60 inch Searchlight Tractors

[David Dunlop]

Cliff posted this photo in the radar trailer thread recently and it caught my eye for what appears to be a lineup of 60 inch searchlights in the background, and if that is what they are, their proximity to the FWD HAR tractors is doubly intriguing.

I have been curious for years about what vehicles the Searchlight Units of the RCA used as tractors for their light/generator trailer trains, particularly in Canada during the war, and overseas. I have run across photos of searchlight batteries set up on either coast in Canada during the war, training, but the photos are either night shots, or day time shots when the tractors have withdrawn from the area of the battery.

If anyone can shed some light on the tractors used, fire away.

David