Good morning. I am looking for the trailer length for a 1916 Pierce Arrow logging truck. The trailer seems extra long on the model I am working on. I would post pictures, but I am not allowed to yet. Tractor is 17 scale ft. long, and the trailer is 21 1/2 ft. long Thanks
That is about right because logs were cut into 20 or 30 foot lengths depending on what the sawmill could handle and much later the trailers could be lengthened or shortened depending on the length of load being carried.
That doesn't look unusually long at least for west coast logging. It was not unusual at all to cut logs as long as could be transported and handled at the saw mill. I do not have a ready reference to any sort of prototype info on this particular truck. It may look extra long because truck cabs of that era were quite a bit smaller than on modern log trucks.
Logging in the western US changed as the years progressed. As trucks became more powerful, loads of logs became both longer and heavier. Distances they could reliably haul timber increased. The truck model pictured generally would have hauled to a mill close by the cutting grounds, or to a nearby rail head reload. The style using a single bunk and long stinger for the longest logs. The two bunk trailers for short logs. It depended upon what types of lumber they intended to cut. As the trucks evolved, so did the mills.
John, what an interesting picture. Is that a dog behind t he cab? Do you know inwhich state or on what operation the picture was taken?