufacturing trucks to 

 undertake the working out of a model especially fltted to this kind 

 of service. It is his opinion that this might be made to pay. 



The members of the logging congress manifested considerable 

 interest iu Mr. Erickson 's statements, and gave him most careful 

 attention. 



