How many locomotives survive that were converted from Fordson tractors? Between 1917 and 1928 there were over 1.2 million Fordson tractors produced in the US. There were over twenty companies that made locomotive conversions for these tractors. I know of six survivors, one in Pennsylvania and five scattered up the west coast.

John,

There appear to be three of the Nattrass conversions surviving in New Zealand - one at the Shantytown Heritage Park http://tinyurl.com/ya45myun and two others listed here http://tinyurl.com/yc7o7tc4

Jim Tatum

A pole road conversion survives at the Mt. Rainier Rail road & Logging Museum in Mineral, WA (formerly the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad). It has large double flanged wheels, and was made to run on telephone pole sized logs, which were used as rails. Here's a photo from circa 2007:


I know where there's about six pole road wheels sitting in a field. Personally, I'd like to see an operable, ridable replica pole road built in my lifetime.

Here is what I have on preserved Fordson locos in North America.

Morse Brothers Lbr. Helen, GA Adamson
Reported on display at the Gainesville Iron Works Gainseville, GA

Alaska Road Commission Nome, AK 36” gauge
0-4-0 Adamson Fordson gas engine #391183 04-24 3½ tons Unusable 1948
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57669468@N00/2589792430
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ra64/35048998/
https://books.google.com/books?id=itgDA ... =PA618&dq=
Now abandoned on the beach at Nome, AK.

A preserved Adamson at an unknown location: http://www.coolclimbing.com/images/trac ... ctor01.jpg

Hedrick Agriculture History Center Woodland, CA
H. F. Towner Santa Ana, CA
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksnell707/2911632795/

Skagit Steel & Iron Works Sedro Wooley, WA
1923? Gus Baxtrom Kosmos, WA 56½” P
(used until 1929 for Peterman Log.)
Jack Rogers Ashford, WA privet display as of 1997
Jack Anderson (MT. Rainier Scenic RR) Mineral, WA 1997
Mount Rainier Scenic RR Mineral, WA
http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,239287,239296

? George Best Philomath, OR privet display as of 2001 W
(Purchased new by Mr. Best’s grandfather)

Westminster Iron Works New Westminster, BC
1927 J. H. Baxter Pole Co. Graham Island, BC P
(4 wheel with 1 axel trailer)
http://www.exporail.org/can_rail/Canadi ... 7_1997.pdf
(start on page 50)

Unknown make
Unknown slate quarry near Pen Argyle, PA
On display at Blue Mountain Antique Gas Engine Assn., Jacktown, PA.

Additions and corrections most welcome.

Thanks for that link! My Dad made a trip on that line in the summer of '43 or '44. Dad was a welder in the Army Air Forces stationed at Nome; the army maintained a jeep with flanged wheels for use on that line. The purpose of the trip was to repair the landing gear on a plane that had been forced down due to mechanical problems and "stubbed her toe" landing on the beach of a lake north of Nome. Once repaired, the plane could be flown out.

When we returned to Nome in 1999, we picked up a copy of a self published book on the history of the air base at Nome Field, later named Marks Field. In it was a photo of an enclosed speeder someone was running to take tourists on trips on the line. Just to show the name recognition of the mighty Santa Fe, the little car was lettered Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe.

In 1918 the Ford dealer in Brookville, PA was asked by a customer to create a rail conversion for a Fordson tractor. The result was, eventually, Brookville Locomotive Works. Brookville also did similar conversions on McCormick-Deering tractors. Their key addition to the off the shelf tractor was a reversing mechanism installed in place of the differential. Brookville is still very much in business as Brookville Equipment Corp. Their big business these days is trolley car rehab and the building of new trolleys for various operators. They do still build an occasional small loco, in addition to various underground locos and even some mainline stuff.

These are the companies I know of that did Fordson loco conversions in the US and Canada.

Adamson Motor Co. Birmingham, AL
Bellingham Machine “Works Bellingham, WA
https://books.google.com/books?id=tXI5A ... =PA1078&dq
Berkley Machine Works & Foundry Co. Norfolk, VA
Brookville Truck & Tractor Co. Brookville, PA
(Brookville Locomotive Co.)
https://books.google.com/books?id=_xpbA ... =PA283&lpg
http://americanindustrialmining.com/bro ... locomotive
L. M. Cline Motor Co. “Clinemotor” Seattle, WA
http://americanindustrialmining.com/cli ... ocomotives
Draper Engine Works Seattle, WA
Florida Machine & Foundry Co. Jacksonville, FL
Helgerson Foundry Co. Green Bay, WI
Hill & MacMilllan Inc. Scottdale, PA
Kalamazoo Railway Supply Co. Kalamazoo, MI
Merrill-Stevens Co. Jacksonville, FL
McFarlane-Eggers Machinery Co. Denver, CO
http://americanindustrialmining.com/mcf ... ocomotives
Omaha Steel Works Omaha, NE
Pacific Car & Foundry Co. Renton, WA and Portland, OR
Reliance Machinery & Motor Works Vancouver, BC
Ruth Co. Denver, CO
It looks like Ruth used only the Fordson radiator and fuel tank.
http://americanindustrialmining.com/rut ... e-trammers
W. T. Sanborn & Co. Birmingham, AL
Skagit Steel & Iron Works (Motor Appliance Corp. “MAC”) Sedro Woolley, WA
http://www.tractorshed.com/contents/tpic5824.htm
http://wpyphotos.com/wpyrrailcars/fordsonfryefarms3.jpg
http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,239287,239296
Snohomish Iron Works Snohomish, WA
A. H. Steeples Engineering Co. Seattle, WA
Talladega Machinery Co. Talladega, FL
H. F. Towner Santa Ana, CA
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksnell707/2911632795/
Tupper & Steel Motor Works Vancouver, BC
West End Foundry Co. Thibodaux, LA
Westminster Iron Works New Westminster, BC “Tugaway”
http://www.nwheritage.org/database/heri ... ay&id=1063
http://www.exporail.org/can_rail/Canadi ... 7_1997.pdf
(start on page 50)
http://gallery.crmuseum.ca/photograph/dot-logging-co
Whitehead & Kales Co. Detroit, MI
George D. Whitcomb Rochelle, IL

The Pinta Bay Mining Co in Alaska had one on a 5-mile narrow gauge tramway. The frame and wheels are still at Goulding Harbor, the engine was pulled off and moved to another mine.

Here are a couple shots of a Fordson in operation at Nome, Alaska in the 1920s. This was after the Seward Peninsula Railroad had ceased steam operation and folded. The Alaska Road Commission maintained the track as a public tram road, and anyone could run almost any homemade rolling stock that would fit.





I think the cannisters on the front are for sand, it looks like they have hoses running down to the front of the wheels.

The second photo makes it look like a logging line... which is a real hoot, because anyone who has been to Nome knows there are no trees of that size, in fact, there are no trees whatsoever anywhere in the vicinity. I understand there are some small trees in sheltered valleys further west on the Seward Peninsula, but I didn't get a chance to get out that way when I was up there.

Since this thread came back up I have a photo to post. This photo was taken in June 2013 at the California Ag Museum in Woodland, California (about 15 miles northwest of Sacramento).

Tennessee Producers Marble...other interesting photos as well.

http://cmdc.knoxlib.org/cdm/singleitem/ ... 546/rec/19

Thanks for the photos. I knew about the one in California but not the particulars. The Tennessee Fordson was an Adamson. the wheels are very distinctive.