Calm down lads its not what you think, here’s a pic from a Peter Davies book I bought very cheap recently on Drawbar Outfits. The Swedish style motor below was reputed to have been trialed in the late Sixties on a military base in Surrey with a view to seeing if the concept was viable back then. By 1976 the DoT had given special permission for a select few firms to carry out feasability tests for a limited period using double bottom outfits, of course we now know the result but these types of outfit could quite easily be used in some operations today. What do you reckon?
Franky.
Ask Stan Robinson. He’s been campaigning for them for years and got no-where. Somewhere in the public domain there are photos of Stan’s D.B. outfit, but I’ve no idea where.
Apologies- didn’t mean to be disrespectful to the memory of the late Stan Robinson.
If you google “stan robinson roadtrain” you should get the pictures.
Jeese,that poor little F86,I hope those trailers were empty.
I remember a similar outfit pulled by a F89 arrived at Ind Coopes in Burton to demonstrate, but nothing ever came of it. We all wondered how to drive it backwards!
Also yonks ago, I recall a foundry in the Birmingham area had an ERF artic which had a turntable mounted on the end of the trailer and a second trailer attached to it. I believe that this DID operate on the road for some time.
Steve
Some photos of double bottoms about 1978, but not in the uk. The Merc looks to be down on the back springs
Steve, the F89 or G89 you speak of could be the one below, not sure what great advantage pulling two trailers of that length would give and compared to the F86 above they would probably be better off swapping trailers! The 89 pic is taken at the Artillery training camp Bramcote Barracks in Nuneaton around 1973 that held the Lorry Driver of the Year finals for a number of years, I was stationed there myself between 76 and 78 and looked forward to this event, although it was a few days graft setting the place up for it. Some of the firms allowed to carry out the trials of ‘doubles’ were Reed Transport, Whitworths Foods and H H Robertson of Ellesmere, again thanks to Peter Davies for the pic and info. We know of the efforts of Stan Robinson to get this outfit to run legally today but I wonder what the results of the trials of the Seventies produced for the idea not to be progressed. Cheers Franky.
That certainly looks like the one I remember, Franky, and 1973 would be the right time, too.
Steve
lol,Bramcote Barracks spent my honeymoon there in 88… carry on folks nothing to read here!..back to the btrains. 
jimmy.
kennyjohnson:
Some photos of double bottoms about 1978, but not in the uk. The Merc looks to be down on the back springs
The red Merc is pulling a dolly which appears to have a normal “rocking” fifth wheel- IE mounted on a lateral pivot pin- plus an equally normal “swinging” A-frame, attahced to the chassis of the dolly by another lateral pivot. Given the short wheelbase of the dolly and the height of the fifth wheel above the ground, I reckon it would have been prone to tipping forward under heavy braking, assuming of course that the dolly axles were braked! Did this ever happen with these?
There was a roadtest done by commercial motor on the f89 with two trailers,i remember they were delivering paper reels with it. sometime in the late 70s.
Frankydobo:
Steve, the F89 or G89 you speak of could be the one below, not sure what great advantage pulling two trailers of that length would give and compared to the F86 above they would probably be better off swapping trailers! The 89 pic is taken at the Artillery training camp Bramcote Barracks in Nuneaton around 1973 that held the Lorry Driver of the Year finals for a number of years, I was stationed there myself between 76 and 78 and looked forward to this event, although it was a few days graft setting the place up for it. Some of the firms allowed to carry out the trials of ‘doubles’ were Reed Transport, Whitworths Foods and H H Robertson of Ellesmere, again thanks to Peter Davies for the pic and info. We know of the efforts of Stan Robinson to get this outfit to run legally today but I wonder what the results of the trials of the Seventies produced for the idea not to be progressed. Cheers Franky.
NZ JAMIE:
Jeese,that poor little F86,I hope those trailers were empty.
Just what I was thinking , no doubt if we had trialled it with an English motor we would have used an Atki with a 150 Gardner 
ramone:
NZ JAMIE:
Jeese,that poor little F86,I hope those trailers were empty.Just what I was thinking , no doubt if we had trialled it with an English motor we would have used an Atki with a 150 Gardner
Not necessarily! British ERF roadtrains were routinely running across the Arabian Peninsula in the '70s (witness this ERF NGC with ■■■■■■■ 335 pictured below). And don’t forget all the British tackle hauling insane weights across Oz in the '60s, '70s and '80!
Meanwhile, you’re all in luck! I have just found a file on UK ‘roadtrains’ I kept when I was doing a bit of freelance writing for the trade press so I’ll scan it all and share it with you asap . Robert
ERF-NGC-European:
ramone:
NZ JAMIE:
Jeese,that poor little F86,I hope those trailers were empty.Just what I was thinking , no doubt if we had trialled it with an English motor we would have used an Atki with a 150 Gardner
Not necessarily! British ERF roadtrains were routinely running across the Arabian Peninsula in the '70s (witness this ERF NGC with ■■■■■■■ 335 pictured below). And don’t forget all the British tackle hauling insane weights across Oz in the '60s, '70s and '80!
Meanwhile, you’re all in luck! I have just found a file on UK ‘roadtrains’ I kept when I was doing a bit of freelance writing for the trade press so I’ll scan it all and share it with you asap
0
Yeah I can see what you`re saying Robert a bit of irony on my part
No probs! Here’s the first of my scanned contributions - there’s plenty here to chew the fat on! robert
vwvanman0:
There was a roadtest done by commercial motor on the f89 with two trailers,i remember they were delivering paper reels with it. sometime in the late 70s.
Indeed “vwvanman0” Good memory ! It was a F88 and i knew i had it when i saw this thread,but finding it
is a different matter !
Click on pages twice to view.
