Posted by Gordon on Sunday, September 30, 2001 at 5:19AM :
In Reply to: Other images posted by Gordon on Thursday, September 27, 2001 at 12:57PM :
So, the basic question about this Carryall is what / when / why / where?
Ken took the shot in 1944-45, presumably around the Whittier area of the Alaska Railroad system. Carryall and Command production was being phased out in favour of ordinary Weapons Carrier and Ambulance, and was largely just using up parts. Many of the vehicles were issued for admin work in the continental US, and a Carryall may have been issued with ordinary tyres and without a spare wheel mount. All the Alcan / Canol books are full of shots of 'factory fresh' Commands and Carryalls.
In late 1942 a rail link was completed from Whittier which meant that supplies could be shipped up the coast route to there and then through to Anchorage without going round the exposed Kenai peninsula. The snag was that it required a tunnel which meant that all traffic on this route had to travel on rail for some part of it's journey, which meant that railmobiles of various sorts got a lot of use there.
I'd guess this Carryall was brand new, with a rear mounted spare as spotted by Frank and probably sitting on 20" rims cut from GMC or Studebaker wheels which would allow a couple of extra inches clearance for getting on and off the track. They would have had to alter a set of wheels for it anyway to get the tyres on the rails for driving purposes, and it probably makes sense to get both driving axles on them (some conversions only altered the gauge of the rear axle and left the front axle alone)
The rail equipment may be an altered set of Evans Auto-Railer equipment with an extra low 'cowcatcher' type bar for the severe duty it would see.
Further information ? Fred Crismon has a selection of Evans illustrations scattered through his 'US Military Wheeled Vehicles' book, and Stan Cohen has four volumes of 'The Forgotten War' plus 'Alcan and Canol'
Gordon
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