A quad-axle group semi-trailer can have … But, as a road train driver, I can tell you, ‘By crikey, it’s great fun!’. (But you were going to do that anyway, weren't you?). They lost their lives in the fires. The six-deck triple road train has long been an iconic symbol of Australia’s vast northern cattle industry, but in recent years even larger four-trailer combinations have been adopted as transport operators search for greater efficiencies. On the highway. The drivers of the big trucks are the most courteous, considerate and responsible of all drivers on Australian Outback roads. The Smart Trucking Survival Guide for the Trucker. If you have three trailers worth of prawns, you're sat there pulling over US$1.5m worth of gear on the road. If you know of any longer road train records, please let us know! This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. With thousands of miles of road between the cities and no hills to cross, the Australian Road Train makes good sense. Made up of three or more trailers, road trains can be over 50 metres in length and weigh up to 146 tonnes. Truck: “Quad” road train. Detroit, Cummins, Paccar, Cat, Mercedes, Mack - what worked, what didn't. • Road train combinations must not exceed the currently allowed overall combination lengths in the respective Main Roads WA permits. The length for a B-double truck is measured from the 'king pin' on the forward trailer to the end of the rear trailer as shown above. The Guardian Angel Elite Light does all of the things a compact light SHOULD do. 4 Road Train Trucks for sale in Australia. The normal road train is made up of three, 44-foot trailers with a twin axle turn table dolly under the front of the trailer hooked up to the back of the trailer in front of it … An Australian road train monster has two or three trailers connected by converter dollies, which add a couple of extra axles to the rig. These include: Category 1 B-Double– The B-Double or B-Train is often confused with being a road train. Enter your name and email and get a FREE70 page Outback Guide! Save search Sort by: Featured. The rail would have no hope at all out there. Australia has the longest and heaviest road-legal road trains in the world, weighing up to 200 tons, according to Vintage Road Haulage in Perth. "You need a bit of maturity when you drive road trains and you're out there in the middle of the Barkly (a large, uninhabited expanse of grazing land). Two-trailer road trains, or "doubles," are allowed in most parts of Australia, with the exception of some … Here are some tips especially for the owner operator truck driver, to simplify and help the process of semi truck financing go smoothly. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The truck may have 2, 3, 4 or 5 axles or more, in a range of axle In Australia, the term road train covers a wide range of prime movers pulling a variety of trailers. The front two trailers are a B-double combination, and are connected to a third trailer via a converter dolly. These trains are huge long trucks, consisting of multiple trailers. bSteer axle mass limit can be increased to 6.7t for a prime mover forming part of a road train fitted with tyres of at least 375mm. This also explains another reason for the importance of the road train. A trucker can get caught for weeks out there, stuck in the mud. In the Australian outback, a 52-year-old grandmother sits at the wheel of a Volvo FH 16 Tri drive 175-tonne rated road train. They keep the animal from crushing the grill and rad of the truck. There are fuel tankers, and those which haul machinery, cattle, sheep. The trucks that roam the highways of the Australian outback are a lot bigger than the average 18-wheeler. A couple of years ago in Western Australia, we lost a few road train drivers as they were all given the ‘all clear’ to pass on through by the authorities. Having plenty of supplies is crucial out there of course. A road train can carry 2,000 litres of diesel when fully fuelled. The NHVR processes ALL Class 2 road train permit applications for travel within and between the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and … Legendary Australian road to 53 meters. Drivers must be aware of weather patterns along their journey. This site contains affiliate links. There are 3 categories of road trains or B-Doubles which are allowed to drive on the road in Australia. Australian road trains are a fascinating configuration. This type of setup isn’t allowed in North America, due to the length and weight. Getting up close and personal with all things Railway in Australia! The rear trailer can often obstruct vision of the road ahead and can sway side to side over the road. That's the maximum allowable on normal roads, but there are many private roads and mining roads in Outback Australia where you can find even longer rigs. A road train is a prime mover or ridid truck towing at least two trailers, that is not considered a B-double. Road trains are probably one of the most spectacular vehicle sights in the world. Northern Territory, Australia, 20 September 2017: The Land Rover Discovery has taken on a 110-tonne road train and the Australian Outback… and won. This could be a common vehicle combination when used in trucking 20’ & or 40’ containers within Australia. 200 tonnes moving at considerable speed aren't going to stop in a hurry. A conventional A-double, sometimes referred to as a Type I road train or simply a double road train, is an as-of-right combination confined to a prescribed 36.5-metre road network that services only the more remote areas of Australia. Overall though, it’s a dangerous lifestyle. These cookies do not store any personal information. Australia has the longest and heaviest road-legal road trains in the world, weighing up to 200 tons, according to Vintage Road Haulage in Perth. That’s why the big bullbars you see on the front of Aussie trucks are so important. And if your travels take you off the beaten track in an area near a big mine, or into some serious cattle country, you may even get to see four or more trailer road trains... A roadtrain may be over 50 metres long and can weigh up to nearly 200 tonnes! If  a truck breaks down and the trucker can’t fix the problem, he can radio ahead for help. Landscape nature. A proper "Road Train" has two or three normal trailers, connected by converter dollies. On a normal road, IF there IS … The record for world's largest road train was set in 2016, when a Mack Titan head was attached to 112 trailers, each measuring a little over 10 meters, making for a … It is made up of a prime mover which pulls two semi-trailers, which are linked by a fifth wheel and can be up to 26 metres long. If you click on one of the product or service links on this site, we may receive commissions if you purchase something. Those combinations are classified as "Long Vehicles". The previous world record was set in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and was a road train of 1,445 metres. But they actually haul everything. Other drivers may get impatient and overtake when they have no view of the road ahead. To sum up, the Australian road trains are iconic features in the Outback, in this beautiful land of ours. Road train. Understandable. Their height to gravity ratio is 1:0.79:0.65. They have a hard and often lonely job and carry a big responsibility, so don't make their life more difficult than it needs to be: Find more articles and information about the Australian Outback, Return from Australian Road Trains to Outback Australia Travel Guide home page. If you know of any longer road train records, please let us know! On a normal road, IF there IS such a thing, special permits are needed to run a train. A B-double is a vehicle combination made up of a prime mover towing two semi-trailers. You can certainly bet at any given time,  there will be a road train driver out there somewhere, trying his or her guts out, and fighting to get the freight through. "Type 2 road train" means a road train using either a rigid truck hauling unit towing two trailers when the combination length is not longer than 47.5m or a road train using a prime mover hauling unit towing three or four trailers when the combination length is not longer than 53.5m. You can always unhook and take one trailer at a time, but this does take a lot of time. The last type of truck in Australia is the “Road train.” It is a truck with two large trailers that can go up to 4 large trailers. A Quick Guide to Choosing a Truck Driving School, A Guide to CR England Training School + Company, The Best Brightest Flashlight For The Professional Truck Driver, What You Need to Know About Financing a Semi Truck, Best Truck Engines + The Worst Truck Engines – A Trucker’s Guide, A Guide to Wilson Logistics Paid CDL Training + Jobs. This combination has been around for many … The length for a B-double truck is measured from the 'king pin' on the forward trailer to the end of the rear trailer as shown above. There have been some improvements in roads and also the design of the modern road trains. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Related > Trucking in Australia:  This is the Way They Roll Down Under. Queensland, Australia - November 17, 2007: Trailer traveling on the road. That combination is between 36.5 and 50 metres long. Terrain– Jump ups are also a big concern at times. Cargo can be loaded from the back, from the sides and from the top . Road trains shrunk the Australian continent to a more manageable size (though that's still relative...). However, they can be quite a shock for the uninitiated driver. If you attach another articulated trailer you get a B-double, and with two articulation points even a B-triple. Or even experiencing temperatures of -60. Firstly, it has four trailers and is thus a quad combination. The record was set near Clifton on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland by Brisbane man John Atkinson, who drove a single Mack prime mover 140m in 50 seconds, pulling 112 heavy haulage trailers.Joined together, the record-breaking road train stretched across a distance of 1, 474.3 metres, … Tips and advice for choosing a truck driving school to meet your needs. She has four trailers behind her, and a long hot day on the road in front of her. To understand what loads can be securely placed inside import and export containers, the following information is crucial: You then have to re-hook the trailers up again. Australia has the longest and heaviest road-legal road trains in the world, weighing up to 200 tonnes (197 long tons; 220 short tons). That combination is between 36.5 and 50 metres long. Other drivers may get impatient and overtake when they have no view of the road ahead. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. There are more than 3 trailers that are 174 feet long, each of it weights 115 metric tons (253 531 pounds), than there is the Road Train which is about 115 feet long and weights another 80 metric tons (176 370 pounds), and most of the others are even longer and much heavier. The truck needs a good run up the hill, as they have so much weight on behind. Because the Outback is very barren and huge, most freight travels by road and the Australian road trains are designed as the best way to move the freight. Freighter Semi-Trailers come in a range of styles and a wide selection of options each designed to offer transport operators the flexibility and added performance you would expect from Freighter. The maximum statutory axle load is: Speed limiters for road trains are required to be set for what maximum speed capability? Check out what Wilson offers to see if they are a good training option. Wilson Logistics offers paid CDL training and a job (post training). Just innocent mistakes out there and the results can be deadly. Animals – The animals, here in the Outback, roam freely and graze on the side of the road. Roads are often just a narrow slip of black tar and the tourist doesn’t seem to seem to know that it is them who must get out of the way and not the road train. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The longest road train can be up to 53 metres in length and up to 80-120 tonnes in weight. They transport freight across some of the harshest environments on Earth. Well, all the trucks in the pictures on this page are, but not all long trucks that you see on Australian roads are. I couldn’t imagine how it would be here in Australia, if it were not for the road trains and their drivers. Very remote areas completely depend on these huge loads of goods, and it weren’t for the trains, it could be months in some places before the road train could get back to them, so a normal semi trailer load, would just not be enough. This particular road train is a “triple”, and is also “doubled-up” (carrying empty road train trailers), but some of these vehicles pull up to 4 trailers at a time. Roads in the Outback are mostly one lane roads. Another increasingly popular configuration is a pair of B-Doubles formed into a four-trailer road train. Most of the swaying problems reported by triple road train operators are caused by the yaw-roll dynamic mode of the combination.