1956 LeTourneau LCC-1 Sno-Train - video and photos

[Frank S]

I've seen "Ice Road Truckers" so why was the train not such a great invention and still used.
It doesn't look like many of these were lost compared to big rigs. i get it that driving across frozen lakes is probably a bad idea but is it not a bad idea anyways.

At the time period the land trains were used Highway transport trucks were comparatively small by today's standards 180 to 238 HP was the norm. Tandem drive axles were not even the standard. a lot of highway trucks still ran single drive with a tag axle, and only the military or mining & logging trucks had all wheel drive
None of the roads far up north were paved and only a select few a little farther south were even graveled.
A road in the far north might be nothing more than a cut trail hardly any snow removal equipment was available and that was limited to being dozers
A 50 inch snow fall meant nothing moved not even dog sleds until it froze and packed.
Freight could be transferred directly from a ship at a harbor or from trucks to the land trains then transported over and through seemingly inaccessible areas.
As the horsepower of road trucks increased and roads were graveled some even paved (Sorta) maintenance equipment and snow removal equipment evolved the need for these behemoths diminished as the economics scale of transferring freight onto them shifted in the other direction. In the far north regions say Whitehorse and farther north or a few of the 100s of small Islands that are inhabited getting freight to them can only be done at certain times a year either by boat when the rivers are flowing or by ice road in the dead of winter. How would you like to live where the sun sets for the final time in mid November and doesn't rise again until February There are places where that does happen it could be 100 days between sunset and sun rise other than just a faint glow to the south.