Roadrailer

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In railroad terminology a Roadrailer or RoadRailer is a highway trailer, or semi-trailer, that is specially-equipped for use in railroad intermodal service.

Overview

The advantage of using roadrailers is that due to their construction, the trailers can be pulled directly behind other freight (or even passenger) equipment without the use of trailer flatcars.

Roadrailers first appeared on American railroads in the 1950s. The trailers were built with integrated railroad wheelsets that could be lowered into position when the trailer was pulled behind a train. More modern roadrailers do not include integrated railroad wheels, but ride on specially-manufactured bogies that do double-duty, serving as articulation points between multiple trailers in a train. Each truck is equipped with two fifth wheels and at one end(or both ends) of a convoy there is an adaptor truck equipped with one fifth wheel and one regular AAR Type "E or Type "F" automatic coupler. Each semi-trailer has one king pin at each end.

The tailgate end of an Amtrak Mark V "RoadRailer" as photographed in Winslow, Arizona in March, 1999. The unit can travel at speeds of up to 100 mph in either direction.

The hitch end of an Amtrak Mark V "RoadRailer" as photographed in Winslow, Arizona in March, 1999. The bogies are removed for highway use.

Used in

Roadrailers have been used in

• United States and still are.
• United Kingdom around the 1960s.
• Australia in the 1980s and 1990s.

See also

• Intermodal freight transport
• Containerization
• Nicky Line where some test of a road-railer bus were carried out in the 1930s.
• Road-rail vehicle

References

External links

• [RoadRailers] photographs
• [Wabash National RoadRailers] official website
• Tripple Crown Services [link]

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