I took this photo last year of a Detroit powered Western Star hauling haybales on private roads on Alexandria Downs station Northern Territory Australia. Something you dont see too often and thought someone might be interested.
Yair . . . Good one barkly59 . I will enjoy your pictures from "The Other Country". Cheers.
That's awesome! I've always been intrigued by the road trains and the vast territory they cover. Thanks for sharing.
Is the geography pretty level in that area? I've always wondered how these move so much weight.
yes Steve it is very flat country and I imagine they wouldnt be able to travel much more than 60kph for fear of the back trailers getting a sway up. Legally you are only allowed 3 trailers total length not to exceed 53.5 metres and up to 125 tonnes on the highway.
Some of the gear I work on, they run up north in Western Australia hauling iron ore.
They look like Freuhauf frames and the tubs look like something that they might do to beef them up for heavy duty work.One of the drivers that worked for one of my old employers was outside doing his "Chores" while dumping his load,had to get out anyway to trip the gate right,and over she went.I drew the duty of taking the carcuss to Freuhauf to be repaired,the tub was pretty mangled but I was able to back under it to hook it up to the fifth wheel.The point of all this is to make the comment that it sure looked funny in the mirror all bent to H... like that.It did track pretty good though so that beefy frame must have done its job.I have been watching those road trains on Youtube lately and I look for those V8 E9 Macks so that I can hear that engine puffing away,I never drove one and I regret that.I did work for one company that had a Superliner tractor and the closest I ever got to it was just loading it with excess material on a jobsite.They also used it for their lowbed but I quit them before I ever got to use it.Ron G
Pretty impressive unit Mitch , I have seen those primemovers and trailers being transported through the Territory on their way over to you blokes. Can you give us a bit of info on them , who makes them , engine , gearbox type & HP , payload etc Thanks
Yair . . . RonG . These purpose built systems have been under development for some time and when configured with the optional powered trailers can operate at up to 400 tons. http://www.powertrans.net/2011/index.php/surface-haulage-systems.html From what I hear the latest incarnations are working pretty well . . . one of the advantages of course is a big payload at relatively high speed on small tyres Cheers.
Thanks Scrub,I had some questions about the advantages of doing it that way versus using the big quarry trucks and that reply and the link put it into words for me.I like some of the systems in your country,its like politics rule our society and the people least qualified to judge make the rules here.Ron G
Yair . . . RonG. Gotcha about the politics thing . . . it's probably not much different here. The thing is with the road trains (as I understand it) they would have a very site specific application . . . that is to say fairly flat terrain and long hauls with a fractured/powdered product. MitchSA may be able to mention details of the application but I believe they are being used for hauling ore that has been won by the surface mining system. I am unsure if they load direct from the miner or are loaded out from a surge pile established by conventional mining trucks. From my contacts in the mining game it seems some of the companies are fairly precious about what their employees can say about the operation and photos can be problematical . . . I believe the picture above is from the brochure. For interested outsiders like ourselves some pictures of the operation would be real interesting. Cheers.
This was in Ohio
What is the package suspended in/on it?
a generator being taken to a barge to ship to Korea and then to an ocean platform as I recall. they broke a driveshaft during the drive and had to remove electric poles to get out/through the town. I think this tells a good bit of the story. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/01/14/mount-vernon-generator-move.html
That is unreal..