Re: Rail/Road trailers

["Rod Gayford" <rjaygee@eisa.net.au>]

I believe the trailers are not much different to those uses exclusively on
the road.  The main buffing forces are taken up by the lead bogie unit which
contains the coupler etc.  The units can only be used to trail locomotives
or other rolling stock. I understand their use over the Blue Mountains in
NSW were delayed by State Rail concerns that they could not be assisted from
the rear if a loco broke down in the montain areas.  The great advantage of
trailer rail is that they are light yet can be hauled by rail easily.
Earlier ideas had swing down rail wheels as well as road wheels, but these
units were very heavy and lost a lot of road carrying capacity.  These units
were used in the UK and USA during the 60's.  Trailer Rail is used
extensively in the USA with the refrigerated units winning a lot of fresh
fruit traffic back from trucks for the BNSF etc.

Cheers
Rod Gayford

"Bill" <billguest@the.net.nz> wrote in message
39BA279D.AECDC5C4@the.net.nz">news:39BA279D.AECDC5C4@the.net.nz...
> New Zealand Rail (prior to becoming Tranz Rail) also tried these things.
They
> were successful technically, but I have been told that they were not
really
> economic. The tare was high and the load consequently limited. This may
have
> been a consequence of NZ's road user charges regime, where high axle loads
are
> punished, and the maximum limits are quite low by world standards.
However, rail
> gear is never light........
>
> Bill
>
> Taliesin Walker wrote:
>
> > I heard a mention on the news today about an Australian company that had
> > developed truck trailers that could be used on rail and road. I've seen
this
> > allready done. How common is it and is this practice becoming more
common?
> >
> > Tali
>