The Tractobile was an avant train attachment for horse-drawn vehicles, but was unique in that it was steam powered. The boiler was made up of five separate unites, each with 40 small tubes, and one or more units could be removed for cleaning. The two vertical cylinders acted on each front wheel direct, although it is difficult to see this in surviving photographs. As the Tractobile was an enterprise of E. J. Pennington, it may be wondered whether any ever ran at all, or if they were merely a stock promotion scheme.^[1]

This advertisement is found in Floyd Clymer's Steam Car Scrapbook, p. 37. As with all of the illustrations in Floyd Clymer's Scrapbook, there is no source.^[2] The buggy's front wheels have been replaced with bicycle-style wheels connected to steam cylinders.

In August 1901, this advertisement appeared in The Automobile Review. Photocopy. John A. Conde Collection..

"The Tractmobile as applied to ordinary vehicles," is the title of this short article in the Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal for Septembrer 1901, p. 18. Photocopy. John A. Conde Collection..

The Tractmobile was the perfect article to be advertised in The Cariage Monthly, as its primary selling feature was the ease with wihch it converted a horse drawn carriage into a steam powered carriage. Photocopy. John A. Conde Collection..

John Conde's File Folder. John A. Conde Collection..