That time railroads used logs instead of rails – US Pole Roads



In today’s video, we take a look at Pole Roads, a kind of railroad that doesn’t have rails but is still a railroad

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This video falls under the fair use act of 1976

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35 thoughts on “That time railroads used logs instead of rails – US Pole Roads”

  1. They use pole roads quite a bit in the swamps of the southern US and up in Alaska when the ground gor soggy in warm weather. My gramps bought some land when I was a kid in FLA and there was a pile of these wheels in the back corner. We found out later that there used to be a pole road logging track running throught the property in the teens and 20s. We ended up finding all kinds of remnants of machinery, tools and odds and ends along the back side of the property.

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  2. They had things similar in Australia and New Zealand. The unusable logs were cut into makeshift rails and most engines even had a steam powered saw that was used to make the rails. The locomotives could then be taken onto steel rails as the wheels were compatible with both wooden and steels rails. A noteable drawback to this was that the locos had to either be very light coffee pots or a geared engine with the weight spread out over many wheels. A replica of a logging coffee pot, albeit without the saw due to safety concerns, is running in Maryborough. She pulls occasional tourist trains on her own rail line, once again with added safety features such as steel rails. There is plenty of interesting stuff there so have a look if you're ever in the area.

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  3. That photo at 2:24 has some interesting possibilities. There are Mack Truck model kits available in a variety of scales, (including the big Monogram 1/24th scale 1926 MACK AC Bulldog Logging Truck recently reissued by Atlantis Models.) With a bit of old-school scratch building, (or even some 'newfangled' 3D Printing,) this would be a fun conversion project . . . .

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  4. There are these straw things with balls in and you need to put it in some milk and it’s kinda like nesquick but with a straw so yeah we’ll need those for the next live

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