February 17th, 2008.
In WWII, Korea, and probably Vietnam, it was not unknown for the US ARMY Transportation and the Signal corps to modify Jeeps, Dodges, and Dueces for railroad service in the European and Asian theatres, even the MB's served as locomotives in the Phillipines. The adaptation wasn't unknown for civillian vehicles either, prior to the advent of HY-Rail units in the 1950's, The Chittina Valley Autorailer Railway in Alaska used at least one Chevy CCKW as a locomotive, along with a Ford "TT" truck, and the tracks were treated like a toll road if you had a vehicle that could fit the guage. The Whitcomb's pretty nice, glad I don't have to run it or fix it (The Pennsylvania Trolly Museum in Washington,Pa, has a 1942 H.K.Porter from the Navy along with a 1930 Baldwin Westinghouse Diesel in their collection (Both operable), and the Italian State Railways have several rebuilt Whitcombs from WWII still running as switchers and branchline train locomotives. The early BROOKVILLES and PLYMOUTH locomotives started out using Model T,A, and Fordson tractor guts as the power plants. Thanks for the video, it was quite interesting!!
Three Cheers and a Tiger,
Sincerely,
Kyle F. McGrogan
1963 Swiss Mercedes Benz Unimog S404.114 (Easily adapted to locomotive use)
1971 KAiser Jeep M35A2 Wo/W "Saddam's Nightmare" TWO WARS and Counting (Vietnam & Desert Storm).