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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas There are quite a lot of b trains combinations hauling wood chips in Washington these days. The biggest advantage I see with this setup is the ease of backing them up. It's nearly impossible to do that with a converter dolly in between (although I have seen it done for short distances). [/quote] Chad, I haven't seen the b-train combo used to haul wood chips yet, but I know it's possible. I live in an area of North Central Idaho where chip trucks by the hundreds are plying U.S. 95 down to the Potlatch pulp mill in Lewiston Idaho. I've seen a few drawbar pulled doubles hauling chips, but most are single 53' and 57' trailers. Maybe one reason they aren't using b-trains is that the unloading lifts may not be able to fit a 75' combo at once, and if the front trailer of a wood chip consist is dumped singly, there would have to be something over the 5th wheel to keep chips from plugging it up as they slide out. I'm still waiting for someone to invent the b-train dry van combo, using an accordian-style connector between the boxes to make one basic trailer space. You can see such accordian-style connections used on some transit buses, so using them in tight cornering shouldn't be a problem. A dry van interior space of 68' in length and 5700 cubic feet, able to be backed to a dock and loaded at one time, could be a valuable time and effort saver. I'm less convinced of translating the b-train design into current bi-modal technology. The need to use the tongue and pin connector between the trailers for rail transit conflicts with the need to keep space above the 5th wheel free for the second trailer while in highway mode.
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