Good question. And the answer is "I don't know". My guess is that pehaps all the tires were tied together as part of the suspension. Maybe the middle wheel was simply an idler wheel and used to just hold up the track for tension. Like I say, this is just a guess. You certainly analyze the photos closer than me. Next you will want to know what is inside the wooden barrel in the picture below. lol
As for the machine with the man with the brief case standing beside it......I believe that this was perhaps a special order military machine. The only reason I say this is that we have one (it has since been modified to resemble a regular wide gauge). I have seen a photo somewhere of three machines like this parked together along with some army jeeps, so that is why I say this. The bombardier like this came to our town (late 40's?) was an ex-military machine used up on the Dew Line. For a while, it had the back wooden body widened to fit even with the tracks and the front cab part was left as is, like a narrow gauge. Probably looked like a big woodtick. As I said, it has since been modified again to look like a regular wide gauge. My dad always used to call it an "extra wide gauge" for some reason, so I don't know if the special order military made machines were oddball or not. I will measure the old girl sometime this spring; now that you got me curious.
Hey, you guys up in Cranberry should know something about this old-style design. What do you think?Even photos of these seem to be few and far between. I'm sure that if the old girl could talk, she could probably tell some very interesting tales.
