truck trailers that carry sugar cain railway 'bins'

[MARTYN]

Hello,
Would like details of truck trailers that have rails on the chassis which allow sugar cain railway bins to be winched up onto them from the sugar cain fields?
Making a model in 1/14th scale using tamiya r/c models.

many thanks, Martyn Morgan (United Kingdom)

[GMS-AU]

Martyn

I'm not sure if I can help, however the trailers are pretty standard semi's.  The cane bins run on 2 foot gauge rails as the cane train lines are all 2 foot ( 610mm ) except for one sugar mill south of Townsville which runs on a 3 foot 6 inch gauge like the state rail system.  The semi's have the rails attached to them to suit the gauge.  Usually they back up to a ramp and tow the bins one however some earlier ideas was folding rails on the back of the trailer which folded down like ramps on rear loading low loader/float/lowboy trailers.  The bins vary from mill area to mill area.  I remember a few trucks from the Maryborough area in South East Queensland where all sugar cane is truck hauled used the roll on roll off system, so the bins could be rolled off in the field then tractors would roll them onto trailers for loading under the harvester, then parked while the truck took the loaded bins to the mill to be unloaded.  These were small, about 8 foot square, and about five to a semi ( 5 x 8 foot bins - semi length 40 foot).  Another farmer used four bins per semi, on a 40 foot trailer.  For the rest of the sugar cane mills which use their own 2 foot rail system, bin size varies from mill to mill.  I think the larger bins are 8 tonne bins, and the Mossman Mill actually uses slide on slide off bins on its 2 foot system and four axle rail wagons for this.  Some harvest contractors use 6x4 and 8x4 rigid trucks as these are better off road in cane paddocks and haul to rail heads.  Try this Yahoo group for info on cane trains and pictures.  This may help show the bins and possibly some roll on roll off trailers.

http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/canetrains/

GMS

[GMS-AU]

Reading my reply I didn't concentrate on trailer design too much.  The  trailers I know of are normal semis trailers, and it depends on how far they haul.  Some trailers still have their deck or floor, which is usually checker plate steel and the rails are welded to it and only about the height of the flange of the rail wheel.  Others trailers don't have the deck as short cut cane tends to build up so the trailers are a skel design, but may still have outside rails ( combing or tie rails ) or a normal semi, then some are simply just the two chassis rails for the entire length and the rails for the bins welded to them.  Most are triaxle and spring suspension, as it is more rugged than air suspension.  The prime move ( truck ) will have the PTO powered winch behind the cab and the trailer will have rollers so the winch rope will run up over the trailer and down to the end to winch the bins on.  The rollers are usually the size of a grease cartridge.  I found a picture of a farm tractor trailer -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davo_1620/3336524365/in/set-72157614861614425/
and while it is for off road use to follow the harvester, the idea of the rails is visible.  The rails look like angle iron and this would help keep the bins on the trailer and not bouncing off when empty, and the guides for the winch rope are seen on the trailer.  The rails on the ramp ftp://are attached to the ground, however as I said in my last post, some designs have rails that fold up and are attached to the trailer. 

GMS