MARIE BYRD LAND BASE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28162, 28 December 1956, Page 8

MARIE BYRD LAND BASE

TRACTOR JRAIN ARRIVES The tractor train carrying building materials for the International Geophysical Year station on the Rockefeller Plateau in the heart of Marie Byrd Land reached the station site at 2 p.m. last Sunday, according to a dispatch from the Antarctic. By midnight the same day the construction team had one building completed, where the weary drivers could rest.

The six heavy tractors pulling 12 sledloads of materials for the scientific station, travelled the 644 miles from Little America to the station site in 18 v days and two hours. The train used more than 11,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 596 gallons of petrol. On arrival at the site men on the train found the United States Air Force had landed 30 tons of fuel “dead centre on the target.” This fuel will be used to get the train back to Little America for a second load. As soon as the train reached its objective, the chief surveyor, Mr George Moss, laid out the site for each building. While Seabees put up the first prefabricated building the ship’s cook, Ray Misher, planned his menu for Christmas dinner. Chief Warrant Officer Victor Young, the train leader, was reported to be elated over the success of the train on its long journey. He said it was due to the calibre of the. men on the train who “did not know when to quit.”