The world’s longest truck

October 18, 2024 • 1:35 pm

It’s Friday, and you may have noticed that I haven’t done a lot of braining lately, and put up virtually no science posts. That’s because I am going through another bout of insomnia (it’s now five nights since I had a decent sleep), and it’s hard to concentrate on anything. So bear with me; I do my best. Instead of something intellectual, science-y, or literary this Friday, have a look at the world’s longest truck.

It’s in Australia, of course, where there are long stretches of straight road that can be navigated by “road trains”.

17 thoughts on “The world’s longest truck”

  1. PCC(E) :

    “I haven’t done a lot of braining lately […] have a look at the world’s longest truck.”

    🤣 perfection!

    Times like this, a nice brisk fall foliage walk does me well – hang in there, PCC(E)!

  5. Still wondering how a 175′ long truck is longer than 40 blue whales???? Last I heard a blue whale calf is like, 20′ at birth so maybe 40 blue whale fetuses????

  6. I’ve certainly seen tractor plus 3 trailers in the USA. They are scary to pass on a two lane road.

    1. I don’t think I’ve seen 3 trailer trucks in Canada but 2 trailers are common on the highways.

  7. I found this video captivating. Just the thing I would watch if I had insomnia. I don’t mean that it would put me to sleep, but that it was completely engaging as a way to spend sleepless time profitably….without jazzing me up so that I couldn’t get to sleep later, eventually.

    The narrator didn’t do much research. An obvious howler was saying the inventor adapted World War Two-surplus tank transporters “in the 1930s.” His advice to “four-wheelers” for avoiding collisions with these big rigs is the same as for any semi-truck-trailer combo, although overtaking a four-trailer train on a two-lane road is a unique form of folly. Meeting one that’s fishtailing sinusoidally on the road camber would be scary. I don’t see why these trains would take any longer to stop than a single unit. The trailers all seem to have at least three axles: that’s 12 braking wheels on each one whereas most single units on our roads have only eight, plus the tractor. It would have been useful to see crash statistics. They must be familiar to Australian drivers. (I remember seeing one in Walkabout, made when Jenny Agutter was 16.)

    Fun fact: 220 tons is just a tad more than what can be carried (plus the tare weight) in just two North American railcars, and there are 140 or more in a train. The Outback must indeed be nearly empty. Supplying the diesel fuel stations and rescuing breakdowns must be a big, lonely job.

    Great video!

  8. Sorry to hear you’re suffering with the damn insomnia again. A good night’s sleep serms to be eluding most everyone I know — myself included. Nevermind what might be going on in each of our individual lives, world events are especially troubling these days. It’s knocked the wind out of my sails for sure. I’ve been turning increasing hours per day to fiction to escape it all. Even that becomes a challenge once one is severely sleep deprived. You’ve still managed to put plenty of interesting things here for our consumption. Thank you very much for WEIT. Long trucks, squirrels, Hili’s daily ins and outs, it’s all appreciated.

  9. I am getting more of these ‘sign in to confirm your’e not a bot’ things from YouTube. But there is no place to sign in.

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