What mode of transport is ideal for the cold post-apocalypse?

Question

The first world war, thought to be the "War to end all wars" in our timeline, really was the end in mine.

Eldritch weapons of mass destruction set off a cataclysmic end-times scenario that left 2/3 of Earth's population deceased, the rest cold and scrambling for food and resources in near-permanently dark, ice-age like conditions. One of the few factions that have survived these events unscathed is an international aid organisation, which my story focuses on, bringing supplies to those in desperate need, as most of the world's population centres are now stuck in disconnected cities and villages.

The world still somewhat retained all the knowledge and engineering prowess it had in 1919, when the unfortunate row of events struck, but the infrastructure to produce and supply anything were reduced to ashes in many areas. And even when rebuilt, the world's production facilities would be horribly understaffed.

Which brings me to the question:

How do they move supplies and people? In a world where the Model-T, traction-engines, trains and the aircraft exist, yet there's no infrastructure in place to mass-produce machines like this, and where food is often too scarce to really use for animal caravans, would an aid-organisation get around while moving the most supplies as quickly as possible over the Coming decades following the cataclysm?

Answer 1

In a world where mechanised overland transport is unreliable and animal-based overland transport is unaffordable, you would revert to the tried and tested pre-mechanised transportation mode: water transport. This does not necessarily mean large oceangoing ships, which in any case would by definition be unable to reach inland locations. They would have their place to be sure, but a rowboat can move up surprisingly small rivers and still carry an amount of cargo which would be meaningful for a village or a small town. A canal narrowboat can move about a dozen tonnes of cargo using just one horse and two men, using scarce fodder much more efficently than a caravan of pack animals or an oxcart team. This would also work in ice age conditions, as long as there is a reliable period of ice-free water in the summer (and you can't survive long-term in a permanently frozen area anyway).

Population distribution would need to change to match. Anything far away from a navigable river would be a sparsely inhabited frontier, where getting supplies in or out would be prohibitively expensive. Big towns and cities would only exist along reliably deep rivers (and only as long as there are no rapids downstream, or some other features which hinder navigation) or along man-made canals, of which there would be plenty: fortunately, canals can and have been dug using nothing more than shovels and wheelbarrows, so the lack of mechanised tools would not stop the ice-age population from digging up more canals where they are needed. The biggest, richest and strategically most important cities would be located at the mouths of major rivers, where the trade from the whole watershed above would naturally flow and meet the seagoing trade. Even fairly low mountain ranges would become formidable barriers to trade and travel in general, and a place for outlaws and fugitives.

Answer 2

You can use sled dogs pulling sleds loaded with what you can/want to transport.

You can feed the dogs with animals you hunt along the route or, when necessity arises, tawing the frozen corpses which are laying around.

Mind that the above is not optimal, as sled dogs need to be fed on highly caloric food to ensure that they can have the energy to perform their task. Missing that, they won't be as performing as they could be and you will need to make choices.

But if you are in a situation where food is overly scarce, you can't expect to go around in a shiny Lamborghini.

Answer 3

In "near-permanent dark ice-age like conditions" there are no supplies to be moved.

If there are indeed supplies to be moved "to those in desperate need" then it means that a significantly large part of the world is not dark and cold, and it has a large enough population to grow sufficient food to have an excess to move to other parts of the world. There will be merchants who will export the food in exchange for natural resources and whatever stuff of value can be obtained in the dark and cold regions.

Oh, and the United Nations Organization is most definitely not an "international aid organisation". It does not move anything around. It does not actually do anything much. The UN is a talk-shop, a place where diplomats from various countries can meet, discuss, and possibly organize providing aid to those in need; but the actual provision of aid is done by public or commercial organizations who actually have ships, planes, trains and automobiles to carry stuff, not by the UN.

Answer 4

Rickshaws and either tricycles or side-along tandem bicycles with cargo containers. These, particularly the rickshaws, give you fairly all terrain capability and multiples your people's carrying capacity 5 fold or better. Humans have better endurance than any animal you might use for traction and if you can afford to give out aid you can feed the runner/rider/drivers.

Answer 5

Beasts of Burden

First, as AlexP said, in a world which is near-permanently dark and has ice-age like temperatures, plants can't grow, which means no food (for humans or animals). So this post apocalyptic scenario threatens to turn into a complete apocalypsis. But maybe the darkness (and cold) is because of huge amounts of particulate matter in the air blocking the sun, like a nuclear or volcanic winter. In that case, it may dissipate after a while, and hopefully by that time there are still some people left alive.

You may be able to use trucks to a very limited extent, but fuel is going to be very scarce, and the icy and snowy roads will be dangerous. So most likely people will turn to what worked before - transport by pack animals. Horses would be most likely candidate, in WWI era most goods were still transported by horses. Unfortunately horses don't do well in cold weather, below 5C they start getting uncomfortable. Cattle on the other hand are much better at dealing with cold weather, apparently they can withstand temperatures up to -18C. So you'll have ox-drawn carts delivering supplies. Perhaps, depending on how long the cold period lasts, yaks may gradually start replacing cattle as beasts of burden.