eli5 How does a “Road Train” actually get around?

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Those long trucks with many trailers. What happens when they come across an unexpected corner? Do the trailers have steerable wheels? If they do I could imagine it would be a few hours work just to get around a single obstacle. How do they unload their cargo? Do they just park the truck near where it needs to be and get a front loader or a forklift to come grab everything? I’d love to hear some stories if there’s anybody by chance reading this that’s driven trucks with more than 4 trailers.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Road trains are generally only found in extremely flat, desolate areas like the Australian Outback or the American West. They’re not allowed to go anywhere where they might encounter unexpected corners or obstacles.

Steering them is possible, though unwieldy. You don’t need steerable wheels on the trailers in the back, any more than an actual train needs steerable wheels on every train car. You just turn the wheels at the front and the whole train turns – slowly.

For unloading, each trailer or semi-trailer can be unhitched from the train and treated just like any other trailer. They’re the same trailers as you see on normal 18-wheelers everywhere; there’s just more of them.

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