Only slightly railroad related:

The ALCO Historical & Technical Society has launched an Indiegogo Campaign to help raise funds for the restoration of our unique, 1941 built Parade Vehicle. The rubber tired "Voiture 759" was constructed for the American Legion Post 759, Schenectady, by the American Locomotive Company for use by the 40 & 8 division in parades, and it even warranted it's own builders photo (below). The 759 was used in local and regional parades until the early 1990's when it became uneconomical to maintain by the American Legion Post. It was then rescued by the Schenectady Museum (now MiSi) and passed on to AH&TS in 2012. It is our intent to not only cosmetically restore the piece, but also mechanically restore it, so that it may return to the parade duty it preformed for 50 years. We have teamed up with a couple of local business (Schenectady) to see the project through.

Link to the online campaign can be found herehttps://www.indiegogo.com/projects/voiture-759-parade-vehicle-restoration/x/9474791

Or you can mail donations to:
ALCO Historical & Technical Society
PO Box 1029
Schenectady, NY 12301

Apparently the Cleveland Ohio post could afford more wheels...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerl ... /lightbox/

At least you don't have this menagerie, straight out of Dr. Seuss:
https://flic.kr/p/jCoWLV

I prefer this one

https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerl ... otostream/

That 759 is pretty sharp, ESPECIALLY the euro style buffers and the headlights disguised as euro style ditch lights.

Sammy

The idea behind the parade vehicles for the 40 & 8 was to pay tribute to the veterans of the western front during WWI. The "40 et 8" referred to French box cars of the time that could haul 40 men or eight horses. The parade vehicles would haul around a replica of one of these boxcars, therefore the locomotive represented would have European features.

Many 40 & 8 divisions across the country had (or have) versions of these "lokies", most of them home built. Ours is unique in the fact that it was build by ALCO.