While Mack and Kenworth are American originating, it is their local Australian factories build the larger trucks that meet Australian laws and huge mining and distance needs.
@@janemcdonald5372 Lol! It would be super funny to do a reaction video to his reaction videos...I think I just went down the rabbit hole...🤣🤣 And P.S. Ryan missed the point of the very pink truck segment, but no criticism, there was lots of info keeping his mind racing..
I have done my share of outback driving in South Australia and the Northern Territory, where there are plenty of road trains. And passing one on a one lane each way road takes patience and some forward planning. And a LONG straight stretch of road ahead.
" And a LONG straight stretch of road ahead" 28 seconds and 1.7km of clear empty road ahead to overtake a 3 trailer road train, assuming that any oncoming vehicle is on the speed limit and not being a speed demon and you don't want to gun too much above speed limit in the other lane with poorly maintained edge/shoulder on one side and wall of meandering trailers on the other There are so many 3 trailers now, a 2 trailer is easy but 3 is getting hard to find a place to overtake without something oncoming. May as well plan on going truck speed the whole way. Why do roadtrains seem to form up 2 or 3 in a row..I guess they aren't going to overtake much so bunch up. If you can see three in front sometimes you get an all clear on the UHF from 3 km down the road but may as well just dial down the cruise control and maybe pull over for a rest stop for ten minutes to let them get ahead, then scramble to get out in front of the next three you see approaching :-).
@@johncarlaw8633 I haven't driven personally in the NT, but I have driven behind smaller "road trains" and basically it's an easy ride, well paced, a good distance back, and you benefit from the lessened wind resistance. Also the truck driver will let you know of any issues up ahead by flicking on indicator lights, and/or indicating to move over to the side for any reason. Like having a Road Angel. Additionally, they're in contact with other drivers, so if there's any big road accident issues (which happened on one of my trips, up ahead) the truck driver will let you know what's going on. Truck drivers will also throw their indicators when approaching you from the opposite direction, if there's something coming up ahead on your own path.
@@Kayenne54 They aren't supposed to use indicators to do that any more. Some still do but who is in front of you? are you sure they REALLY want you to overtake. Sometimes they are themselves avoiding dead animals, potholes, once a few years ago all looked clear , I can see there is no traffic, started to overtake on signal but they were actually turning onto a side road in the middle of nowhere. With shorter trucks there is a lot more room to react if mistaken. As I said get a UHF radio and talk to them. If they don't answer bad luck. Maybe they are talking to someone on other channels, maybe they know there isn't much room to move for a while, if you get lucky they may co-operate but they don't owe you the ability to overtake. With the increase in long loads it takes so much free distance that with a bit of heat haze you cannot even see the safe distance, a car pops out of a dip or out of the haze when you are more interested in how close to the side of the road you are, spot them, hopefully they drive with lights on, and it is pucker time. I don't speed except a nudge when passing long trucks, don't overtake unless well clear , if someone wants to overtake me good luck to them, happy to see the tailgater get out of my life. And then hear a truck ahead comment that they just barely missed someone coming the other way. I happily sit at truck speed for 30 or 40 km knowing there are some long straights coming up, the reason to overtake and maintain highway speed as much as safely possible is an extra 2 hours on the time if I don't and I would really like to be at destination before nightfall to avoid some more hair raising sections at night.
@@johncarlaw8633 No, the indicator on doesn't necessarily mean to "overtake", or even that they're turning somewhere up ahead. It means, depending on circumstances, that something is up ahead that the vehicle, (in this case, me) behind hasn't yet seen. Or it may indicate, literally, to oncoming traffic that something is on the highway behind us. One has to PAY ATTENTION while driving lol. A short quick indicator on then off means something going on. Indicator staying on usually means they're turning somewhere, or in the case I mentioned, moving to the shoulder and pulling over. Whereupon we followed suit, because my mother didn't raise an impatient, dumb driver. And we found out about an 8 vehicle accident up ahead, six dead, and they'd have to make a detour road to take us around. A long wait.
Most of the supplies are brought in by the Road Trains. We also have a railway line stretches 1,000 kilometres more or less linking the port city of Townsville, Australia to the mining town of Mount Isa in north-west Queensland. Along with a passenger service called the Inlander, it is a major freight route connecting the Mount Isa Mines to the Port of Townsville.
Yep, imaging the cost of building a train track and station / cargo yard at ever single town / cattle station / mine dotted around the outback. Then the length of time it'd take for a single train to visit all of those different places. Compared a a handful of road trains splitting up to cover multiple areas. Hell, it even makes sense for city to city transport of goods, which isn't really done on the scale I think it should be. One truck can take multiple trailers on the main highways and travel 1,000km or more, pull into a "road train station" yard, drop the last trailer, or drive forwards, drop the next trailer etc and let a team of local trucks (maybe even electric ones) connect and transport them the "last mile" to the warehouses etc. Meanwhile, another set of trailers have been made up and the road train driver can connect up and hit the road again.
I am in cattle country here. We depend on the road trains to transport the cattle to the coast. Road Trains are vital to us out here in the Outback. When we are flooded in we wait for the Road Trains, when we are cut off by bushfires we wait for the Road Trains .😂🦘🦘🦘@@35manning
Ryan, I am watching you from the West Australian mining town of Port Hedland - the road system here is especially made for these mammoth trucks I think. They are amazing! You should Google Port Hedland to find out the remarkable happenings in the Iron Ore mining area. We have seen heaps of QUBE trucks as well - they seem to be transporting industrial grade Salt for export. The Port in itself is amazing too, there are about 500 massive ships sitting out in the Indian Ocean ( it’s called the Pilbara Roads” waiting for their turn to come into Port to be filled with iron ore, salt or scrap metal for export to places unknown, making a heap of mega money for the Australian economy. Back to the Road Trains, we have been going around Australia in our caravan for the last 3 years and have seen thousands of these Road Trains. We are really proud of our country, we are from Tasmania! 😎👋
You need to come to WA. It’s common to be driving your 4WD down the freeway and have heaps of these drive by you. Making your fat truck feel like a Tonka toy.
Australia has an obsession with building big stuff: the big banana, the big pineapple, the big prawn, etc, etc, etc; but as you you can see we can also build big useful stuff.
On a dirt road south of Broken Hill back in the early 80's, 3 of us were cruising in a HG Holden ute having a quiet beer and listening to Wille Nelson on the cassette player. This deafening horn scared shit out of us and a 3 trailer cattle truck went screaming past, filling the ute with dust.
@@danielponiatowski7368 Thanks to women being in the industry now after the example of the legendary pioneering Toots many years ago in North Queensland who was sadly crushed in a loading accident?
Triples have to go fast in roo territory so that the roos go under the wheels fast and not get jammed between the wheels. Most truckies do 140km/h through these parts
Not myself, but a mate of mine does. He hauls 4 or 5 trailers of ore (about 180ton) from the mine to the port. The trucks do take a little longer to stop, but not THAT much. Every wheel has a brake, so you nerd to think of stopping distance in terms of weight per trailer / wheel. 1 trailer weighing 50 ton will stop in close to the same distance as 4 trailers weighing 200 ton total as it's still only 50 ton per trailer. Getting moving again is another story, as there is only one truck (normally) and it only powers its own wheels. There are some trailers that have an engine and powered wheels (one was in this video).
a mate of mine used to drive those things, he made a video while training a couple of older guys. he walks down the line of trailers and comes to one with an engine tick'n away. i'd never seen a power train prior to that and the cab had a heap of extra levers etc. he's up in the NT at the mo in some snake and croc infested place but its a good earn.
While I am an urban Aussie who loves so much about our cities and smaller towns, I am both awed by these road trains and so proud of how they demonstrate the ease with which Aussies adapt to needs in diverse environmental conditions.
The longest road train was 1,474.3 m (4,836 ft 11 in) where a single Mack Titan prime mover, driven by John Atkinson (Australia), towed 113 trailers (15 football fileds long) Import cost is the same as other trucks, the trailers are made in Australia.
Maaate, you do my bloody head in, you need to get a script for Ritalin. ($5.50 in Aus) You do reactions, talk all the way through them, have to back up cause you missed stuff. You must have been a bloody nightmare for you school teachers, listening is learning mate.😂😂😂
We have routes for multi trailer road trains where they can travel safely. Passing / overtaking one of these is an acquired art form. I used to see these on the road every day with three trailers but they are not allowed in town and have to break to two then one when coming closer to big cities We have cameras that track these vehicles and they get ticketed if found off route, over weight, overlength or over tired/ sleepy and if mechanically broken or not safely tied down properly. A ticket is called a Pineapple insertion as they are very expensive
I’ve come across lots of these on the main highway in Northern Territory. Most of the drivers are wizards! It does my head-in that they actually have to back these trucks up too.
@@tristanwebster - Oh really? Maybe you need to do a bit more research before opening your mouth. You'll find plenty of videos on UA-cam proving you're wrong.
Road trains tend to stay in the out back, if a truckie with a Road train comes into a city they have to take off most of their trailers & leave them on the outskirts of town. If they need to get through a town, they generally work with local law enforcement to make a path through the town during the early hours when there is less traffic.
Hey Ryan, these road trains are usually seen on the highways in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and South Australia, generally transporting iron ore, fuel, livestock, etc. They usually travel between remote areas in Australia. I passed many of them travelling to Uluru through South Australia and the Northern Territory.
In a few months, look out for videos about Janus Electric's prime mover being used on the Qube/Oz Minerals route from Carrapateena to Port Augusta. It's a triple road train (3 trailers) hauling up to 165 tonnes of ore, using swappable batteries. The 12 month trial is almost up, so there should be some good content soon.
I live in a small town (not Kalgoorlie) in the Goldfields region in Western Australia; they are essentially everywhere. At least here I see more road trains on most roads than cars/4WDs. Although I’m not in a tourist location. See less of them by ratio along Great Eastern Highway, Goldfields highway, Great Northern Highway, and the Kalgoorlie-Esperance highway; but everywhere else they are almost the entirety of the “traffic” (where you can drive for hours and never see another car). There are no traffic lights in towns in the Goldfields outside of Kalgoorlie-Boulder; and Esperance if you include that in the region definition. So they don’t need to worry about that. Have to be well aware when you’re overtaking them once they are 3+ trailers long that you have enough room to overtake; as there are no other lanes.
Most of the really long ones operate in Western Australia which is four times the size of Texas and has one person per square kilometre, so lots of long, empty roads. Their length is restricted through the city, they leave the extra trailers in an assembly area on the outskirts of the city and they are picked up later, so stopping at traffic lights isn’t a problem. I lived just off the Great Northern Highway for more than a decade and saw lots of road trains.
a road train was on its side not too far from my house the other day. they had to bring in a portable crane, as well as an x base crane that didnt have a vehicle body.
Ryan they run along major rural highways, then when near a large city they park it, split the trailers and ferry each one into town for unloading, there are certain points they cannot go beyond, although a few drivers do bend the rules occasionally. Having said that the biggest you see on the coast is mostly 2 trailers, the 3 and 4 are outback community and mining supply.
We recently drove 3000km up and down the coast of Western Australia and it was not uncommon to see Road Trains up to 50m (164ft) long. There are designated passing zones every now and then so you don't get stuck behind them for too long. When you hit one you just have to floor it and try to get past them before the extra lane runs out.
I've attended several road train accidents in the Northern Territory and all of the driver have survived, one truck had 4 trailers and rolled turning into Pine Creek, the cabin was crushed and the only injury he received was a broken finger. I worked in traffic control and was called out to close roads or make the scene safe.
When i visited Australia i drove all the way from Adelaide to Perth, saw a lot of these things driving around there, sometimes 4 or even 5 containers filled with thousands of chickens on one train. And hundreds of crows and magpies followed them to get the chicken meat. And the streets were paved with dead animals that had been run over. Kangoruus, sheep, cows, smashed coalas every 200 meters. I was told that the road trains don't brake or simply can't if something runs onto the road. It's a massacre, especially at night when most animals become active. And a crows or magpies sit on every fence post and wait for the next animal to be squashed.
Remember most of these Road Trains are public running Road Trains , private Road Trains are even bigger some have up to 6 trailers & only run on specialy built mining roads built for them last I heard their was 2 of them with plans for another .
As a road user with a car, getting past one of these things is certainly not to be taken for granted. Communication with the driver of these road trains is therfore vital. The driver will let you know when it's safe to overtake them. The experience can be both nerve wracking and exhilarating at the same time.
What happens when they have a bingle ? , shit everywhere . About 12 years ago I was working in Kunnanurra on an extension to the ord irrigation scheme , the local shire had spent months upgrading the road to the new irrigation area , less than 24 hours after the road works signs had been removed a quad road train (not conected to the job) rolled and tore up over 200 meters of new road .
One of the longest road trains at the moment is nicknamed The Centipede it has 6 trailers carrying ore and 110 wheels and the prime mover (tractor for Americans) carries 1 ton of fuel.
About 2 years ago I was driving in the outback down the Stuart highway. It was one lane in each direction. I came around a corner and there was a road train overtaking a road train on a straight. I had to get off the road into the gravel quickly to avoid being smashed up badly. Those boys do not pull up quickly
Driving behind one of these on a dirt road is a nightmare. Trying to pass one requires a LOOONG stretch of straight road, AND a cooperative truck driver. Sometimes it is best to pull off and take a break, rather than try to overtake. I once saw a driver of a normal semi trailer plus an articulated trailer. plus another one, REVERSE around a 90 deg corner. He had plenty of room, but still!! He did not stop once he started. I was in awe. I jack-knife a boat trailer, and he handled FIVE points of articulation.
Australian SCANIA and MACK trucks with V-8 engines builded up Australia in the years passed. Now the SCANIA's build awesome reliable engines and are worlds best in long and heavy haulage world-wide. Experianced and transcontinental operator / driver, from the Netherlands. Drive safely. ❤😊
I live in the Northern Territory, and I've seen these trucks moving ALOT faster than 100 kmh lol. It can definitely make you nervous overtaking one of them on the highway when they sit on 130 kmh at night.
Generally, these won't encounter traffic lights. There are limits to how close they can be to cities. The farther you get from population centres, the more trailers you can add - this is done at road train assembly areas
There are already those massive mining trucks (I think a train as well) that are fully electric and fully autonomous in one or a few of the WA mines. But they might struggle with a public road, it won't be too long before they're out there though.
Check out "Just Cruisin' with Mick and Sally" where they video document driving roadtrains between Adelaide and Darwin, and via NSW and QLD during a 'wet spell' in 2022
My son drives one of these Road Trains with 4 trailers, they are so heavy that the second trailer has a motor attached to help get the truck moving, it has a hand control in the truck cabin and once it gets moving you turn the extra motor off, you see one of these trucks with motor on the trailer at 7:44 number 4 on the list
I am a road train driver and was just about to give you some explanations when I saw that some other guys told you almost everything you need to know. This is a different kind of - truck driving job. Regards from Australia
When you're behind one of these on the highway, many drivers will indicate right to let you know the way ahead is clear for you to pass...cause its going to take a while
i see them here in Port Augusta every day. a good friend of mine works for Kalari which is now Qube is driving the first electric truck and teaching new drivers in WA
And when you pass these, you need visibility of 1 kilometre before you attempt. The driver helps you with indicators or on your CB radio if you have one. Watch the TV series Outback Truckers.
I believe they are looking for new drivers! 🤔 What do you mean turn, they only go on the straight roads! 😁 The imported trucks are all altered here to correspond with Australian regulations and conditions! 😊 I imagine if a driver lost his sunglasses or his phone on the road he would struggle to find them again! 😧 Our trucks rule WA, The Nullabour and The Outback! 👍🇦🇺
As a rule, our tractor hauler (Semi) without trailer has 10 wheels and the trailer will have 12 wheels, truck and single trailer = 22 wheelers.....we use triple axle trailers. of course the double tires are often swapped out for Super Singles which are a single tire that is as wide as the two tires (mag wheels)
My granddaughter drives these hauling cattle to market up Mt Isa way…and she is just a lovely, petite jillaroo. Another of the granddaughters is currently doing her apprenticeship in diesel mechanics. Thoroughly self-sufficient young ladies, and gorgeous as well.
Hello mate, Some of the newer trucks operate with Donks that pull 1300 HP. This 600+ is now old hat. These things move so fast that you CAN NOT overtake them on an up-hill hike. They just drop a gear and YOU are history!
I have overtaken a 4 trailer road train my speed was 190klmph ..when l was young with my dad we overtook a 5 trailer road train on dirt couldn't see if anyone was coming so just go for it ..but road is wide enough for 4 or 5 vehicles and usually only get 2 vehicles all day from opposite direction we were far out in the outback/desert...hit the bulldust car goes from 70mph to 30mph you can get dry bogged.
There are road trains -- BIG. --- then there are the iron ore mine trucks --- they use those HUGE tires. A standard "Ute" or in American parlance "Pickup" looks like a child's Hot Wheels toy when parked by the BIG MINE TRUCKS.😂
Road trains are used everywhere outside or cities about 2 - 3 hours outside of a city, so they get smaller trucks to pick up and deliver stuff to the road trains (in qld its once u get west of the range)
Yep there mainly up in the mines but they are definitely on the highways. You definitely don’t want to get stuck behind one as it takes ages to get past them. The longest one I’ve seen had 5 trailers on it and that was an eye opener. Take care and thanks for sharing 🙏❤️
Hi Ryan, I know this off subject but did you know that the Australian aged care package is not means tested. It ensures our elderly get to live at home for as long as possible with all the care and services.
I used to find it really scary to try to overtake these until I realised that the drivers signalled to let you know that there was nothing coming the other way for a long time. Good guys
We use American 18-wheeler trucks but ours are up to 80-wheelers. U aren't allowed to drive them in cities or suburbs. Only on highways, industrial areas and some country roads. They are fun to try to overtake 😱
Hi there I drive one off these every week I drive thur city's from brisbane to Melbourne to Adelaide and back to Brisbane only one problem it is hard to gfind a parking bay to have my break.
Grew up in Warwick in SE Queensland, you see road trains going through all the time. You see them going over Cunninghams Gap to get over the mountains too.
Yes, they are big, they are also very long. Imagine trying to pass one of these beasts on a highway. You need at least a couple of kilometres of clear road ahead to make that manoeuvre. Particularly when they are travelling at 100km/hour. Once you start passing them you have to commit to it, or you become a road statistic.
These rigs are found in the outback for large transport distances, the only built-up areas you would usually see these are outback towns. Generally The exception would be travelling up and down the coastal area's.
My cousin and her husband drive for the mines in Qld,WA,SA moving mining equipment all over the country. She's the pilot (one of 2) and they're gone for many months at a time . They get to see so many extraordinary things while getting paid ......really well!
No matter if it's water, petrol (gass) or Desil 1ltr = 1kg so a load of 187,000 of fuel is 187T + the weight of the truck & trailers empty. That's a fair load.
When they say manufactured in the USA, it's just the cab and components. They are not imported as complete units. Our regulations and load weights, chassis are far higher strength than those in USA. Mack, Kenworth, Volvo, western star are made in Australia for our conditions. Our 1 ton is 2200lb. Max 90 kmh limit.
When I was a young fella back in around 1970-1 I was lucky enough to go on a school bus trip through central Australia. The average cattle trucks at that time were 5 though mostly 6 trailers long. The highways were mostly dirt with a bit of tar either side and through the towns, a completely different environment than today. I remember it seemed to take forever once you saw the oncoming lights in the distance at night for the trucks to thunder past in clouds of dust. Being overtaken by one was quite a memorable and at times a bit of a frightening experience. I'm glad I got to have those experiences. I guess that they tightened up and changed the regulations a lot since those days.
yeah they did that back then, i had an argument with a guy who said he was a driver and reckoned no truck pulled more than 3 trailers on main roads, ever. i didnt persist, i leave ignorant people to their own devices now days.
The hospital at Norseman, a small desert town that sits at the T junction at the western end of the Nullarbor, is the only hospital i have worked at that has a turning circle out front big enough for the road trains to drive in , drop off any sickies in need of medical help, and drive right out again. We got quite a few doing that any and every time of day. Often the sickie would be a hitchhiker that the trucker had picked up somewhere on his trip from Adelaide to Perth. And the landing strip for RFDS … the flying doctor, was on a clay pan out the back door of the hospital. Interesting place to visit. We kept antidotes in the drug safe in case the tailings dam of the goldmine ever burst. Not enough for the whole town though.
Just on the topic of stopping at a red light. About 100M before traffic lights there's an orange/yellow sign that says "Prepare to stop" and a couple flashing orange lights on it. They go off a few secs before the traffic lights turn red so you have enough time to slow down for a red light. And passing these on the road are hard if you own an under powered land rover like i do.
Hi Ryan, couple of answers for you. Yes these trains are seen in the western Australian, South Australian and Northern Territory regions, but usually they drive on what are known as private roads owned by the mining companies, this especially applies to the autonomous ones. Most areas only allow 2 x trailers through towns etc but exceptions are made according to need. You do have to have a special licence to drive a semi ( this is what most are called at least in my area). Yes they do have automatic trucks. Two things you might enjoy watching, are the electric trucks in New Zealand, and some newer ones around Sydney. The second thing is how they unload wood chips in Hobart Tasmania or Portland Victoria by tipping the entire truck. In the USA, they do tip the trucks in a similar manner, but they disconnect the prime mover from the trailer prior. I hope you enjoy.
Prime movers in Aus only have a bed bunk, maybe an aircon. The American cabins I've seen can be classed as Mirco Units with shower/ toilet/ kitchen ect. They look pretty flash in comparison.
These trucks aren't allowed to operate in metropolitan areas and will either have to be separated to travel into the metro areas, many bigger towns and cities will have a bypass road to keep the trucks away from the traffic. Smaller towns have really wide main streets to cater for these behemoths.
While Mack and Kenworth are American originating, it is their local Australian factories build the larger trucks that meet Australian laws and huge mining and distance needs.
Mack. Macs are made by Apple.
@@bencodykirk Clearly your not Aussie. Here we call Mack's... Mac here we shorten words in our country.
@@boomeraus0073 OK boomer.
@@bencodykirk :) And Big Macs are made by MacDonald's :) I corrected the dropped K
@@artistjohyeah nah mate it's maccas not macdonalds lol
Who else cringed when the narrator butchered 'Pilbara'?
I corrected him out loud. Lol.
@@Kayenne54, I'm usually doing a running real-time reaction commentary during his reaction video. 🤣
@@janemcdonald5372 Lol! It would be super funny to do a reaction video to his reaction videos...I think I just went down the rabbit hole...🤣🤣 And P.S. Ryan missed the point of the very pink truck segment, but no criticism, there was lots of info keeping his mind racing..
@@Kayenne54lol my reaction was "I'm sorry, WHERE?!"
Ye-
I have done my share of outback driving in South Australia and the Northern Territory, where there are plenty of road trains. And passing one on a one lane each way road takes patience and some forward planning. And a LONG straight stretch of road ahead.
And a firm belief in a Deity that won't allow any random water buffalo to wander across at the wrong juncture.
" And a LONG straight stretch of road ahead"
28 seconds and 1.7km of clear empty road ahead to overtake a 3 trailer road train,
assuming that any oncoming vehicle is on the speed limit and not being a speed demon
and you don't want to gun too much above speed limit in the other lane with poorly maintained edge/shoulder on one side and wall of meandering trailers on the other
There are so many 3 trailers now, a 2 trailer is easy but 3 is getting hard to find a place to overtake without something oncoming. May as well plan on going truck speed the whole way.
Why do roadtrains seem to form up 2 or 3 in a row..I guess they aren't going to overtake much so bunch up.
If you can see three in front sometimes you get an all clear on the UHF from 3 km down the road but may as well just dial down the cruise control and maybe pull over for a rest stop for ten minutes to let them get ahead, then scramble to get out in front of the next three you see approaching :-).
@@johncarlaw8633 I haven't driven personally in the NT, but I have driven behind smaller "road trains" and basically it's an easy ride, well paced, a good distance back, and you benefit from the lessened wind resistance. Also the truck driver will let you know of any issues up ahead by flicking on indicator lights, and/or indicating to move over to the side for any reason. Like having a Road Angel. Additionally, they're in contact with other drivers, so if there's any big road accident issues (which happened on one of my trips, up ahead) the truck driver will let you know what's going on. Truck drivers will also throw their indicators when approaching you from the opposite direction, if there's something coming up ahead on your own path.
@@Kayenne54 They aren't supposed to use indicators to do that any more. Some still do but who is in front of you? are you sure they REALLY want you to overtake.
Sometimes they are themselves avoiding dead animals, potholes, once a few years ago all looked clear , I can see there is no traffic, started to overtake on signal
but they were actually turning onto a side road in the middle of nowhere. With shorter trucks there is a lot more room to react if mistaken.
As I said get a UHF radio and talk to them. If they don't answer bad luck. Maybe they are talking to someone on other channels, maybe they know there isn't much room to move for a while, if you get lucky they may co-operate but they don't owe you the ability to overtake.
With the increase in long loads it takes so much free distance that with a bit of heat haze you cannot even see the safe distance, a car pops out of a dip or out of the haze when you are more interested in how close to the side of the road you are, spot them, hopefully they drive with lights on, and it is pucker time.
I don't speed except a nudge when passing long trucks, don't overtake unless well clear , if someone wants to overtake me good luck to them, happy to see the tailgater get out of my life. And then hear a truck ahead comment that they just barely missed someone coming the other way.
I happily sit at truck speed for 30 or 40 km knowing there are some long straights coming up, the reason to overtake and maintain highway speed as much as safely possible is an extra 2 hours on the time if I don't and I would really like to be at destination before nightfall to avoid some more hair raising sections at night.
@@johncarlaw8633 No, the indicator on doesn't necessarily mean to "overtake", or even that they're turning somewhere up ahead. It means, depending on circumstances, that something is up ahead that the vehicle, (in this case, me) behind hasn't yet seen. Or it may indicate, literally, to oncoming traffic that something is on the highway behind us. One has to PAY ATTENTION while driving lol. A short quick indicator on then off means something going on. Indicator staying on usually means they're turning somewhere, or in the case I mentioned, moving to the shoulder and pulling over. Whereupon we followed suit, because my mother didn't raise an impatient, dumb driver. And we found out about an 8 vehicle accident up ahead, six dead, and they'd have to make a detour road to take us around. A long wait.
It's cheaper to use road trains in the outback than build railway systems that would only be used for hauling freight.
Kenworth trucks have been made in Aussie since 1971 to suit our conditions. He’s full off shit is the narrator. So you good .
Most of the supplies are brought in by the Road Trains. We also have a railway line stretches 1,000 kilometres more or less linking the port city of Townsville, Australia to the mining town of Mount Isa in north-west Queensland. Along with a passenger service called the Inlander, it is a major freight route connecting the Mount Isa Mines to the Port of Townsville.
Yep, imaging the cost of building a train track and station / cargo yard at ever single town / cattle station / mine dotted around the outback.
Then the length of time it'd take for a single train to visit all of those different places.
Compared a a handful of road trains splitting up to cover multiple areas.
Hell, it even makes sense for city to city transport of goods, which isn't really done on the scale I think it should be.
One truck can take multiple trailers on the main highways and travel 1,000km or more, pull into a "road train station" yard, drop the last trailer, or drive forwards, drop the next trailer etc and let a team of local trucks (maybe even electric ones) connect and transport them the "last mile" to the warehouses etc. Meanwhile, another set of trailers have been made up and the road train driver can connect up and hit the road again.
I am in cattle country here. We depend on the road trains to transport the cattle to the coast. Road Trains are vital to us out here in the Outback. When we are flooded in we wait for the Road Trains, when we are cut off by bushfires we wait for the Road Trains .😂🦘🦘🦘@@35manning
Ryan, I am watching you from the West Australian mining town of Port Hedland - the road system here is especially made for these mammoth trucks I think. They are amazing!
You should Google Port Hedland to find out the remarkable happenings in the Iron Ore mining area.
We have seen heaps of QUBE trucks as well - they seem to be transporting industrial grade Salt for export.
The Port in itself is amazing too, there are about 500 massive ships sitting out in the Indian Ocean ( it’s called the Pilbara Roads” waiting for their turn to come into Port to be filled with iron ore, salt or scrap metal for export to places unknown, making a heap of mega money for the Australian economy.
Back to the Road Trains, we have been going around Australia in our caravan for the last 3 years and have seen thousands of these Road Trains.
We are really proud of our country, we are from Tasmania!
😎👋
Yeah Tassie! 💗
Love Tasmania, top state. I'm in Victoria. Not sure what Tasmanians think of Melbourne. Seems every state hates us. Lol. Drive safely, cheers 👍🇭🇲🦘🌴
You need to come to WA. It’s common to be driving your 4WD down the freeway and have heaps of these drive by you. Making your fat truck feel like a Tonka toy.
Australia has an obsession with building big stuff: the big banana, the big pineapple, the big prawn, etc, etc, etc; but as you you can see we can also build big useful stuff.
Next, maybe, nuclear submarines! 🤔
It's so funny how Texas, in the US, is considered "BIG" and has BIG things... and then you have Australia.
@@jenniferharrison8915 and they will be B I G.
Some mining town will have to feature a Big truck, but what to call it?
The Big Kenworth? The Big Scania?
@@oakfat5178 the long overtake ............ don't try to overtake one
We have a saying down here. "Without Trucks Australia Stops"...greetings from sth Australia 🇦🇺 👍 🦘🪃🐪🚄🚚🚚🚚🚚🚚🚚.
Or as we say in Melbourne, with trucks the freeway's stop.
On a dirt road south of Broken Hill back in the early 80's, 3 of us were cruising in a HG Holden ute having a quiet beer and listening to Wille Nelson on the cassette player. This deafening horn scared shit out of us and a 3 trailer cattle truck went screaming past, filling the ute with dust.
Hahaha you painted a great picture. I can just imagine it 😮
they used to hammer them back then but they're all held to a min speed now.
@@danielponiatowski7368 Thanks to women being in the industry now after the example of the legendary pioneering Toots many years ago in North Queensland who was sadly crushed in a loading accident?
Aah .....also the wonderful ladies in pink, and their pink rigs!
Triples have to go fast in roo territory so that the roos go under the wheels fast and not get jammed between the wheels. Most truckies do 140km/h through these parts
Not myself, but a mate of mine does.
He hauls 4 or 5 trailers of ore (about 180ton) from the mine to the port.
The trucks do take a little longer to stop, but not THAT much.
Every wheel has a brake, so you nerd to think of stopping distance in terms of weight per trailer / wheel.
1 trailer weighing 50 ton will stop in close to the same distance as 4 trailers weighing 200 ton total as it's still only 50 ton per trailer.
Getting moving again is another story, as there is only one truck (normally) and it only powers its own wheels.
There are some trailers that have an engine and powered wheels (one was in this video).
a mate of mine used to drive those things, he made a video while training a couple of older guys. he walks down the line of trailers and comes to one with an engine tick'n away. i'd never seen a power train prior to that and the cab had a heap of extra levers etc. he's up in the NT at the mo in some snake and croc infested place but its a good earn.
While I am an urban Aussie who loves so much about our cities and smaller towns, I am both awed by these road trains and so proud of how they demonstrate the ease with which Aussies adapt to needs in diverse environmental conditions.
The Mac trucks were not manufactured in the US they were made in Australia , sorry Ryan.
Made in the US and assembled in Australia.
Parts made in Japan, China and Mexico then shipped to the USA@@peterfalconer-h3k
The longest road train was 1,474.3 m (4,836 ft 11 in) where a single Mack Titan prime mover, driven by John Atkinson (Australia), towed 113 trailers (15 football fileds long)
Import cost is the same as other trucks, the trailers are made in Australia.
Maaate, you do my bloody head in, you need to get a script for Ritalin. ($5.50 in Aus) You do reactions, talk all the way through them, have to back up cause you missed stuff. You must have been a bloody nightmare for you school teachers, listening is learning mate.😂😂😂
im glad you said it, i was gonna tell him to stfu for more than 3 seconds. i'll bet he's even worse to watch a movie with.
my school teacher use to say. engage your brains before you engage your tongue
4:13 Ryan. The kenworth C509 was designed and is build in Australia. Down in Bayswater in Victoria
We have routes for multi trailer road trains where they can travel safely. Passing / overtaking one of these is an acquired art form. I used to see these on the road every day with three trailers but they are not allowed in town and have to break to two then one when coming closer to big cities We have cameras that track these vehicles and they get ticketed if found off route, over weight, overlength or over tired/ sleepy and if mechanically broken or not safely tied down properly. A ticket is called a Pineapple insertion as they are very expensive
I’ve come across lots of these on the main highway in Northern Territory. Most of the drivers are wizards! It does my head-in that they actually have to back these trucks up too.
If you have 3 on. You don't 😂
@@tristanwebster - Oh really? Maybe you need to do a bit more research before opening your mouth. You'll find plenty of videos on UA-cam proving you're wrong.
@@odenttraipser5833ever heard of uhh…. Sarcasm?
Road trains tend to stay in the out back, if a truckie with a Road train comes into a city they have to take off most of their trailers & leave them on the outskirts of town.
If they need to get through a town, they generally work with local law enforcement to make a path through the town during the early hours when there is less traffic.
Hey Ryan, these road trains are usually seen on the highways in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and South Australia, generally transporting iron ore, fuel, livestock, etc. They usually travel between remote areas in Australia. I passed many of them travelling to Uluru through South Australia and the Northern Territory.
There must be some livestock trains in Queensland too
@listohan More than likely, however SA and NT are where I've seen them on the road.
In a few months, look out for videos about Janus Electric's prime mover being used on the Qube/Oz Minerals route from Carrapateena to Port Augusta. It's a triple road train (3 trailers) hauling up to 165 tonnes of ore, using swappable batteries. The 12 month trial is almost up, so there should be some good content soon.
I live in a small town (not Kalgoorlie) in the Goldfields region in Western Australia; they are essentially everywhere. At least here I see more road trains on most roads than cars/4WDs. Although I’m not in a tourist location. See less of them by ratio along Great Eastern Highway, Goldfields highway, Great Northern Highway, and the Kalgoorlie-Esperance highway; but everywhere else they are almost the entirety of the “traffic” (where you can drive for hours and never see another car).
There are no traffic lights in towns in the Goldfields outside of Kalgoorlie-Boulder; and Esperance if you include that in the region definition. So they don’t need to worry about that.
Have to be well aware when you’re overtaking them once they are 3+ trailers long that you have enough room to overtake; as there are no other lanes.
Most of the really long ones operate in Western Australia which is four times the size of Texas and has one person per square kilometre, so lots of long, empty roads. Their length is restricted through the city, they leave the extra trailers in an assembly area on the outskirts of the city and they are picked up later, so stopping at traffic lights isn’t a problem. I lived just off the Great Northern Highway for more than a decade and saw lots of road trains.
a road train was on its side not too far from my house the other day. they had to bring in a portable crane, as well as an x base crane that didnt have a vehicle body.
That red truck that popped up on the left side of your screen is the biggest truck in the world and it’s Australian that’s a cool video
I live in North Queensland, trucks like this are everywhere. Get used to overtaking them, just have to make sure you have clear road ahead
Ryan they run along major rural highways, then when near a large city they park it, split the trailers and ferry each one into town for unloading, there are certain points they cannot go beyond, although a few drivers do bend the rules occasionally. Having said that the biggest you see on the coast is mostly 2 trailers, the 3 and 4 are outback community and mining supply.
We recently drove 3000km up and down the coast of Western Australia and it was not uncommon to see Road Trains up to 50m (164ft) long. There are designated passing zones every now and then so you don't get stuck behind them for too long. When you hit one you just have to floor it and try to get past them before the extra lane runs out.
I've attended several road train accidents in the Northern Territory and all of the driver have survived, one truck had 4 trailers and rolled turning into Pine Creek, the cabin was crushed and the only injury he received was a broken finger.
I worked in traffic control and was called out to close roads or make the scene safe.
When i visited Australia i drove all the way from Adelaide to Perth, saw a lot of these things driving around there, sometimes 4 or even 5 containers filled with thousands of chickens on one train. And hundreds of crows and magpies followed them to get the chicken meat. And the streets were paved with dead animals that had been run over. Kangoruus, sheep, cows, smashed coalas every 200 meters. I was told that the road trains don't brake or simply can't if something runs onto the road. It's a massacre, especially at night when most animals become active. And a crows or magpies sit on every fence post and wait for the next animal to be squashed.
Remember most of these Road Trains are public running Road Trains , private Road Trains are even bigger some have up to 6 trailers & only run on specialy built mining roads built for them last I heard their was 2 of them with plans for another .
Australia started building Mack trucks to suit our conditions in 1963
As a road user with a car, getting past one of these things is certainly not to be taken for granted. Communication with the driver of these road trains is therfore vital. The driver will let you know when it's safe to overtake them. The experience can be both nerve wracking and exhilarating at the same time.
What happens when they have a bingle ? , shit everywhere . About 12 years ago I was working in Kunnanurra on an extension to the ord irrigation scheme , the local shire had spent months upgrading the road to the new irrigation area , less than 24 hours after the road works signs had been removed a quad road train (not conected to the job) rolled and tore up over 200 meters of new road .
Have a look at Steve Graham's worst bog if you want to see a road train stuck
Warm weather?!? Perth is about to have 7 days above 37C (98F) with at least 3 days above 40C (104F).
And you should have added that we’re still in spring.
@@Sydneysider1310 And this will be the hottest heatwave in November since 1920's when records began.
One of the longest road trains at the moment is nicknamed The Centipede it has 6 trailers carrying ore and 110 wheels and the prime mover (tractor for Americans) carries 1 ton of fuel.
About 2 years ago I was driving in the outback down the Stuart highway. It was one lane in each direction. I came around a corner and there was a road train overtaking a road train on a straight. I had to get off the road into the gravel quickly to avoid being smashed up badly. Those boys do not pull up quickly
Driving behind one of these on a dirt road is a nightmare. Trying to pass one requires a LOOONG stretch of straight road, AND a cooperative truck driver. Sometimes it is best to pull off and take a break, rather than try to overtake. I once saw a driver of a normal semi trailer plus an articulated trailer. plus another one, REVERSE around a 90 deg corner. He had plenty of room, but still!! He did not stop once he started. I was in awe. I jack-knife a boat trailer, and he handled FIVE points of articulation.
I live in Darwin Australia and you see these with 4 trailers everywhere, every single day.
Australian SCANIA and MACK trucks with V-8 engines builded up Australia in the years passed. Now the SCANIA's build awesome reliable engines and are worlds best in long and heavy haulage world-wide. Experianced and transcontinental operator / driver, from the Netherlands. Drive safely. ❤😊
I live in the Northern Territory, and I've seen these trucks moving ALOT faster than 100 kmh lol. It can definitely make you nervous overtaking one of them on the highway when they sit on 130 kmh at night.
Generally, these won't encounter traffic lights. There are limits to how close they can be to cities. The farther you get from population centres, the more trailers you can add - this is done at road train assembly areas
There are already those massive mining trucks (I think a train as well) that are fully electric and fully autonomous in one or a few of the WA mines. But they might struggle with a public road, it won't be too long before they're out there though.
I had the fun of being stuck behind a road train that decided to overtake 3 other road trains the other day
They didn't show the Centapede.
True
Check out "Just Cruisin' with Mick and Sally" where they video document driving roadtrains between Adelaide and Darwin, and via NSW and QLD during a 'wet spell' in 2022
My son drives one of these Road Trains with 4 trailers, they are so heavy that the second trailer has a motor attached to help get the truck moving, it has a hand control in the truck cabin and once it gets moving you turn the extra motor off, you see one of these trucks with motor on the trailer at 7:44 number 4 on the list
Did that guy just say "Pill-bar-ahh?!" 😂😂😂 It's Pill-bra... easy mistake to make but its still funny
I am a road train driver and was just about to give you some explanations when I saw that some other guys told you almost everything you need to know. This is a different kind of - truck driving job. Regards from Australia
When you're behind one of these on the highway, many drivers will indicate right to let you know the way ahead is clear for you to pass...cause its going to take a while
i see them here in Port Augusta every day. a good friend of mine works for Kalari which is now Qube is driving the first electric truck and teaching new drivers in WA
And when you pass these, you need visibility of 1 kilometre before you attempt. The driver helps you with indicators or on your CB radio if you have one.
Watch the TV series Outback Truckers.
I believe they are looking for new drivers! 🤔 What do you mean turn, they only go on the straight roads! 😁 The imported trucks are all altered here to correspond with Australian regulations and conditions! 😊 I imagine if a driver lost his sunglasses or his phone on the road he would struggle to find them again! 😧 Our trucks rule WA, The Nullabour and The Outback! 👍🇦🇺
WATCH' OUTBACK TRUCKERS' NOT ONLY STRAIGHT ROADS
@@shanemoyle2933 Yes I have, it was a joke based on the Nullabour - a flat straight road! Outback Truckers are real Aussie heroes! 👍
They are real and having one pass you going the other way can be frightening. The roar and the slipstream surrounding it is unbelievable.
As a rule, our tractor hauler (Semi) without trailer has 10 wheels and the trailer will have 12 wheels, truck and single trailer = 22 wheelers.....we use triple axle trailers. of course the double tires are often swapped out for Super Singles which are a single tire that is as wide as the two tires (mag wheels)
Kenworth trucks are designed and built in Australia, same as Mack. The weights mentioned here are all out too. The pink AB-Triple can gross 113 tons.
There are no traffic lights on outback highways Ryan, only larger towns and cities have traffic lights.
My granddaughter drives these hauling cattle to market up Mt Isa way…and she is just a lovely, petite jillaroo. Another of the granddaughters is currently doing her apprenticeship in diesel mechanics. Thoroughly self-sufficient young ladies, and gorgeous as well.
I agree Ryan..they are indeed a thing of beauty.....
WA has all the big toys. Biggest trucks and trains in Australia 🇦🇺
We like big things in Australia 🇦🇺
BIGGER THAN TEXAS HAHA
As a West Australian, I had the biggest giggle when the narrator butchered the word Pilbara.....😂😂😂
Hello mate, Some of the newer trucks operate with Donks that pull 1300 HP. This 600+ is now old hat. These things move so fast that you CAN NOT overtake them on an up-hill hike. They just drop a gear and YOU are history!
I have overtaken a 4 trailer road train my speed was 190klmph ..when l was young with my dad we overtook a 5 trailer road train on dirt couldn't see if anyone was coming so just go for it ..but road is wide enough for 4 or 5 vehicles and usually only get 2 vehicles all day from opposite direction we were far out in the outback/desert...hit the bulldust car goes from 70mph to 30mph you can get dry bogged.
There are road trains -- BIG. --- then there are the iron ore mine trucks --- they use those HUGE tires.
A standard "Ute" or in American parlance "Pickup" looks like a child's Hot Wheels toy when parked by the BIG MINE TRUCKS.😂
11:03 "how do you drive that?" Extremely carefully.
Toot and scoot to all the supertruckers!!!
The trailers having their own drive motors to power them makes some of these trucks possible.
Road trains are used everywhere outside or cities about 2 - 3 hours outside of a city, so they get smaller trucks to pick up and deliver stuff to the road trains (in qld its once u get west of the range)
Yep there mainly up in the mines but they are definitely on the highways. You definitely don’t want to get stuck behind one as it takes ages to get past them. The longest one I’ve seen had 5 trailers on it and that was an eye opener. Take care and thanks for sharing 🙏❤️
Hi Ryan, I know this off subject but did you know that the Australian aged care package is not means tested. It ensures our elderly get to live at home for as long as possible with all the care and services.
I used to find it really scary to try to overtake these until I realised that the drivers signalled to let you know that there was nothing coming the other way for a long time. Good guys
We use American 18-wheeler trucks but ours are up to 80-wheelers. U aren't allowed to drive them in cities or suburbs. Only on highways, industrial areas and some country roads. They are fun to try to overtake 😱
Yeah I live out in the bush and these are common place. My car has a couple of hairdryers and I need both to overtake these bad boys. A lot of fun.
The Longest train in Australia was in 2001,The BHP iron ore train,7.36 Kilometres long, that's around 4.3 miles in your lingo.
Hi there I drive one off these every week I drive thur city's from brisbane to Melbourne to Adelaide and back to Brisbane only one problem it is hard to gfind a parking bay to have my break.
😂😂😂😂😂
Grew up in Warwick in SE Queensland, you see road trains going through all the time. You see them going over Cunninghams Gap to get over the mountains too.
Yes, they are big, they are also very long. Imagine trying to pass one of these beasts on a highway. You need at least a couple of kilometres of clear road ahead to make that manoeuvre. Particularly when they are travelling at 100km/hour. Once you start passing them you have to commit to it, or you become a road statistic.
All Volvo, Mack and Kenworth trucks in Australia and all the trailers are manufactured in Australia.
And they say everything is bigger in Texas. 🤣
These rigs are found in the outback for large transport distances, the only built-up areas you would usually see these are outback towns. Generally
The exception would be travelling up and down the coastal area's.
My cousin and her husband drive for the mines in Qld,WA,SA moving mining equipment all over the country. She's the pilot (one of 2) and they're gone for many months at a time . They get to see so many extraordinary things while getting paid ......really well!
We love your focus on our little country;
Hi Ryan look up the Centrepeid the world's largest truck
You should watch "World's Longest Trains"... Australia holds the record.
"That's not a knife.........now that's a knife"
They still didn't show the longest on in this, The Caterpillar.
Try the Centipede.
@@odenttraipser5833 yeah oops my mistake thanks for correcting me. I knew it was one of those, lol.
No matter if it's water, petrol (gass) or Desil 1ltr = 1kg so a load of 187,000 of fuel is 187T + the weight of the truck & trailers empty. That's a fair load.
Not saying they aren't still big loads but the density of petrol is approx 0.75kg/l and diesel is 0.85kg/l.
When they say manufactured in the USA, it's just the cab and components. They are not imported as complete units. Our regulations and load weights, chassis are far higher strength than those in USA. Mack, Kenworth, Volvo, western star are made in Australia for our conditions. Our 1 ton is 2200lb. Max 90 kmh limit.
When I was a young fella back in around 1970-1 I was lucky enough to go on a school bus trip through central Australia. The average cattle trucks at that time were 5 though mostly 6 trailers long. The highways were mostly dirt with a bit of tar either side and through the towns, a completely different environment than today. I remember it seemed to take forever once you saw the oncoming lights in the distance at night for the trucks to thunder past in clouds of dust. Being overtaken by one was quite a memorable and at times a bit of a frightening experience. I'm glad I got to have those experiences. I guess that they tightened up and changed the regulations a lot since those days.
yeah they did that back then, i had an argument with a guy who said he was a driver and reckoned no truck pulled more than 3 trailers on main roads, ever. i didnt persist, i leave ignorant people to their own devices now days.
I know someone who survived a road train accident. He lost a thumb and a few broken bones but he lived.
Yes it’s driving on highway roads, not usually through major centres, but yes they drive on major highways
The longer higher cabins are built with a sleeping compartment behind the driver/passenger seats this for long haul drives.
The hospital at Norseman, a small desert town that sits at the T junction at the western end of the Nullarbor, is the only hospital i have worked at that has a turning circle out front big enough for the road trains to drive in , drop off any sickies in need of medical help, and drive right out again. We got quite a few doing that any and every time of day. Often the sickie would be a hitchhiker that the trucker had picked up somewhere on his trip from Adelaide to Perth. And the landing strip for RFDS … the flying doctor, was on a clay pan out the back door of the hospital. Interesting place to visit. We kept antidotes in the drug safe in case the tailings dam of the goldmine ever burst. Not enough for the whole town though.
Just on the topic of stopping at a red light. About 100M before traffic lights there's an orange/yellow sign that says "Prepare to stop" and a couple flashing orange lights on it. They go off a few secs before the traffic lights turn red so you have enough time to slow down for a red light. And passing these on the road are hard if you own an under powered land rover like i do.
They’re fun to overtake, always gets the heart pumping.
I work at the Port in Townsville,northern Australia. I see trucks like these everyday.
If you get run over by one the these road trains you're pretty much toast after about the 74th wheel.
Hi Ryan, couple of answers for you. Yes these trains are seen in the western Australian, South Australian and Northern Territory regions, but usually they drive on what are known as private roads owned by the mining companies, this especially applies to the autonomous ones. Most areas only allow 2 x trailers through towns etc but exceptions are made according to need.
You do have to have a special licence to drive a semi ( this is what most are called at least in my area).
Yes they do have automatic trucks.
Two things you might enjoy watching, are the electric trucks in New Zealand, and some newer ones around Sydney. The second thing is how they unload wood chips in Hobart Tasmania or Portland Victoria by tipping the entire truck. In the USA, they do tip the trucks in a similar manner, but they disconnect the prime mover from the trailer prior.
I hope you enjoy.
Prime movers in Aus only have a bed bunk, maybe an aircon. The American cabins I've seen can be classed as Mirco Units with shower/ toilet/ kitchen ect. They look pretty flash in comparison.
These trucks aren't allowed to operate in metropolitan areas and will either have to be separated to travel into the metro areas, many bigger towns and cities will have a bypass road to keep the trucks away from the traffic. Smaller towns have really wide main streets to cater for these behemoths.
They drive ALL over Australia their as common as dirt out here