What is a Lombard?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had never heard of them before coming to the Maine Forest and Logging Museum ( hadn’t heard of Ghost Trains of Maine either) , but the Lombard steam log hauler was invented by Alvin Lombard in the late 1800’s and patented in 1901.

Per Wikipedia:

The Lombard Steam Log Hauler, patented 21 May 1901, was the first successful commercial application of a continuous track for vehicle propulsion. The concept was later used for military tanks during World War I and for agricultural tractors and construction equipment following the war.

 

He sold many of these machines around the country and the world.  In fact, I’ve heard he was not too pleased when he realized European countries used his continuous lag track invention on their tanks in WWI… against us!

However, the gasoline powered engine was starting to boom in the early 1900’s and the Lombard steam powered log hauler gave way to the more convenient and efficient Lombard gas powered log hauler.  The gas powered version is smaller and doesn’t take 4-6 hours to warm up in the morning!  Apparently the old timers would just keep the steam engines running 24 hours a day because once you cooled one down it took half a day to get it up and running again.  Not the case with the gasoline powered engines.

This machine would regularly haul 300 tons of logs on sleds out of the snowy woods.  It’s even said that it could tow 600 tons if needed.

The log haulers ran during winter using ice roads to haul the logs out of the woods to rivers or trains where they’d be shipped to the mill starting in spring.

The Lombard at Maine Forest and Logging Museum is believed to be the only fully functional and legal steam powered log hauler in the country.  The steam engine has to be certified by the state, fittings and tank pressure tested and a certified engineer has to power up and run the machine.

I was able to drive this massive beast and nearly lost my thumbs doing it.  Remember cars before power steering and how the wheel would sometimes whip back on you when you hit a hole in the road.  Sometimes your thumb would get caught by the steering wheel…  Now magnify that by about 30 times and replace that leather covered plastic steering wheel with a piece of hard, cold steel!  Ouch!  🙂

Here is my video homage to the Lombard Steam Powered Log Hauler taken from this weekends Living History Days at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum (Oct 6-7, 2018)

 

 

Getting to drive the Lombards was a blast.  The steam powered Lombard is really “driven” from the back.  That’s where the engineer controls the steam and forward thrust.  There are no brakes!  Really I just “steered” the steam beast.  The green, gas powered version is just like driving the clunkiest, roughest old truck or tractor you’ve ever driven, but worse.  You sit on a wooden box in a cramped cab.  Your knee is just about up to your chin before the clutch engages.  You start in 3rd gear because 1st and 2nd are far too slow.  You achieve a whopping 3 or 4 mph. The steering wheel is just steel.  No suspension. Chains are used to connect the steering column to the front wheel for directional control (!).  A day of driving these things would beat you senseless. That’s good stuff man!