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Cat Train
A Cat train is a train of one or more supply sleds/sleighs hauled by a continuous track vehicle, and is typically used in roadless areas. They are so named for the caterpillar tracks of the hauling vehicle. In northern climates, they were used to haul supplies to isolated communities in winter before engineers such as John Denison created modern winter roads which enabled standard winterized semi-trucks and trailers to haul these loads and heavier freight. Cat trains are still used in areas where winter roads cannot be built, such as along the Hudson Bay, as seen in Season 9 of ''Ice Road Truckers ''Ice Road Truckers'' (commercially abbreviated ''IRT'') is a reality television series that aired on History Channel from 2007 to 2017. It featured the activities of drivers who operated trucks on ice roads crossing frozen lakes and rivers, i ...''. References * * * {{Cite news, url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nwt-cat-train-1.3266376, title=Historic cat train giv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continuous Track
Continuous track or tracked treads are a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle better than steel or rubber tyres on an equivalent vehicle, enabling continuous tracked vehicles to traverse soft ground with less likelihood of becoming stuck due to sinking. Modern continuous tracks can be made with soft belts of synthetic rubber, reinforced with steel wires, in the case of lighter agricultural machinery. The more common classical type is a solid chain track made of steel plates (with or without rubber pads), also called caterpillar tread or tank tread, which is preferred for robust and heavy construction vehicles and military vehicles. The prominent treads of the metal plates are both hard-wearing and damage resistant, especially in comparison to rubber tyres. The aggressive treads of the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Denison (engineer)
John Burton Denison (June 30, 1916 – January 6, 2001) was a Canadian ice road engineer who operated in the Northwest Territories in the 1950s to 1970s. Biography Denison was born in British Columbia in 1916. His father Norman Lippincott Denison was descended from the affluent Denison family of Toronto. After training in mechanics, Denison joined the Canadian Army during World War II. After the war, Denison joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and was then attached from 1946 to the RCMP as a constable in Yellowknife. A year later, he was involved in a search for a missing fur trapper on the Barren Lands First Nation, and after freezing his fingers, feet, and face, decided the RCMP was not the career for him. A year later, he resigned from the RCMP, and his fiancée Hannah and he left Yellowknife for Edmonton, where they married. In search of work, Denison returned to the north in 1947 and worked on the cat trains supplying the mining camps with equipment. He eventually ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter Road
A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice. Segments of a winter road that cross an expanse of floating ice are also referred to as an ice road or an ice bridge. The foundations underlying over-land segments is most often native soil or muskeg frozen to a given depth, and locally, bedrock. These surfaces may either be bare or are overlain, as is most commonly the case, with a snow cover. Over-ice segments of winter roads are often referred to as ice crossings, ice bridges or, simply, ice roads. The weight of the vehicle is supported by the buoyancy of the floating ice and by its resistance to flexure. Where a winter road is built mostly on floating ice, the occasional land crossings are called "portages" – the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is an example. Winter roads facilitate transportation during the winter to, from and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast of Nunavut, but politically entirely part of Nunavut. It is an inland sea, inland List of seas on Earth#Marginal seas by ocean, marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. The Hudson Strait provides a connection between the Labrador Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the northeast, while the Foxe Channel connects Hudson Bay with the Arctic Ocean in the north. The Hudson Bay drainage basin drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of southeastern Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, all of Manitoba, and parts of the U.S. states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. Hudson Bay's southern arm is called James Bay. The East Cree, Eastern Cree name for Hudson and James Bay is (southern dialect) or (northern dialect), m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ice Road Truckers
''Ice Road Truckers'' (commercially abbreviated ''IRT'') is a reality television series that aired on History Channel from 2007 to 2017. It featured the activities of drivers who operated trucks on ice roads crossing frozen lakes and rivers, in remote territories in Canada and the U.S. state of Alaska. Seasons three to six also featured Alaska's improved but still remote Dalton Highway, which is mainly snow-covered solid ground. History In 2000, History aired a 46-minute episode titled "Ice Road Truckers" as part of the ''Suicide Missions'' (later ''Dangerous Missions'') series. Based on Edith Iglauer's book '' Denison's Ice Road'', the episode details the treacherous job of driving trucks over frozen lakes, also known as ice roads, in Canada's Northwest Territories. After 2000, reruns of the documentary were aired as an episode of the series '' Modern Marvels'', instead. Under this banner, the ''Ice Road Truckers'' show garnered very good ratings. In 2006, the History Channe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
