RTL 1 in Gippsland Part 1 (Western Star locomotive)

[my90tp]

puts a whole new meaning to road train

[GayBoyRunning]

lolz that RTL is both a road & rail train

[irishmanO1]

awesome

[cj382]

Well, you don't see this everyday. How many horses does this thing have anyway?

[QUIX4U]

@jdawgsworld Astually - works with anything .. so long as the main road driving wheels are the same gauge as the rail -(NZR used Suzuki 4wd trucks as inspector gangers trolley's in the 1990's as well as in 1974 a weedsprayer contractor modified a tractor by simply removing the rubber from his tractor's wheels - for difficult access areas along the rail corridor in Central otago (it ran foul on turnouts until rims cut_back & worked on "single" line only) plus NZ uses a variety of trucks nowadays

[harrisonaard1]

Crazy daisy!

[guitboxchicken]

How does one operate this? Control stand? Gas pedal? I can't really tell from the video...

[emdB67]

@guitboxchicken The stand is only for the Westinghouse brakes. Both on the train and the locomotive - however, the driver said is was easier to just press the brake pedal when stopping the loco (truck) only. :)

[emdB67]

Not sure why you single out 3:10 when the same wagons pretty much appear throughout the video. At the time this was done, Freight Australia only had 2 wagons specifically for logs. So the gondolas (previously used for logs on this line, but with the doors still in place) were used temporarily without their doors until more wagons were converted for log loading. They do look similar to the steel wagons like this though.

[tarmac2001]

I remember seeing something like this back in 1998 here in Virginia, U.S.A on Norfolk Southern, but the truck was towing a half dozen roadrailers simialar to NS's Triple Crown trailers.

[trainmaster500]

canadian pacific operated something similar too. must have been experimental.. only hauled a couple of cars

[emdB67]

@trainmaster500 The idea for this came from Canada. This one was built in Canada too.

[trainmaster500]

thanks for the info!

[gwarbo]

wow that star pulls like a bastard

[ritiprd]

WTF..is someone here who can explain me??

[emdB67]

Click the "more info" to the right of the video. It's all explained there with more on the link at the bottom of the description. Enjoy.

[W7ENK]

Fascinating! I always imagined doing this when I was a child, pulling 20 or 30+ trailers behind a tractor-truck rig on the tracks - never thought I'd see it done though.

Is this common practice in Australia? I'd imagine you could buy several tractor-trucks for the same amount as one locomotive.

Thanks for posting!

[emdB67]

No, not common. In fact this one hasn't run in years. It's the only one of its type in Australia. There was another, but it was a standard prime mover modified, whereas this one was built specifically as a locomotive. I understand that one big problem was tyre wear making it unroadworthy - which meant that the flexibility of road transfers for which it was intended could not happen without frequent tyre changes.

[ijustvid]

How do the brakes work? Do the cars all brake with the foot brake, or what?

[emdB67]

The foot brake just works on the road wheels in the usual way. The RTL was also equipped with Westinghouse train air-brakes, same as any other locomotive. You can see the brake handle in use at 7:45

[johnmccnj]

I hear a "beep", followed by a button being pressed at 4:13. RTL's are fitted with a vigilance control system, then?

[emdB67]

Yes, vigilance control was fitted. Same requirements as any other loco once it was on rails.

[bitterman112]

Gosh! I always knew that Western Stars are speced to haul anything in mydrid applications! esp road-trains! Jesus, I never knew it can pull those rolling stock that fast? Must be using powerful Caterpillar 3406E with 600 to 700hp/2050/2250ftlb of torque with 18 speed Fuller transmission! Hope truck uses JakeBrake!! Great Post!! Like seeing trucks haul random freight like this! 5 Stars!!!!

[gm16v149]

You'd definately look twice if you saw this on the rails. I saw one of those Western Stars on the road near Ouyen some years ago.

I heard they were used because the rail lines in Northern Victoria radiate from Melbourne and it's a lot shorter to drive across from one line to the other rather than go back to Melb. then come back up again.

[emdB67]

Only one was built, so you'd have seen the same one. I understand that one of the reasons for it was as you say, the radial pattern of Victoria's rail network. After short-haul use on one line, it could be driven by road to another line.

[gm16v149]

One thing I couldn't work out was how it got the power down to the rails. Is it through the rubber tyres acting on the rails? Or a mechanically driven bogie?

It's a very heavy duty Western Star, looks like the 4900 series. They're built in the U.S., that explains the exhaust stack on the right (for a quieter drive in a LHD truck). On the imported trucks for the Aussie highways the stack is on the left, away from the driver.

[emdB67]

It used the rubber tyres for traction. Had single wheels, spaced for 5' 3" gauge rails. Made it look a bit odd on the road as the rear wheels were closer to one another than the front., but dual wheels weren't much use on rails. Heavy tyre wear was one of the problems with this vehicle. I do have a set of specs for the RTL somewhere. I'll have a look for them. Have a feeling it actually came from Canada.

[gm16v149]

Actually it would have been made in Canada. My apologies to the Canadians !

[jmm2000]

A road TRAIN indeed.HA!HA!

[microbusss]

and they ran this line WHY? is it going to be reactivated in the future?

[emdB67]

You only need to read the info to the right. :)

The line had been closed due to the poor condition of a bridge (a convenient government excuse). But when a private company wished to operate on the line, hauling logs, they did some cheap temporary repairs to the bridge and the rest of the line and used this "RTL" as it was much lighter than a conventional locomotive. Later the bridge was repaired properly to allow conventional locos and longer trains to operate.

[emdB67]

This was in 2000. Today the line also has several passenger trains per day. Not bad for a line they closed as uneconomical. :)

[ecoomber]

The best past was the kangaroos near the end!!

[gedebage]

I never would have believed it if I had not seen it.... amazing

[dawishman]

Thats incredible. Would have loved to see that travelling on the rail as we headed up to Lakes the many hundred times. Does the truck still exist? Or was is owned by Freigh Aus?

[Skyhawk501]

the Truck still exists and still owned by Pac Nat now but if it ran again i couldnt tell you

[tryhardparrot]

wow...

Puts a new slant to the term "Road Train".

Top vid, thanks for posting. Any tech details?

[Dodgeram591]

Sheeta Maria!!!

[paul0075]

That was awesome, I think people would be very surprised to see that rolling past...

[emdB67]

Yes, I did see several surprised looks. I notice people doing U-turns when they saw it and drive to another crossing to see it again.

[frogboi666]

excelant video,thank you!!

[rp1011]

Well that's not something you see every day.. nice video!