Got a job next week driving wagon & drag for 1st time. 
Can anyone give me any pointers about what they are like to drive, and in particular the reversing.
Is it same as driving an artic? Or easier (as I’ve heard)?
Any advice appreciated, cheers 
Alot easier than an Artic, but they have the turning circle of a battleship!!! Wherever the front goes the back will nearlly always follow…Once on a W&D you will not want to return to those Artic fingys 
It’s easier once you get your head around it. When reversing, keep an eye on the steering bogie of your trailer, and use the arse end of your rigid to push the trailer where you want it to go. The feeling is somewhat akin to using a pallet pump truck! I disagree that they have the turning circle of a battleship - I drive 82 foot long ones regularly and the turning circle is basically only that of the rigid. Also the front corner of the trailer doesn’t stick out on tight corners like on artics and they are much more stable on snow and ice. I agree with Deepinvet that once you’re used to w&d you will prefer them. Good luck, relax, and enjoy yourself
There was a post on this a few weeks ago, click here.
Do you really mean a wagon and drag or do you mean a rigid with a two axle trailer, they are two completely different animals I am afraid with very different characteristics.
An A frame Drawbar against an centre axled caravan. If the former they are more difficult to reverse than an artic until you know what you are doing, on the other hand the caravan type has a lot of tail swing.
Do many UK companies have A-frames these days as all I see on the roads are the caravan type 
ROG:
Do many UK companies have A-frames these days as all I see on the roads are the caravan type
UPS
Tuffnells
Kingstown iirc
and a few others, enough to give you a shock if you turn up for an agency job having just passed your test 
Wheel Nut:
ROG:
Do many UK companies have A-frames these days as all I see on the roads are the caravan typeUPS
Tuffnells
Kingstown iircand a few others, enough to give you a shock if you turn up for an agency job having just passed your test
Add Spar Scotland to that list. Also alot of agruculture machinery movers use them
W&D isn’t too hard to master. You’ll find it a lot easier to reverse (same way as an artic), going forward, you’ll find the drag follows on quite nicely. The big DON’T is trying to screw round like you would in an artic, a bit costly in suzies 
, and yes, I’ve done it 
Imp:
Wheel Nut:
ROG:
Do many UK companies have A-frames these days as all I see on the roads are the caravan typeUPS
Tuffnells
Kingstown iircand a few others, enough to give you a shock if you turn up for an agency job having just passed your test
Add Spar Scotland to that list. Also alot of agruculture machinery movers use them
Anglian windows aswell i think.
We used to use A Framed wagon and drags years ago on the straw, even at full length you could get them things in places an artic would never go, and like the previos poster said, alot more fun to drive than an artic.
I would have one any day.
I take it yer man keano1 means the tandem type of trailer, as the classic A frame drawbar is becoming a bit of an endangered species these days.
Even in Germany, where the A frame was king for many a year, tandems are becoming the norm 
.
Hell, even I’m pulling one of the buggers these days . (Having said that, my new unit has 2 trailer couplings, so I can pull either a tandem or a standard A frame ).
Advantages of the tandem:
-More overall load length available as opposed to a standard A frame due to close coupled trailer.
-Easier to reverse, especially when manoeuvring under a demount body.
Disadvantages:
-Fine on the motorway but go a bit off piste on a windy hilly country road and you could have a coming together of the 2 bodies due to the above mentioned close coupling.
-Possibility of grounding due to low level trailer coupling.
-Nowhere near as manoeuvrable as an A frame in a tight spot.
-Trailer cuts in more on corners than an A frame.
-Coupling /uncoupling not as easy as with an A frame.
As you may possibly have noticed, I am not a fan of the tandem
I had an A frame for yrs, once you mastered the reversing you could get in places an artic would never go, no one else wanted to drive it . A bit more job satisfaction, I would have one back tomorrow.
papermonkey:
W&D isn’t too hard to master. You’ll find it a lot easier to reverse (same way as an artic):
Until someone gives you a real one to reverse.
Trev_H:
I had an A frame for yrs, once you mastered the reversing you could get in places an artic would never go, no one else wanted to drive it
Me too, there were lads at work thought I was mad when I volunteered for a double trunking job, but hey I was paid on hours and they were paying me to learn to drive it “Backwards”
Trev_H:
I had an A frame for yrs, once you mastered the reversing you could get in places an artic would never go, no one else wanted to drive it
Unless you’re hauling 45 foot long indivisible loads demount A frame wagon and drags make more sense for both handling lots of weight without axle overload issues and for more capacity on their longer overall loading space.
I once took my A frame outfit for mot at the local test centre, this was a while after they changed drawbars from class 2 to class 1. A driving test examiner asked me if I could put it on the test pad for manouvering and see if I could put it through the cones, this I did but ran very close to the white lines. The reason for this I was told that theoretically some one could turn up for a test with an A frame outfit (if they were crazy enough) and as they had never seen one use the course they wanted to see if it could be done ! I offered the examiners a try at it, one did but gave up after a few tangles !
Of course the one shown in the video was the type they usually had on the pad !
Inselaffe:
Advantages of the tandem:-More overall load length available as opposed to a standard A frame due to close coupled trailer.
I have a feeling I read somewhere a whle back that Germany was going to trial Scandinavian style 25.25m combinations (for example A-frame w+d with 45’ trailer). Did this not come about, or was it discontinued?
ROG:
wag+drag picsC+E W&D TEST REVERSE VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR5xcyfP8jw&feature=related
That’s not a real one though Rog and it is’nt anything like the ‘test’ which some firms using real ones will put you through before they give you the keys to one .It’s just typical dumbing down of the job like only using straps instead of ropes and synchro and/or auto boxes instead of proper constant mesh fullers etc.