Driving through Australia's Outback you’ll see something that makes an ordinary semi-trailer look positively tiny. Stretching down the highway like a freight train on tyres, road trains are a truly iconic Outback Australian sight.
Glancing in your rear-view mirror you notice a truck in the distance, and several seconds later it's still going... and going... and going. Hauling three or four trailers.
Inland Australia is enormous. Vast cattle stations, remote mines and isolated communities are many hundreds of kilometres from the nearest major city; so road trains have become the perfect, fast-moving replacement for the camel and bullock trains of old. Efficiently carrying massive loads across long distances, delivering everything from fuel and groceries to livestock, mining equipment and building supplies.
The first primitive road trains appeared in the 1930s, proving ideal for Australia's unique landscape. Modern versions feature powerful engines, advanced braking and specialised couplings which handle the enormous forces involved in hauling hundreds of tonnes across rough terrain.
But driving one isn't for the faint-hearted. Controlling vehicles exceeding 50 metres in length at 100 kilometres an hour presents challenges most motorists could never conceive.
Passing a road train also deserves respect. Drivers need a long, clear stretch of road, plenty of patience and adequate room.
An Australian icon, they regularly star in documentaries, tourism campaigns and social media videos, with travellers often pulling over just to watch one thunder past. There's something undeniably fascinating about seeing such a large machine moving through the endless red landscapes of the Outback.
If you haven’t already done so, make sure you experience the remote areas of Australia, and when you see a road train rolling along a lonely highway, take a moment to appreciate what you see. Far more than just an oversized truck. It's a symbol of Australian ingenuity, built to conquer vast distances and harsh conditions, while quietly keeping remote communities supplied and connected every single day.
NOW JUST PART OF MY LIFE
Having lived in Alice Springs, Darwin and travelled a great deal of Australia, road trains have become part of everyday life.
But that doesn’t mean that I and other drivers don’t show them respect. Passing a fully loaded four-trailer road train in a normal passenger car can be an intense experience. Pulling out to overtake, a road train travelling at 100 kph seems to go on forever, even of your car has a significant speed advantage.
Drawing alongside the first trailers, a cushion of high-pressure air pushes outwards against your car, and as you move along the length of the trailers the pressure increases. More intense if you’re towing a caravan.
The airflow then changes as you clear the front of the truck, your car now pulled slightly toward it until the clean air returns.
But fortunately, drivers are courteous and accommodating to other drivers.
ALL PART OF THE STORY
With large sections of the Outback Adventures novels taking place in remote areas of Australia, it’s natural the road trains become part of the landscape.
Not only part of the landscape, the high adrenalin action of a road train hijack and a deliberate road train accident play key roles in both the Outback Danger and Outback Vengeance stories.
GIANTS THAT KEEP REMOTE AUSTRALIA MOVING