last of the sled train tractors

[lumberjack48]

In 1959 my father bought a new 0C-3, Oliver, gas motor, nice little cat. Then he bought a Hill Lake, dray with a knuckle boom to pull behind. This was a nice setup for strip skidding.

[Al_Smith]

Those little crawlers will drag more than they look like they can .

[petefrom bearswamp]

Thanks Loggah,
Morris is not far from me about 70 miles east.
Pete

[clww]

Great post, loggah! I'd like to see some photos of the inside of your building, too.

[loggah]

Well i may post pictures  of one  floor in the general forum,  i think guys around here might be getting sick of looking at "old stuff" . Don

[breederman]

There is a Linn tractor on display in downtown Morris. Its just over a couple of hills from here.

[Okrafarmer]

Yup,Joy corp out of Claremont N.H. used Oliver undercarriges 0n there airtracks,oc-3,oc-4. Don

My aunt and uncle live in Claremont. 

[Okrafarmer]

But it's a very nice book if you don't know any better. I brought it for my Father many years ago. I have it right behind me. Lots and lots of pictures in it.

I have it too, and I have spent many hours pouring over the photos. Yes, the inaccuracies are legion. I have thought several times about starting a thread about the book, and going through it page by page to analyze it and figure out the truth about all that is shown and said in it!

I got my copy when I was about 14 or 15, and I made many corrections in pen in my copy. Later, I found out that some of my corrections were incorrect!  But most of them were at least more accurate than the original mistake.

[loggah]

My wife told me to get a hold of them and straighten them out on Lombard ,i said "NO' it took me 40 years to gather what little knowledge i have on the subject and i wasn't going to give it away. I did post pictures of one floor in my building, 2 other floors,there also. Don

[sparky]

loggah (Don), My friend is in the process of restoring a Holt that was marketed as a logging unit. It is complete and needs some rebuilding. The last report was that he had machined a new set of valve guides as the old ones were worn out. He is a skilled machinist and his grandfather had assembled a well-equiped machine shop. He is located in Ashby, MN in the west-central part of the state. He feels it may be completed for our annual tractor show in early September. I know he would like to hear more about Holt logging crawlers. I also have a copy of ,"Endless Tracks in the Woods". I was unaware that it was so inaccurate!
Sparky

[loggah]

The Holts weren't the most successful logging tractors out there, the 5 ton and 10 ton tracks  were 2 piece with a hinge pin in the center,this is where the term caterpillar came from watching the way the tracks  moved up and down going over rough ground. The problem came in a hard pull the tractor would rear up,because the track frame wasn't rigid, you didn't have the front of the track frame weight helping hold the tractor on the ground. When Holt and Best merged in 1925 to form Caterpillar tractor co they took the Holt  trademark and were called the "BEST CATERPILLAR" co. In 1926 they kept the 2 ton model Holt, and the Best 30,and Best 60 tractors,doing away with the Holt 5 ton and 10 ton. The Holts are neat tractors years ago got a ten ton running and ran it around a bit,i will say they moved out !!!!  4 cylinder 6 1/2" bore 8" stroke they really sound off under a load.  ;D Don

[Okrafarmer]

Loggah, I started to write a novel a year or two ago, that involved sled logging with the steam Lombards, circa 1910 or 1912 or so. I never finished it, but if I ever get to writing on it again, I'll have to hit you up for some more information.

If you are ever interested in writing a book, and would like some help with it let me know. My mom is a professional author, and my dad was a copy-editor for many years (and edits her books now). It runs in my blood, as does my love of logging history. I would be thrilled to be involved in getting a good book about Mr. Lombard and his machines, as well as sled trains in general, into publication.

[loggah]

Well i do appreciate the offer, i have tossed this around quite a bit, and figured there wouldn't be much of a demand for it. My wife used to own a printing business and she actually printed some small books 120-140 pages  soft cover. I actually have a copy of a manuscript a deceased  friend of mine gave me,titled Lombards, inventors along the penobscot. he spent 50 years putting it together with interviews with the lombard family ,its legal size double spaced typed with an old Remington type writer, Us in a small circle call it "THE LOMBARD BIBLE" ;D He left no stones unturned doing his research. there are only 2 copies of this manuscript ,the other is in a museum in Hinckley Maine.

[Okrafarmer]

I grew up across the river from Hinckley. I'm not sure just how much wide-spread appeal there would be for the book, but I'm sure they would sell it at the Maine State Museum, the logging museum in Patten, and other such places. I've also noticed that one of the best ways to sell a book in large numbers is to have a great cover-- should be a color action shot of your subject in action. I know a lot of people in Maine would buy it.

I know I would love to be able to read whatever info you have on them. Crawlers, tractors, and Lombards are part of my family lore and I have a special affinity for them.

As I mentioned on your other thread, about the Cletracs, you've got to make the pilgrimage to see Landis Zimmerman some time. It'll be well worth your trip. Enjoy the sites of the Pennsylvania countryside at the same time.

[Al_Smith]

You can still find a few Cat 60's at steam and tractor shows .If I recall correctly  they start with a big bar in notchs in the flywheel .

Cletracs you might find few A's and  B's and occasionally an HG or OC-3 but that's about it .

Probabley the largest show of that kind in the midwest is in Portland Indiana I think in August .

[Okrafarmer]

At our local Labor Day weekend farm days, there is usually a 1938 D-8 with cable-operated scraper, a D-7 with overhead cable blade, an Allis Chalmers model L, a TD-9 IH, and various other smaller crawlers from D-6 size on down. And about 300 wheel tractors, of course! They also have a Frick sawmill they fire up with a big old primitive internal combustion engine and demonstrate sawing. I believe our FF friend Charlie gets involved with that mill a good bit. Anybody who wants to make a trip down here for LDW, come on down for a fun tractor show with sawmill, antique vendors, etc!

[loggah]

Any book is all about the pictures !!!! unfortunately  there are no photos in the manuscript, but i do have most of the pictures he references, i have probably 1500 lombard and  linn pictures squirreled away. I had a 1936 9G series D7 with a letourneau cable blade once upon a time along with 2 2U D-8's and a 13A D8 + 2 D9's  18A and 19A series , I got rid of that big stuff a while back,my buddys said i was upsetting the orbit of the earth !!!! ;D ;D Don

[Okrafarmer]

And no doubt throwing off all the navigational compasses in your zip code.  ;)

[thecfarm]

i think guys around here might be getting sick of looking at "old stuff" . Don

I really doubt that. and if they are they don't have to read your posts.   :  keep them coming. I may not post on your threads but I'm a reading each and everyone. I don't have nothing to really add to your "old stuff" but I sure do enjoy reading and seeing it.
The day is not that far off when guys like you will be gone and than guys like me will step up to the plate with misinformation and no one will know it. 

[WH_Conley]

I haven't posted in this thread because I know nothing about these machines. However I check in at least twice a day. Keep posting. I think this stuff is very interesting.

[beenthere]

loggah

there are no photos in the manuscript, but i do have most of the pictures he references, i have probably 1500 lombard and  linn pictures squirreled away

It will be some work, but hopefully you don't take all your collected knowledge with photo's and manuscripts with you. ;)  You may be the only remaining good link.

[1270d]

My father has a d7 with the overhead cable op blade. Its a 40 something model.  I used to ride with him on there till I fell asleep to the rumble of that big engine and the smell of fresh dirt.

[Okrafarmer]

I used to ride on the TD-6 when I was a toddler. My dad was skinny enough that there was room for a kiddo beside him. The armrests were high enough to provide a certain measure of safety. I can remember being 2 or 3 years old and riding along, and being thrilled when we would push down a tree. Of course the TD-6 couldn't easily push down very much of a tree! Now I drive a JD 350, and it is similar sized to the TD-6.

[mad murdock]

Loggah and Okra, IMHO a book like that needs to be written, so future generations can have a true understanding of the history of what built this nation, so our kids and grandkids will have a sense of how to rebuild it once more, when the time is right.  The truth about our history needs to be preserved, no better way to do that than a good book! BTW with a library of Congress number, maybe it will become a source reference for a future text book. You just never know how much your knowledge can impact future generations. I am really grateful for your willingness to share all your boring "old stuff" BTW, keep it coming and thanks loads!!

[Okrafarmer]

Thanks loads? Fifteen sled-loads?  :D :D Those old crawlers sure were "whack" haulers, weren't they?  : ;D