"Rocket Row" along the west side of the Arts and Industries Building before the National Air and Space Museum was built. The four missiles on exhibit are: From left to right, the Jupiter C, which launched Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite; the Vanguard; the Polaris A-1, the first U.S. submarine-launched ICBM; and the Atlas, the famed Mercury launch vehicle. https://www.si.edu/object/rocket-row:siris_sic_14094
Trackmobile Rail Car Mover The Trackmobile was created in 1947 to solve a railcar switching problem at the Whiting Corporation's Harvey Illinois facility. The old industrial locomotive they had used for years inside their plant frequently ended up parked on a blind siding blocked in by freight cars, losing hours of productivity. Employee Marshall Hartelius was charged with finding a way to resolve the bottleneck. Hartelius saw it would save time if the locomotive could just drive where it was needed like a tractor and then set back on the track. He first designed a system with retractable ground wheels to mount on the locomotive, but found it was cumbersome and expensive to maintain and operate. Marshall scrapped his first design and built a lighter version from scratch. It had retractable hard rubber tires to move by road and flanged steel wheels to work on rail. To make up for the light chassis he developed a hydraulically operated coupler head that transferred some of the car's weight from its own springs to the car mover's wheels for traction. A prototype designated the "Mule" was placed in service at the Whiting plant in 1948 and proved both functional and inexpensive to run. In 1950 Whiting put the invention into production. More than 10,000 Trackmobile units have been put into service. http://www.trainweb.org/norm/roster/mow.htm#TM5
Used for the closing scene in "Support Your Local Sheriff" in which Jack Elam says "And I went on to be huge star in western movies" (or something to that effect.) Good movie!
The Jalopy Journal
