Eliason Motor Toboggan

Sorry to point out that the picture uploaded by Clive Sweetingham is not the Eliason motor toboggan. It is a motor toboggan, and I do not know what it was called, but it is all metal and painted red. The Eliason was mainly made of wood and was originally painted in green and red. In 1974 I completely overhauled it and replaced the oak runners around which the chains ran, as well as reconditioning the engine and repainting it red, black and silver. I cannot remember what the vehicle pictured was called, but it was bigger than the Eliason and I think more recent vintage. It is possible that it was by the same maker, but what we knew as the Eliason (or "Elsan") was the one I describe above. [18 January 2013]

Clive Sweetingham:

Graham's comment is interesting, and I of course stand corrected. But it was he, and some of the other first year crew when I was there that referred to it as the 'Elsan' ...! Now makes one wonder what happened to the real Eliason? [18 January 2013]

Graham Chambers:

Not wishing to cause controvery w.r.t. the "Elsan", [here is] a photo of me re-fixing the rather wobbly fuel tank on what I knew as the "Elsan", or "Eliason Motor Toboggan". It seems to me to be the same machine (minus the front end fairing and whatever it was on the rear end) shown in the earlier 1963 picture and not the one shown on the 1975 Z-Fids page. As I remember, the red all-metal one shown in 1975 was larger and at least two if not four people could ride on it (what I knew as the "Elsan" was strictly a one-man machine with a 4-stroke engine by Briggs and Stratton). [7 April 2013]

Andy Smith:

In fact the 1975 picture is of the Fox Trac, an early snowmobile manufactured in 1964 by the Fox Company in the USA, and in use at Halley Bay from 1969. Googling "Fox Trac 1964" will bring up pictures of identical machines on vintage snowmobile websites. [12 September 2017]

Graham Chambers and Eliason Motor Tobbogan.

Picture supplied by Graham Chambers

See picture of the Eliason in 1963 by Gordon Bowra. [Ed. 7 July 2013]