It was long (for me at the time), had rounded runners and a rounded front...........It was the fastest on the back road hills when the road was packed down and not sanded........
On rare occasions my step dad would tie the sled to the back of his truck and tow me on that road........
As a side note, I think that sled was made around 1956
Your description sounds like a toboggan. You could put quite a few people on one of those.
My favorite was a flying saucer. They made them from aluminum in those days and they’d last for years! They would prep the way for a sledding track. The wood sleds with rails on the bottom would sink in the snow and go nowhere. But if you spend some time with the saucer first, then the wooden sleds worked ok.
Ive heard a lot of talk about using car lids but those things were way too heavy for kids to drag uphill. Saucers gave the same kind of ride and were light weight.
It wasn’t rocket science figuring out if the lake ice was ready. 2 weeks of 20 degrees or less is all it took for the lake to frow 2 feet or more ice depth. The state police would go out and check for us and make a public announcement, but when you grow up in the frozen north, you learn to tell these things at a fairly early age. We all knew what cold and wet felt like and none of us wanted to get trapped under the ice. We sure as hell didn’t want our parents to restrict our fun so staying safe was crucial to retaing our freedom.