A typical road train consists of a prime mover and three trailers, but up to six trailers would not be unusual in mining areas where ore is being moved. The record is a prime mover and 87 trailers, but that was not assembled or used for commercial purposes. It did, however, travel 8km.
Road trains are not allowed into cities (for obvious reasons). They stop at depots some distance away from the cities where the trailers are separated for delivery to their final destinations.
ANd they are a fairly amazing site to see when they have a few trailers behind them. They rocket past and you honestly sometimes are happy you have the brown undies on
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There were one or maybe two road trains in an Aussie (made for tv ?) shown in the US several years ago. Title was “East of Eden” Not to be confused with an Americal book and movie of the same name. Would like to get a VHS tape or DVD just to see the fantastic sight of the road train roaring by again!
I’ve only ever seen a few road trains on the road in Australia, and that was during a drive in western New South Wales, about 500 miles west of Sydney. The ones i saw all had three trailers. They were generally carrying livestock, and looked something like this.
Further out, lots of road trains carry fuel or other chemical supplies needed by farmers, as well as mining-related stuff like ore. Here are some pictures of bigger road trains:
I saw a road train (3 trailers) about 2 decades ago, while my family was driving across Idaho. It might have been an experimental train, as I’ve never seen one before or since.
The first time I saw Aussie Road Trains on television was a couple of years ago on a National Geographic Special. They’re really something, aren’t they!!
Just to add that I live near the Port of Fremantle, and would regularly see a prime mover towing two trailers in or out of the Port (which is in a very urban area), but never three. Easy, then, to guess what the limit on numbers of trailers is in urban areas.