Re: [HOE] road trains

[Abdullah Oblongota <toadpooka@juno.com>]

On Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:13:41 EDT GalenRasputin@aol.com writes:
> How much can one engine pull? How badly would it affect acceleration 
> and handleing? Ohh and look at the big juicy slow moveing target.  I 
> think the Convoy could field one of those, but very few other 
> hauling companies.

Well, being a big, slow-moving target is a problem most semis would have
to deal with to some extent.  It's obvious that, without some outside
form of defense, the Road Train would be a sitting duck...But the Convoy
wouldn't have any problems, I'd say.  That, and how many other hauling
companies ARE there?

> The cost in tires and brakes would make it very 
> expensive, not to mention you would have to have at least two 
> machine gun implacements on each trailer to get effective 
> overlapping fire. 

Tires and brakes shouldn't be a big problem, relatively.  Compare driving
3 trucks to driving one road train  towing 3 trailers; Since each trailer
has its own brake systems, 3 trucks means 6 brake systems to care about,
while the road train has only 4.  Likewise with tires, the train has 16
less tires than 3 seperate trucks.  As for the machine gun emplacements,
just have a few complete lunatics running around on top of the trailers
with rifles.  Most folks can't afford that many machine guns anyway.

> What happens if you get into a running battle and 
> the bad guys target the hitch? Boom they just blew off 3/4 of your 
> train. I don't think anyone would take that chance. 

They might take that chance if they've only got one engine and 3
trailer-loads of cargo to haul. Something to remember is that people
don't have every resource they might want at their disposal in the Wasted
West.
 
>A big assed truck would be cool, but replace the tires with treads,
protect the couplings with enclosed armour, or something like the way
subway cars are 
>hooked together. and make it twice as wide. A junker vehicle, or
something only a rich man could field. If you want an example pick up the
Audio book 
>DeathLands, by John Axler. The first one has a pretty good description
of a war wagon.

Well, big-ass trucks are ALWAYS cool.  Adding armor in vulnerable places
is something any sane post-apocalyptic trucker would do.  But it'd be a
lot easier if those damn car companies had thought ahead and built that
armor INTO the truck.
A note about treads that would've been nice to see in Junkman Cometh or
Road Warriors:  Treads break...A LOT.  They can get a vehicle  over any
type of terrain, but they're put to a lot of abuse because of that, and
wear out fast, even travelling across roads.  There's no way a treaded
trailer would work out; they'd break treads more often that real trucks
blow out tires (the drive to Origins taught me that this happens all the
time...either that, or Indiana just doesn't know how to clean up their
damn roads)

From Whom It May Concern,
Rich A Ranallo

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