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IS TUCKER STILL KING?

Lyndon

Lyndon

Bronze Member
In the article from the january 1958 National Geographic they said that the Antarctic exspedition covered 1 or 2 thousands miles? Only the Tuckers completed the expedition, the bombardier Muskegs and the Massey tractors being abandon along the way. So has this feat of Snow Cat Prowess ever been exceeded? or is some other Snow Cat "King of the Snow"? I am definately not betting on Kristi, Raid Track, or Radcliff on this one!
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Lyndon said:
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I am definately not betting on Kristi, Raid Track, or Radcliff on this one!
Click to expand...
:hammer:

So, it's like that is it? :glare:

What are the details? Did the Tucker(s) make the entire trip without breakdown? Resupplies? Kept running 24hrs? Generators and heaters? All flat terrain? What failed in the other cats?
 
2158 Miles. One lost in a crevasse. Read the Article...
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And I guarantee that it was NOT Groomed!(where's that famous Tucker picture when you need it?)
 
These guys decided to cross the South Pole by Snow Cat. It was a year long project that might not get them home in time for a ship to pick them up so they carried enough food and fuel to weather it out for a second winter.
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The famous climber who scaled Mt. Everest, Sir Edmond Hillery preceeded the expedition with dog sleds and mapped out their route, leaving big markers made of snow along the route.
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This is a Massey Tractor with a Bombardier tracking kit. Somewhere up/down on the south pole a couple of these are now a permanent part of the Ice Mass.
 
Somewhere in the Snow Cat Forum we should have a charter making it a requirement that to be a member one must become fimiliar with this article. Consider it "Points" toward your Masters Degree in Snow-Catology! One of the Bombardier's that was also abandoned along the way. All the 55 gallon drums have BP labes on them.
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One of the findings of this expedition was that unlike the North Pole, which is a mass of Ice floating on very deep water, the South Pole is Ice and Snow up to 2 miles thick, sitting on rock. I've collected and given away about a half dozen copies of the National Geographic Article. I don't know if we have it in it's entirety on the Forum? >

"Crossing of the Ends of the Earth" January 1959 National Geographic. 2 articles back to back, the first if of the first successful nuclear powered sub crossing under the North Pole, by an american navy sub, followed by this brittish expedition to cross the south pole. BP(Brittish Patroleum, my current employer) was one of the sponsers of this expedition. They subsequently built a museum that has one of the original Snow-Cats, as well as one of the only 2 built, monster auger drive snow machines. The other is still up here, about 250 miles south of my location.
 
It's hard to imagine a piece of Ice the size of France, breaking off and floating away! But that is just what recently happened to the Ross Ice Shelf. Their expedition skirted around this formation.
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I stand corrected: further research has indicated that one or more of the Massey tractors survived and were used at McMurdo/Scott Station. In a way that's a bummer because that means the the "Runner-up" for longest/toughest Snow Cat Expedition isn't even a Snow Cat!, it's a Tractor! Those bombardier Tracking attachment Kits must have been "Tough Stuff"!
 
Looking at the pictures in post's 5 and 6 they are different rigs.

For a minute I thought the second pic was the first after they filled in the hole.
Radius windows and lettering on the side is different.

Just a FYI... these are great pictures...got MOAR?
 
According to the various sources, there were 4 big Tuckers, A,B,C,D. One was lost in a crevasse and the operator died of his injuries. The remaining machnes are in various states of repair and are in museums. One, in a museum was recently up for sale and was in terrible shape, being entirely original. They may look like standart freightliners,(543?) but were actually specially equipped 743's and were pretty much built for the expedition. One sits IN the Tucker Plant in Medford Oregon. In various of the articles the 'Gang' on the expedition gave them all names.
 
Maybe for my next "Rig" I'll get one of these and fit it with a Rolls Royce Merlin(27 Liter V12 aircraft engine about 2000HP) Suppose I'll have to drag that much fuel behind it?
 
Some video of the Tucker getting extracted and the exp. team hauling fuel....take about 30 seconds to get to the good stuff in the video.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Q1UE2GCtY&feature=related"]YouTube - Delta FÅ‘cÃ*m[/ame]

probably a repost but way cool
 
Here is another ... longer version of the whole expedition

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA4pUalceVE&feature=related"]YouTube - 1955 Tucker Sno-Cat Type 743 Double Drive[/ame]
 
I Posted a while ago the entire series from you tube of the Antarctic expedition. It takes awhile to watch. But as LYNDON stated it should be required before becoming a Snowcat member here!
 
I contacted the person who posted the videos on you tube. I wanted to know if he sold dvds of it. He said he only had (Im guessing here) 8mm film?????? of the expedition and basically shot it on his wall and recorded it to transfer to you tube! Anyway thats how they got onto you tube.
 
Great Videos! And from the look of it Tucker Snow Cat Was King in 1955 and May Still Be "King of Snow Cat's"!
 
In a later expedition one of the British officers Lt. T. Couzens. went into a crevice in one of the Tuckers pictured above. He did not survive the drop. Some of these crevices can be a mile deep!
 
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Is that possibly the same massey tractor as the one in Lyndon's post earlier in this thread?
 

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I would really like to get my hands on a very good condition 743 like pictured above! I would love to have an entire extra set of bearings as well!
 
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