LeTourneau TC-479 Overland Train Cargo Car
The LeTourneau TC-497 Land Train was an experimental off-road transport system built in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the U.S. Army. It was designed to haul huge amounts of cargo across remote areas where roads and railroads didn’t exist, like the Arctic or deserts. Using electric wheel motors powered by onboard gas turbines, the train could travel over rough ground and stretch more than 500 feet long when fully assembled, making it one of the largest land vehicles ever created.
The project was ultimately short-lived, as advancements in heavy-lift cargo aircraft made the land train unnecessary. Only one prototype was ever completed, and it now rests at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Despite its cancellation, the TC-497 remains a unique piece of Cold War engineering — a bold attempt to create a roadless supply train for extreme environments.
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Here I’ve built a standard cargo car for the TC-479 Land Train. The dimensions aren’t 100% accurate — it’s designed so you can fit two standard cargo containers on a single trailer, making it practical for in-game use.
Like the control cab (or lead car), each wheel is equipped with an electric motor, giving the car its own movement. This allows each trailer to roll smoothly even when the train is in motion.
In this build, the power setup is different from the real TC-479. While historically the cargo cars would have drawn electricity from the rear control cars, here the entire train shares a single interconnected power grid. That means each car can draw power from both the front control cab and the rear control cars, making the system simpler and easier to drive in-game.
This cargo car is meant to be a functional and usable part of your land train while still capturing the feel of the massive, historic TC-479 design. It’s a mix of practicality and tribute to the original concept.
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For historical accuracy, the TC-479 layout would be: Control Cab → 8 Cargo Cars → Fuel Car → Rear Control A → Rear Control B
