The story of the most extraordinary and longest road-train begins straight after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The tension between the USSR and the USA was growing, there was an arms race. The American authorities decided to construct a huge and powerful road-train, they argued that it could stand against the Russian weapon.
The first prototype of the new train – LCC-1 – was developed in 1956. It consisted of the massive Sno-Train tractor unit and three trailing trucks. The tractor unit's function was also any cargo movement about 45 tons. The test runs of the new technological wonder took place in Greenland.
In 1962 the second prototype of the train was created – LeTourneau ТС-497 Overland Train Mark II. The model's number of trailing trucks increased to 12, and the capacity grew up to 150 tons. The train length reached 173 meters – the greatest possible number, and the record was not cut up to now.
The tractor unit of the second prototype had a gas-turbine engine. The new construction's fuel distance amounted up about 600 kilometers. The full-loaded LeTourneau ТС-497 Overland Train Mark II could pick up the speed of 35 kmph. For driving the road-train, which could skirt like a twining snake, only one driver was necessary.
The second prototype's test runs had been passed until 1969. The project costed the American authorities $3.7 million. Later it was auctioned off for the sum of $1.4 million, but nobody desired to buy LeTourneau ТС-497 Overland Train Mark II. In 1971 the construction was sold for scrap, and the tractor unit was handed over to the exposition of Yuma Ground HeriTage Center.
The Sno-Train tractor unit also lives out its remaining days in
a museum. After the test runs in Greenland and the cargo movements in Alaska it was moved to Yukon Transportation Museum in Canada.
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