Bowser Trailer Train help


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Promagstyle

New Member
Hello,

I recently purchased two Bowser Trailer kits, which I am very satisfied with after I put them together and ran them on my layout for the first time. However there have been a few difficult issues that I needed to get resolved on a later date when I get more funding from my employer.

The two Trailer Kits CN Road Railer and a Swift Road Railer are in elephant style as I pull them with my EMD SW9/SW1200 Proto 2000. I wanted to connect them with the rest of the consist that I dropped off earlier in a siding, but I cannot, because at the back of the Swift Road Railer there is no knuckle couplers.

I sorta have them connected in this fashion right now:

Engine - < Coupler Mate with CN TRAILER > <SWIFT TRAILER>

How do I connect a box car to the end of the swift trailer? Because I have tried with an another coupler mate, but that did not work?

Example of how I would like to have the consist set up:

Boxcar - Gondola -<Coupler Mate with CN Trailer> - <Swift Trailer> Boxcar - Caboose

Regards,

Promagstyle
 
They are not designed to be used that way. The prototype Roadrailers don't run with cars behind them. The structure of the truck trailers is not strong enough for that.

Roadrailers are usually run as a unit train. (ie only roadrailers in the train) but can be run on the tail end of a train. Amtrak did this with their roadrailers, adding them to the end of passenger trains.

Roadrailers are too modern to need a caboose. There would be a FRED (flashing rear end device) on the last trailer.

So you could run a train like this:

Engine - <boxcar><Coupler Mate with CN Trailer><Swift Trailer with FRED>
 
Fred is right, the roadrailers are not strong enough to handle the strain of regular railcars behind them, and some railroads like NS don't use a coupler-mate on the rear. Other railroads used coupler-mates on the rear for various reasons, and they can be installed that way on the model. You need to unscrew the center part with the reverse tongue, install on the back of the roadrailer, and then screw the part back on with the reverse tongue sticking in the hole on the rear of the roadrailer. The attached photos should be helpful.

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