PHOTO 1 - you dont see many of these in Nebraska

Hi;
All around the British coastline lifeboats are stationed to help boats & sailors in distress. On the coast with cliffs they launch the lifeboat from a high building down a steep slope into the sea.
Where there are no cliffs, the lifeboats have to be launched into the water by tractor & trailers accross the beach.
This is a current Bigland launching unit, built in Shropshire England. The tractor unit is fully water proofed and can actually be "abandoned" if the waves get too high/rough. All the hatches are battened down, and it can be rescued when the tides gone out. This particular one is in mothballs.
The system goes back to the 1930's when Case L tractors were converted to crawlers by Roadless Traction, and the whole thing encased in steel plating. Some of these were still in use in the 1960's !!! Later a Leyland engine Crawler was used. Most all of these early lifeboat crawlers have survived into preservation.
I'll post another picture of the complete rig.
Cheers David