PN Trailer Rail or swapbody trains

Saturday morning and out to photograph the inbound Pacific National trailer rail. According to the PN website, there are two services Melbourne Adelaide Perth, but ARTC schedules three, leaving Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; returning Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. This is an priority express local freight service, which explains why the train was twenty minutes early this morning. This service originated back in the days of Australian National, when they operated it as a Roadrailer train. When interstate container services were transfered to National Rail, the Roadrailers were continued for a while, till be replaced with the swapbody units.

This a road equivalent service, offered by Pacific National, which  supplies a a 48-foot container on a road skeletal trailer for local loading, and delivery from Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide to Perth;  these are then loaded onto skeletal wagons for transit.

Five pack RQAY and RRAY articulated skeletal wagons are used. Unfortunately none of the are available in model form. Auscision models had promised to produce these back in their early days of announcing future models. With all the trouble they had producing the CQBY, it will be unlikely that we will see these wagons in model form.

5MP1 heading down hill from Mt barker Junction.

New Pacific National 48' curtain sided container.