What must surely be the strangest instruments of locomotion in the whole world are being tested in a trial embracing a circuit of the Soviet Union measuring several thousand miles starting and finishing at Moscow - the trial has been organised by Autedor ( the Soviet Society for Promotion of Auto Construction ) for the purpose of gauging the usefulness of motorcars fitted with skis instead of wheels and of aero-sledges - the latter is a strange contraption evolved by engineers to provide rapid transport over long stretches of ice and snow - it comprises a body something like the fuselage of an aeroplane with a bonnet resembling that of a motorcar and a propeller providing the motive power at the rear - the machine is fitted with sledges for sliding over the ground - photo shows auto-sledge leaving Moscow at the start of the trial - the propeller can be seen whirring round at the back February 5th 1935