... and Automobiles

And finally, wheeled vehicles.

For most people, the primary means of moving around is the "red fleet" of Ford trucks and vans.  The trucks are primarily assigned to work centers that routinely need a vehicle to complete their work and the vans are primarily assigned to the Shuttles work center and are available on demand for work centers that do not have a vehicle assigned to them.  Shuttles also provides regular service to the runway for flight crews and shift changes.

As you can see, the suspension has been raised and heavy duty snow tires have been added to handle the snow and ice roads.  The vehicles are always operated in 4 wheel drive, even in town.  Speed limits vary from 25 MPH on the snow roads down to 5 MPH around the dorms or when people on foot are present.  The speed restrictions are in place for safety, to minimize damage to the snow and ice roads, and to minimize damage to the vehicles.

The infamous Ivan The Terra Bus.  While slow, it can carry a lot of people and the large Chevron tiers are able to handle the snow and ice roads much better than the smaller tires on the trucks and vans.  Ivan is primarily used to shuttle people back and forth from the runway when large groups of people arrive or depart.  Ivan was also how we were transported to Scott Base for the Veteran's Day service.

A Foremost Delta built to carry passengers.  Like Ivan, the Deltas get a lot of use transporting people to and from the airfields.  However their capacity is much smaller, 20-25 people depending on how much gear everybody has, so they also see use in taking groups out to Happy Camper and some of the other recreational trips in the McMurdo area.  There is another Delta configuration that has a flatbed in place of the passenger compartment and is used for hauling cargo.

A standard Caterpillar Road Grader with snow chains.  Early in the season, they make passes around McMurdo to rough up the packed snow and ice on the roads and provide traction.  As the snow melts, they continue to work the roads as damage from water runoff and erosion starts to appear.

Another Caterpillar vehicle (I'm not sure what model), with a heavy duty snow thrower on the front.  Pretty self explanatory.

Like everybody else, the NSF is trying to go green and one of the ways is by experimenting with the electric car above.  The only one on station, it can be reserved for errands that don't warrant the size or capacity of a van.  Considering that most of the electricity for McMurdo and Scott Base comes from two diesel generators at McMurdo, the "sustainability" and "environmental friendly" still has a kink or two to be worked out.  A few years ago, the Kiwis installed 3 wind turbines that can almost replace one of the diesel generators at peak output.  But, despite efforts to reduce power consumption, summer power draw still requires both diesel generators run, even when the wind turbines are spinning.  During the winter, when power needs are much lower, one diesel generator can be put in standby thanks to the wind turbines.