{"id":4550,"date":"2023-12-30T12:37:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-30T17:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/?p=4550"},"modified":"2023-12-30T12:41:47","modified_gmt":"2023-12-30T17:41:47","slug":"trucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/2023\/12\/30\/trucks\/","title":{"rendered":"Trucks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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First, a one ton 4×4 pickup truck that mere mortals like ANSMET volunteers can get \u201cchecked out on\u201d to be able to drive. Our group occasionally used these to get our stuff from one end of the station to the other, especially before and after the shakedown. Note that when parked the wheels must be chocked with the rope attached chock. These have smaller tires and are not allowed to drive on the ice shelf or sea ice\u2013 only around town. If you need to transport people a little way onto the ice shelf, you need to request a shuttle.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019ve always been a fan of trucks and if you like big trucks and heavy equipment, McMurdo Station is the place to be. Robert posted a picture of the huge red Kress people mover a while ago and we posted an image of a helicopter carrying cargo, but the group all agreed that we needed a dedicated post about the heavy-duty equipment used to get the job done at McMurdo station. By the time you get to the end of the post, you\u2019ll certainly want to start training for a commercial driver\u2019s license and be searching online for heavy equipment operation classes.<\/p>\n

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The 4×4 shuttle vans are lifted and have bigger tires for traction and flotation so they can easily move across the snow and ice. The shuttle vans are like the taxi service of the station. Our group used the shuttle to get to the skidoo parking before the shakedown. Interestingly, the shuttles must be cleaned of dirt before crossing the transition zone from the dirt roads to the ice shelf. Like putting sand and salt on snowy roads, too much dirt and rock on the ice shelf will cause melting. So, to clean off the shuttle van before crossing the transition, one uses a 2 inch thick rubber hose to thoroughly beat the bottom of the body and frame of the van. BAM – BAM – BAM from front to back! Then you drive over a big rumbly series of pipes to jostle additional dirt off of the van. We need to protect the Antarctic landscape!<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Ivan the Terrabus got our group from the airfield to McMurdo station the day we arrived. Erin and Daniela are giving it some scale. The huge tires made for a bouncy ride across the ice shelf. It doesn\u2019t go very fast but can go nearly anywhere.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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We\u2019ve not used the Delta transport trucks, but they are for getting smaller groups to their worksite. Their tires are as big as Ivan\u2019s. \u00a0(from rph: whenever I used to see this vehicle I would have to ask it “What’s that flower you have on”? \u00a0 If you’re too young to get that, \u00a0get off my lawn.) <\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Some tanker Deltas are used to transport fuel from storage tanks to the helo pad and airfields. Wouldn\u2019t this vehicle make a great Lego building set?<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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There are many forklifts crisscrossing McMurdo every day. They are used to move supplies of all sorts around the station including our sorted trash and recycling. Most are labeled USN and have been here since McMurdo was run by the Navy rather than National Science Foundation contractors.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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PistenBullys get small groups to nearby locations for their science work.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Not a Pisten Bully but a Hagglund, and yes the trailer is powered too.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Track Truck, harbinger of the end of snow days. During bad weather, we all use Zoom now rather than have snow days; however, wouldn\u2019t it be more fun to drive this to work rather than have a Zoom call? <\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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We\u2019re here at McMurdo near the height of the Antarctic summer so there isn\u2019t much snow. But during the winter months, tractor trailers needed for moving supplies would just get stuck in the ice and snow. The solution? Put continuous tracks on both the tractor and the trailer! <\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

-From Jon in McMurdo<\/em><\/p>\n

Bonus from Ralph, because Jon left my favorite out…..<\/p>\n

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The modern version of an old classic, the Tucker Sno-Cat.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve always been a fan of trucks and if you like big trucks and heavy equipment, McMurdo Station is the place to be. Robert posted a picture of the huge red Kress people mover a while ago and we posted an image of a helicopter carrying cargo, but the group all agreed that we needed a dedicated post about the heavy-duty equipment used to get the job done at McMurdo station. By the time you get to the end of the post, you\u2019ll certainly want to start training for a commercial driver\u2019s license and be searching online for heavy equipment operation classes.<\/p>\n

Continue reading… Trucks<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":4551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[27,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/111\/2023\/12\/30121056\/1_mere_mortals.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4550"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4565,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions\/4565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}