Page 340 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

the heat build up with the louvers closed and then open them to let the engines breathe when they’re ready to roll.”The trapdoors look a lot like louvered slats on a window, an ingenious design drawn up by Jerry Boon, Peterson’s engineer in Portland. “I was amazed at how smooth they worked,” says Roberson who did much of the work on those trapdoors. “It’s so smooth and easy to operate a three-year-old could do it.”
The heating system on each tractor was another significant change. At the end of each day, the op- erators would circle their machines around who- ever was pulling the generator. “Each tractor has two different extension cords that go from a power box on the side of the machine to the generator, which runs on 120 volts,” explains Roberson. The heaters are located both inside the cab and inside the engine compartment. “They plug in all the ma- chines, shut the louvered belly pans, and turn on the heaters so everything stays nice and toasty in- side.” The year Bolton worked the Traverse, one of the operators set up a radio station inside his cab. “He actually broadcast out what he wanted to play and anybody who wanted to could listen in. Other guys would watch movies or read since all they had to do was make sure the machine stayed on course and everything was kosher.”
Top to bottom: Peterson’s Challenger crew in Portland with the Challenger ‘Wyatt Earp’; Line up of Antarctic Challengers in Portland yard; Challenger ‘City of New York’; Challenger ‘Floyd Bennett’
338 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG