Cletrac.org

hello, i have been stopping for the last year and final decided to post. the cletracs were used in the winter freighting in the great white north. i have some picture to share but how do you post them here????
if you go to my website

www.kingofobsolete.ca (http://www.kingofobsolete.ca)

and check the pictures of the cletrac being salvaged in 90 feet of water thru the ice.

thansk
KoO

To post a picture, you must link to one that is on a server somewhere. Simple use the img and /img tags at the beginning and end of the url for the picture. They are at the top of this window.

Please make sure the picture will fit comfortably on the screen and not so wide it makes everyone scroll out for acres. 600 or 800 pixels is probably good.

Let me know if you need help.

Welcome aboard!

Blake

my attempt at posting a picture.

thansk
(//http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/king_of_obsolete/patriciabookfamoustandempulling.jpg)

ok a little small but it was of the most known pictures of the cat trains heading to red lake ontario. you see it on all the history stories and such.

will work on the size.

edit to bigger size

thansk

another one

thansk
(//http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/king_of_obsolete/patriciabookhalfsunkenclectrac.jpg)

edit for bigger picture

Hey King, I went to your site.  What a hoot!!!!!!!  The ramp boat you made out of the steel tanks is awesome. I like to see innovative projects. Keep up the good work.
Ron

thansk ron, what i'm doing is trying to use my website to show people our differnet way of life. one of the biggest kee secrets is the cat train and the cats that pulled the sleighs. everyone thinks it was just caterpillar tractors used, but alot of cletrac and IH cats were used.

thansk

more pictures to come

here we go, i enjoy this picture of the cats on main street, cat trains were more popular then car back then.

thansk
(//http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/king_of_obsolete/patriciabookpatriciaofficeinhudson.jpg)

My Uncle John used to pull sleds of logs like this with a 10-ton Holt in upper Wisconsin or Minnesota.

Before that they used steam Lombard Log Haulers. He said the Lombards would pull much more.

Blake

wait here, i'll go and get someone who knows more then i do on the lombards.

thansk

did i do good on the pictures?????

Yea, the pictures are fine. You can go a little bigger if you want to.

I'm gonna move this topic to a better place since it is not precisely related to the models of Cletracs in this forum.

Blake

The easiest way to tell the Lombard, built in Waterville, ME (which in all the arguement over who invented what, can say they are the first to build more than a prototype, they built, sold and serviced a commercially viable crawler long before Holt bought the Hornsby track steer patents and went on to become the "inventor" of the crawler tractor) from the Pheonix, Eau Claire, WI (built under license from Lombard) is that the Lombard has a flat steering wheel on front, where the Pheonix has one tipped forward at about a 45 degree angle, and Pheonix built a much classier wood cab on the back. Lombard did experiment with the vertical cylinder placement and what I'm told by people in Maine is that Lombard shipped one like this to the people who later founded Pheonix, and that Holt inspected this machine before building his own crawler. (They had a big lawsuit going at one point). There seems to be more Pheonix (5?) than Lombard steamers around but a few fanatical collectors are scouring the woods and fabricating parts to change that, there are probably 5 gas Lombards and I don't know if Pheonix ever built more than one gas powered prototype. Linn was sometimes an employee of Lombard, and an issue over propriertorship of patent rights caused him to leave Maine and later establish a factory here in a isolated little Upstate NY town.
      But I do own a Cletrac EG thanks to Dana Carrara, and I have visited this site before becoming a member because I've been curious about using the Model A transmission and power unit (as mine has none). I also run across Cletrac mentions in my research as I go through old town records searching for Linn info. so will share what little Cletrac info. I have run across as time allows. I believe John R. Tinklepaugh, down in Livingston Center/Germantown, NY  (a Good Roads/Galion grader then Sargent plow as well as Oshkosh/Ross distributor, now its Navistar-Ben Funk Inc.) was the dealer in the east part of the state, and a man named Van Namee out of Horseheads, NY the west part).

thansk for joining us ferrology, can you post a picture of that cletrac in the logging camp. i think you posted it over at the cat BB about a year ago.

thansk

here we go ferrology, i used the magic of the mouse and here we go with your picture.

thansk
(//http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/king_of_obsolete/c5crofootfeldshaw2.jpg)

Machine in front is the C-series Linn C-5, 5 ton capacity, front wheel drive all the while, track drive optional, wheeled rear axle that lowered to raise the tracks so it could run on the highway like a truck, the Hercules YXC3 474 displ. engine would interchange with the Cletrac, except is set up for 2400 rpm with aluminum pistons. It has the "ear" engine mounts on the flywheel housing and updraft carb. Supposedly Cletrac was all this outfit used (besides Linn to carry the logs out to the roadside). In otherwords the Cletrac was working like a horse, snaking the logs down to the loader. There actually are/were quite a few Cletracs up in the Lowville-Lyons Falls area of NY, but in recent years they have been cleaning out a lot of junkyards where most the scavenged remains I knew of sat. Now I have to dig out the other Cletrac pic.

here is where i'm getting the pictures from, very nice book and it has airplanes and boats that were used to haul freight. i like the cover picture, one tough fellow on the front page.

(//http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/king_of_obsolete/patriciatransportbook.jpg)

thansk

here is a link to some cletrac pictures from the HCEA last summer.

http://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/ ... topic=7802 (http://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums//index.php?showtopic=7802)

thansk

King Of Obsolete - This is really KOOl - great reading and insight from the north country.  Really enjoyed your posts.  Thanks for contributing!

thansk, glad you enjoyed, will be adding more. we are in the busy season right now with the cats.

thansk

Well that was a nice half hour spent. I really enjoyed the pics.

~C.C.~

thansk, only a 1/2 hour wasted thats it. check out my website and spend 6 hours enjoying your self, LOL

watch ebay, i heard there will be a nice clectrac on there from the ACME BB.

thansk

MOVING THE CAT TRAINS TO HISTORIC ILFORD

APRIL 2006


We have been thinking about moving Cat Train Tours to Ilford, Manitoba from Lynn Lake, Manitoba because of the history. Sure Lynn Lake, Mb has the history of being moved from Sherridon, Manitoba by the Cat Trains in the early 1950s but Ilford, Mb was the Cat Train capital of Manitoba back in the 1930s and held this title for almost 50 years. A lot of freight was shipped from this remote community to the gold mines in northern Manitoba and Ontario. It is amazing how far they traveled on the Cat Trains back in the days before having satellite phones and 2 way radios. In those days men were men and moose were nervous!

We decided to do a test run with the natural caboose and a very important guest who would help market Cat Train Tours. We also invited another guest named Orrin but his Mom wouldnââ,¬â,,¢t let him return to the Great White North after last years tour that he did with us. Remember Mom knows best which is maybe a good thing for Orrin?

So with the VIP guest booked for March 23 pick up at the airport in Thompson, Mb we have to hustle to get the Cat Trains ready. This is not a small feat since we have to move them 500 km from the Kingdom in Lynn Lake, Mb to Ilford, Mb. The only really big problem is the ââ,¬Å"so call roadââ,¬Â out of Lynn Lake, Mb which is only 300 kms and takes 4.5 hours to bounce over in the Ford semi. Then we have 132 kms of beautiful gravel road to travel before we hit the ice roads for the rest of the way to Ilford, Mb. The ice is the best part on the road to Ilford, Mb. So we are looking at 10-12 hours in the Ford semi one way to haul the sleighs in. On the return trip we bring out the collectables as we call them; salvage from cleaning up an old freighting yard in Ilford, Mb that has been a 4 year project. So I loaded up the Linn Tractor and the all steel deck sleigh on my buddy Barryââ,¬â,,¢s 53 foot triple axle step deck trailer. I headed out at 5:00 am on a Friday morning 5 days before the VIP guest is to arrive on a simple trip to run this load to Ilford, Mb and reload with collectables for the Kingdom.

Everything is going ââ,¬Å"too wellââ,¬Â on the start of the trip so a wheel bearing on the trailer decided to catch fire and make for a beautiful show of light in the dark early morning. I had a very hard time to put the fire out with snow because I was saving the fire extinguisher as a last resort. I could not believe my eyes! The trailer is on fire with the Linn Tractor on its deck, the thought of losing the Linn Tractor to a fire was heart wrenching. I have sunk the Linn Tractor in swamps and lakes and always recovered HIM but to lose him to a fire on a modern semi trailer on a paved highway would be very sad ending indeed. So I fought the fire and won, anything for my Linn Tractor.

Now I have an axle on the trailer which is no good because the wheel bearing is burnt out and I canââ,¬â,,¢t call a tow truck in the Great White North (no cell phone service). So off came the tires and the axle gets chained up because I must get this load to Ilford, Mb before they close the winter ice road due to melting ice. Besides my cup of coffee is always half full so now I have 2 spare tires for this trip! And I didnââ,¬â,,¢t need that 3rd axle anyways because Iââ,¬â,,¢m not hauling a heavy load so I only need 2 axles.

So off I go making the Ford semi scream for mercy with the screaming jimmy engine that is not happy unless it is screaming out the DUAL exhaust on the 32 year old truck. I made excellent time to Thompson, Mb and got fueled up and headed to Ilford, Mb. This was perfect timing because the sun had gone down so the ice road was crisp and firm for excellent traveling. With the tire chains on the Ford I pulled the load with ease over the ice road. When I arrived in Ilford, Mb, the fancy new D5M cat was waiting to help unload the Linn Tractor and deck sleigh. This is a very nice machine and made unloading and loading the collectables easy in the middle of the night.

So with a good load of collectables I head out at 2:00 am over the ice road. Once I got to York Landing on the ice road I slept across the seats of the Ford because I didnââ,¬â,,¢t want to run the ââ,¬Å"HILL OF SLIDEââ,¬Â in the dark. The ââ,¬Å"HILL OF SLIDEââ,¬Â is a steep hill on a portage on the ice road which is at an angle as you climb up you slide sideways as you go over the top. The engineer who thought this up was not at the top of his class or maybe he did not even graduate?

So with the Ford screaming for mercy with the DUAL exhaust stacks blowing great exhaust fog as I take on the ââ,¬Å"HILL OF SLIDEââ,¬Â and the tire chains clattering away as they are air born from the top of the tires due to the speed that the tires are turning. The Ford climbed the hill with ease and started sliding towards the bush as it climbed. The tire chains and wheels were spinning for all their might to get traction as the Ford screamed over the hill and slid close to the bush. I sure was glad to have slept and taken the hill in the early morning daylight verses the darkness of the night because one mistake on the ââ,¬Å"HILL OF SLIDEââ,¬Â could be very expensive. With the ââ,¬Å"HILL OF SLIDEââ,¬Â behind me, it was clear sailing on the ice road at a top speed of 15 MPH. Once off the ice road and on the good gravel road to Thompson, Mb, the Ford Semi just screamed along making the best time ever with the heavy load of collectables. After a good breakfast in Thompson, Mb I loaded up some more recyclables and headed to the Kingdom which is only 4.5 hours away or 300 kms whichever comes first.

The return trip to the Kingdom was going great until I was about 5 miles away and a big explosion happened at the back of buddy Barryââ,¬â,,¢s trailer. It stopped the Ford Semi dead in its tracks. What had happened was that 2 semi tires exploded together with the force of a bomb which blew away the airbag suspension and the air lines on the trailer. With the loss of air, the brakes came on, right now, and stopped the Ford semi as if it hit a brick wall! The cause of the tire explosion was rocks that had fallen off the gravel trucks that have been hauling over the road for about a week. The truckers were over-loading the trucks and these rocks that were the size of bowling balls were falling on the road and smashing into sharp objects. I had been swerving around these rocks on the road, but I guess I missed one rock. So with the tires blown on the trailer in the middle of the road, I was able to change them with the ââ,¬Å"2 spare tiresââ,¬Â I acquired at the first of the trip from the wheel bearing burning up!

As I changed the 2 tires the gravel trucks never even stopped or slowed down to see what was the trouble? So to slow them down I laid my tires and tools farther and farther out in the other lane hoping they would drive over them or slow down. Once I got the tire changed I arrived at the Kingdom only 3 hours after I should have. But I was nice enough to stop by the local café and present the truckers with a nice size rock on the dinner table. It was the least I could do after their rocks cost me $2500.00 Cdn money which is cheap considering it could have been someoneââ,¬â,,¢s life.

Now instead of a day off to relax and reload the next set of sleighs to Ilford, Mb. I must bust my butt to fix up buddy Barryââ,¬â,,¢s trailer for the next trip. So the nice triple axle trailer will now become a 2 axle trailer because where are we going to get parts in the Great White North on a Sunday. The trailer has to be ready for the next trip to Ilford, Mb on Monday before the road is closed.  So at midnight I finished loading the caboose and welding sleigh plus the TD-6 know as the ââ,¬Å"Curse of Reverseââ,¬Â I figured if I sent him to Ilford, Mb the CURSE should leave the Kingdom, I hope.

We left on Monday morning with the kids who are going to miss some school but I think it might be a bit of a punishment for them instead of a holiday?  They will be trapped in a small winter freighting caboose for 14 days, no internet, no friends, no junk food, no phones and no weird music that they listen to. So I think the kids would gladly go to boarding school if we asked them after this trip. Southern Belle is driving the 1964 Bel-Air car with the big back seat with one kid and I have the other kid in the Ford Semi so the fighting wonââ,¬â,,¢t start right off the bat! We made good time until we are about 70 kms or 1 hour from Thompson, Mb and we came to a spot in the road where they decided to ââ,¬Å"fix it upââ,¬Â using rock blasted from a quarry and a skiff of gravel. Well blast rock is sharper then razor blades and cuts up car tires faster then the Ginsu knife. The engineer who thought this method up was probably the same one who designed the ââ,¬Å"HILL OF SLIDEââ,¬Â.  He must have gotten a promotion from ice roads to provincial highways which included a steep pay raise too! So I watch in the mirror of the Ford Semi expecting to see the Bel-Air have a tire blow and then I will have to be the gentlemen and change it for Southern Belle. But to my surprise I watched in the mirror as the inside tire on buddy Barryââ,¬â,,¢s tire blows apart and takes out the air bag suspension which causes the loss of air and the brakes to lock on. I know the routine because it was less then 48 hours ago that the same thing happened but 2 tires had blown!

The sharp blast rock must have cut the tire causing it to blow, so that is 3 tires, 2 air bags which is about $4000.00 in repairs. So with these repairs because of this ââ,¬Å"so called roadââ,¬Â in 48 hours, I can see why the tourism has declined in the last 10 years. The tourists would max out their VISA on a road that is only 300 kms long and after one experience and never come back. We changed the tire quickly and blocked off the air bag, anything to get this load over the ice to Ilford, Mb before it closes. We shopped in Thompson, Mb for the last of the supplies we will need and as we are in the mall shopping the local thieves are stealing my ski-doo sleigh from under the caboose! Not bad I would say, stealing something at 7:00 pm in a mall parking lot under a street light. But I think I got the last laugh on that thief. The bottom is busted out of that ski-doo sleigh because I had loaded anything and everything on that sleigh. So the thief did me a favor by saving me from having to throw it out at the local land fill. I imagine he would upset when he went to use his ââ,¬Å"newââ,¬Â sleigh and found out there was no bottom. Once again my cup of coffee is half full, always thinking positive.

After we shopped until we dropped, Southern Belle needed a cup of Tim Hortonââ,¬â,,¢s coffee (a Canadian thing) to keep her awake on the drive to the start of the ice road. Remember the last time she was in Thompson, Mb she was in a wheel chair and now she is walking and driving a 64 Bel-Air car which she calls Christine (from an old 80ââ,¬â,,¢s movie). We left Tim Hortonââ,¬â,,¢s and we both have our coffee custom made to what we like and the lids are marked with the number of sugars and cream. Once we hit the outskirts of town that is when I realized the waitress made a mistake and put the wrong lids on the cups. I didnââ,¬â,,¢t get any sugar in my coffee so that means Southern Belle must have my cup. Of course I drink hers thinking that she will be drinking my coffee to help stay awake. Wrong, Southern Belle is driving a standard shift Bel-Air car holding a cup of coffee that is for me. When I pulled over to sleep where the ice road began, Southern Belle gets out of the Bel-Air holding my coffee cup which has sugar in it and she would not drink because it was too sweet. She was more wide awake mad over the coffee and hoping I would stop and give her the cup of coffee then if she had drank the coffee! Oh well is all I said and drank the cup of coffee she was holding. I didnââ,¬â,,¢t want to waste it, but this didnââ,¬â,,¢t help me sleep very well that night in the caboose on top of buddy Barryââ,¬â,,¢s trailer.

In the early morning I get everyone up so we can run the ice road when it is still cold and firm. The Bel-Air car handles the road excellent with Southern Belle at the wheel and when we arrive in Ilford, Mb everyone is amazed to see a 42 year old car made the winter road. Of course, Iââ,¬â,,¢m the KING OF OBSOLETE, what else would I drive? We unloaded the Ford Semi and reloaded with more collectables for the return trip to the Kingdom but we canââ,¬â,,¢t leave town until the coldness of the night. Ice roads will not handle the weight of the semi in the heat of the day. So at 5:30 am we headed out on a return trip to Thompson, Mb to store the Ford Semi, followed by the Bel-Air car to pick up the VIP guest. This way the Ford Semi will be in Thompson, Mb when we come back out of Ilford, Mb in a week and half time by train. We made really good time and the old obsolete vehicles performed well over the ice roads and gravel roads to Thompson, Mb.

We made Thompson, Mb with about 15 minutes to spare to pick up our VIP guest who we will call Steve. When Steve walked out of the airport and saw the 64 Bel-Air car with the big back seat all he said was ââ,¬Å"Wow, you are the KING OF OBSOLETE!ââ,¬Â Also he asked about taking the low riding car on the ice road. I assured him that it was not the first time the muffler had fallen off and it wonââ,¬â,,¢t be the last! We will make it with no problems. Of course the airline lost Steveââ,¬â,,¢s luggage as a welcome to Canada present so off to the local store to try and max out his Visa. Plus we had to get him dressed for the Great White North since he had just spent 6 months at the South Pole as a Caterpillar Genset mechanic so his wardrobe didnââ,¬â,,¢t suit our climate. So we looked at the airline losing his luggage as a good thing.  Steve would have melted away with all those extreme winter clothes he had brought for our nice weather.

With the gas tank on the Bel-Air car full and the last of the fast food eaten we head out on the 4 hour drive to Ilford, Mb. Steve was amazed at how well the low riding Bel-Air car rode on the gravel road to the start of the ice road. Once on the ice road we stopped and took pictures of all the nice cracks and dimensions in the ice. We made Ilford, Mb in good time to eat our Subway subs for supper in the caboose, which would be the last of the fast food for 14 days.  Poor Steve drew a short straw and got the top bunk which in a freighting caboose is hot since heat rises. The best bunks are the bottom ones which are the right temperature and easy to get in and out of when you have a big bald spot like mine.

So the first night on the Cat Train Tour was spent under the street lights of Ilford, Mb because we didnââ,¬â,,¢t want to leave town in the dark. Not because we are afraid of the dark but we need pictures to market our tours. We had to get certain pictures to relive the history of Ilford, Mb as the Cat Train capital of Manitoba. The next morning after numerous cups of coffee we head the Cat Train out of town. The mighty Linn Tractor pulled the caboose and welding sleigh while the TD-6 known as the Curse of Reverse pulled the all steel deck sleigh. The Famous Black Cat got to break trail with Steve driving and pulling the skid sleigh. One of the kids decided to ride in the skid sleigh to entertain Steve as he drove. We made good time until lunch time when the cat train stopped for a meal and a nap. The crew needed a nap to recover from jet lag and driving on through the night to get over the winter ice roads. This was ok, because I got to service the equipment.

Once naptime was over we were freighting again, traveling at a top speed of 5 kms and enjoying the scenery as it went by. The creeks we crossed were not a problem even for the Linn Tractor when tandem pulled with the Famous Black Cat. Steve was the fellow who decided on the spot to set up camp for the night. This turned out to be an excellent location for viewing the Northern Lights. The caboose is a little small for 5 people to live in of different genders but we are gentlemen and everything went well. High school years would have been a different story and private areas would have been seen when the changing curtain falls to the floor numerous times. Oh the memories from my wasted youth. But we are all adults and mature now so there were no close calls even at bathroom breaks. We went to sleep on the Cat Train Trail watching pictures of Steveââ,¬â,,¢s South Pole tour which made it very unique because of the 2 worlds meeting.

We awoke in the morning to sunshine beaming through the caboose windows, so we knew it was morning. On the Cat Trains we try not to look at the clock or follow it, we let nature take over. Breakfast was an excellent meal of pancakes smothered in fresh maple syrup from a fellow named IHIAM in Ontario. What more could a fellow ask for but the best in the Great White North! So we fired up the equipment and headed out on the Cat Train Trail. Steve is in the lead driving the Famous Black Cat blazing trail at a top speed of 5 kms per hour. We come to a creek and Steve asks about crossing it because he doesnââ,¬â,,¢t want to sink the Famous Black Cat for the 17th time. I assured Steve to drive across the creek and everything will be well. Wrong! The Famous Black Cat broke through the ice and went into 5 feet of water. I was very surprised to see the cat fit so nicely in the creek and the water covered it so only the headlights were above the water surface. Steve standing on the seat so not to get wet was in shock. I guess he has never sunk a cat before so I calmed his nerves by thanking him for this excellent photo shot. The Famous Black Cat has been sunk 16 times and recovered with only 2 pictures ever taken. Now we have 3 digital cameras and a camcorder to document the 17th sinking. Steve was very surprised that I was happy with the sinking because of the photo opportunity. I think it was one of the best sinkings we ever had and the pictures we got were well worth it.

With Steve still standing on the seat of my cat, I asked him if I could drive his D2 cat when I come to the USA to visit him. He said ââ,¬Å"Noââ,¬Â for some reason?  Maybe because of fear of me driving his cat into the Mississippi river? After we all had a good laugh, the salvaging of the Famous Black Cat began. The mighty Linn Tractor could not get the cat out of the creek due to the frozen bank. So the TD-6 known as the Curse of Reverse was sent into the creek to bust up the bank. Now Steve was really scratching his head, we have one cat in the creek and now we put another one in the creek but donââ,¬â,,¢t sink it as bad as the Famous Black Cat. I could see the expression on his face as the Linn Tractor pulled out the Curse of Reverse that he thought we do things a little differently in the Great White North. Once the Curse of Reverse was out of the way, the Linn Tractor pulled the Famous Black Cat up out of the creek with a little help from the Curse of Reverse.  So busting up the frozen bank worked out great. But it was a little embarrassing when we had a bunch of ski-dooers stop by when the Famous Black Cat was in the creek. So we all joked around and blamed the ââ,¬Å"fellow from the South Poleââ,¬Â for sinking the cat. We were going to tell them it was for a ââ,¬Å"photo shootââ,¬Â, but then they would think we were smoking the drapes or something!

The Famous Black Cat spent the night after the 17th sinking under a blue tarp with a propane heater keeping him warm. We could not work on him that night because Steve had more home movies from the South Pole that we wanted to watch. In the morning after bacon and eggs we drained 35 gallons of water and oil from inside the Famous Black Cat and then we poured new oil in him. The welding sleigh carries enough supplies to service all the cats and Linn Tractor after a sinking. This is because there is no store or help on the Cat Train Trails that we travel.

We hooked up the sleighs and headed back to Steveââ,¬â,,¢s favorite spot on the Cat Train Trail for spending a couple of more nights. We decided to stay in one spot for a couple of days and relax and enjoy nature at its finest. Plus we had a big bonfire and built a snow fort to go with the snowmen too. This worked out good because the weather turned nasty and it was better to be in the bush, out of the wind, plus the pictures would not have turned out very good! By the time we were ready to travel back to the town of Ilford, Mb the weather had turned for the better. We arrived back in Ilford, Mb on Tuesday evening so Steve could catch the VIA passenger train out on Wednesday morning, a week after he arrived in the Great White North.

We parked the Cat Trains at the VIA station so we can get pictures when the train arrives at 7:00 am, as we say for the ââ,¬Å"marketingââ,¬Â. Steve hopped the train and rode all the way to Winnipeg Manitoba which worked out good because he got to see more of the Great White North then he did from the airplane.

With Steve on the VIA train we have 2 days until the next train to get things organized in Ilford, Mb. We must get the sleighs and cats put away for summer plus make arrangements for the CAT TRAIN TOURS to be based out of Ilford, Mb. On Friday morning at 5:30 am we get up and get ready for the 7:00 am train, the 1964 Bel-Air car never fails and starts. We needed the Bel-Air car to haul our luggage to the train or we would have been dragging the luggage by hand to get it to the station. Everything goes smoothly and we ride the 5 hour train ride to Thompson, Mb.  This was very relaxing and enjoyable. The train crew told us about Steve and how he rode the train all the way to Winnipeg, Mb. This was great to know since we didnââ,¬â,,¢t know how Steve had made out after we said goodbye to him in Ilford, Mb. One of the nice things about living in the Great White North is there is no cell phone service so when you are on the Cat Trains nobody can bother you.

We arrived in Thompson, Mb and I picked up the Ford Semi that I had left at my buddyââ,¬â,,¢s place while Southern Belle rode a taxi and got fast food. Oh those burgers tasted great (after 2 weeks in the bush) on the drive back to the Kingdom. I drove very slowly the last few miles to the Kingdom watching out for those ââ,¬Å"killer rocksââ,¬Â on the road. It was good to be back in the Kingdom relaxing and watching the snow melting as another Cat Train season came to an end.

thansk

Quote from: "King of Obsolete"thansk, only a 1/2 hour wasted thats it. check out my website and spend 6 hours enjoying your self, LOL

Well, thats all I could squeeze in at work. We goverment employees have to wor too.

~C.C.~

well a 1/2 hour aday you should be able to see the whole site in about a weeks time. LOL
i was in the south and was going to look at some cletrac but no time with repairs to all my vehicles.check out the adventure i had on the TWO VALVE TOUR.

http://kingofobsolete.ca/two_valve_tour_WEBPAGE.htm (http://kingofobsolete.ca/two_valve_tour_WEBPAGE.htm)

thansk