Need info re: tractors used to push/pull cars

I'm looking for any information regarding the use of crawler tractors in rail yards. Pictures would be great as would written descriptions or evidence of purchases.
I recently purchased a 1919 Cleveland Tractor-Cletrac crawler that was supposedly used in one of the rail yards in the Portland, OR area.
According to the man I got it from, the previous owner said it came out of one of the "humpyards" in the pacific northwest--purportedly owned by Burlington Northern because of the green and white paint on the tractor.
I'm not sure what other companies might have used that color scheme in that area.
I'm restoring it mechanically but won't repaint it to the original green/red Cletrac colors it if I can prove it was actually used by a rail company.
Thanks,
Roland--Grants Pass, OR

That's a pretty neat old tractor, but I doubt it would be big enough to pull cars around. Especially over a hump.

There are plenty of uses for a tractor like that in a rail yard, though. It could have been used for moving track materials around, or as a bulldozer.

It also looks a mite old to be used by the BN, and lacks the roll cage that would be required.

I have seen wheeled tractors used as car movers at grain elevators. They are attached to the car at cutouts on the side sills at each corner with a heavy rope, like a hawser. The drawback is, although the tractor may be able to move a car, it is another matter when it comes time to stop it.

My first recollection was when a train crew moved a fifty-car cut of loaded wheat cars that still had a tractor attached to it. The rope was stronger than the tractor, and the tractor was reduced to junk. Fortunately, no one was on the tractor at the time.

Another time, I was watching a tractor attempt to pull several loaded covered hoppers of wheat. The tow path was mud. One of the drive wheels of the tractor broke, taking the center right out of it!

The most spectacular one was at a clay refinery I observed. A large wheeled front-end loader was on a track facing a row of loaded cars. It was attempting to pull a cut of empties downgrade on the same track, the loader between the loads and empties.

The string of empties rolled down behind the loader. The driver attempted to stop them with the loader's brakes. Unsuccessfully. The rolling cars slammed the loader into the coupler on the loaded cars, which were not about to move. The driver could see a crash coming and jumped clear. The impact shortened the loader by about two feet.

Les

Les,
Thanks for the response. Having still lots to learn about the activities in a rail/hump yard, the moving of the cars does seem doubtful. The stopping part could be problematic......

Roland

Of course there were tractors designed for moving freight cars down tracks imbedded in the street. I know of hard-rubber tired ones on the PRR and pneumatic tired ones on the PRR and the B&O, but none with crawler treads. I good site for the PRR ones is here: http://prr.railfan.net/RubberTiredSwitchers.html

They were equipped with couplers and train air brakes.

I have seen a drawbar welded or otherwise attached to one end of a tractor/bucketloader off center allowing the operator to see around one side of the railcar. Usually at a facility that was paved over preventing such vehicles from sinking into mud. Trackmobiles have become the norm at facilities I have seen lately.

Trackmobiles would seem to me to be the safest way of "do it yourself" car spotting. For those unfamiliar with the term, they are purpose-built vehicles that can operate on either rubber tires or rail wheels. Often they are constructed with the road wheels at right angles to the rail wheels, and lowered/raised hydraulically. The larger ones are equipped with air compressors to allow use of the cars' air brakes.

Another system common in the Midwest is a cable and winch system to pull cars through a loading or emptying station.

Of course, a lot of larger customers use their own locomotive for this. Sometimes, they are equipped for remote-control operation.

Les