The Overland Train Lives

I ENJOYED YOUR ARTICLE ABOUT THE Overland Train (“Big Wheels,” by Charles W. Ebeling) in the Winter 2001 issue, but I must make a correction to the statement that today it “exists only in memory.” The control car of the Overland Train has been reclaimed and is on display at the Yuma Proving Ground Heritage Center, in Yuma, Arizona. It was originally sold as government surplus, and all the cargo cars and wheels were cut up to be melted down for aluminum scrap. The generators, individual electric engines, tires, and other assorted parts were salvaged and sold. The control car is all that remains of the massive chain of transportation vehicles.

Incidentally, in the photo on pages 28-29 you point out the Jeep on the first cargo car. There are also an M113 armored personnel carrier on the fifth car and a Caterpillar tractor on the sixth.

The LCC-1, the Sno Train, shown on page 31, now rests in a scrapyard in Snowflake, Alaska. And there are still a number of the cargo cars in that area.

Mike Thompson
Curator, U.S. Army Yuma Proving
Ground Heritage Center
Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz.