Trucking History: World’s Longest Road Train

We at CDL Life know that truck drivers like to do things their own way. It doesn’t matter if it’s food, recreation or traveling, truck drivers get there to the beat of a different drum. You could say this about attempting world records too.

The World’s Longest Road Train

We don’t do too many stories about our friends down under in Australia. However, we know the continent country has a very active trucking and shipping industry. Due to the large distances between developed settlements in some parts of the country, Australia has some lax regulation on how many trailers a semi truck can pull behind it for certain distances.

It’s known as a “K” regulation. Called a “Powertrain” or a “Body and six”, these machines operate at the Granites gold mine in the western Northern Territory. A 600 hp  1,200 cu in Cummins engine powers the prime mover, whilst a 400 hp Cummins engine is installed in the rear trailer of the B-double, driving through an automatic transmission, giving a total of 1,000 hp. Weights of 460 t (453 long tons; 507 short tons) are achieved with ore loading in side-tipper bodies on a 100 km (62 mi) round trip.

On February 18, 2006, an Australian built Mack truck with 112 semi-trailers, 1,300 t (1,279 long tons; 1,433 short tons) and 4,836 ft 11 in long, pulled the load 328 feet to recapture the record for the longest road train (multiple loaded trailers) ever pulled with a single prime mover. It was on the main road of Clifton, Queensland, that 70-year-old John Atkinson claimed a new record, pulled by a tri-drive Mack Titan.

Here’s footage of a news broadcast that covered John’s record breaking attempt. Enjoy!