He demonstrated mechanical aptitude as a boy building small machines including a model wood-splitter powered by a water wheel.

[1] At the age of 8, Alvin began working in the family sawmill in Lincoln, Maine.

[2] He later obtained patents for some of his mechanical innovations at the sawmill, and opened a blacksmith shop in Waterville, Maine with his brother, Samuel Lombard.

[1] In their shop in Waterville, the Lombard brothers produced the huge steam-powered locomotives that slid on skis and were powered by huge tracks in the rear, enabling them to travel throughout the Maine woods free from the steel tracks that limited other railroad vehicles.

In time, Lombard produced smaller, diesel powered loghaulers as well as trucks, snowplows and other commercial vehicles.