spotted an american flatbed trailer at lymm today often seen them being pulled by i think gwyneed shiping out of liverpool?
just curious what they used for must be shipped over with goods loadead on any ideas 
barry woodcock:
spotted an american flatbed trailer at lymm today often seen them being pulled by i think gwyneed shiping out of liverpool?
just curious what they used for must be shipped over with goods loadead on any ideas
Probably unaccompanied ro ro trailers used on the ACL ro ro service. 
I’m sure there is a similar post put up a couple of years ago with pictures…lets see if I can find it.
was probably on its way back to the US after being used by the USAF seen a few of them today at RAF Lakenheath, some empty and others loaded with crates, gawd knows what was in them 
Andydisco:
was probably on its way back to the US after being used by the USAF seen a few of them today at RAF Lakenheath, some empty and others loaded with crates, gawd knows what was in them
Are they still pulling them with yank trucks? Think they used to have Freightliners but haven’t seen them for a while.
american flat trailers are shipped to belfast with alloy/aluminium for shorts aircraft factory.
there is a yard full of them on the wirral , they use them to carry flimsy steel sheets of some sort … i cant remember the name of the place though so this post is a bit pointless really … i’ll shut up now… 
Grayham:
Andydisco:
was probably on its way back to the US after being used by the USAF seen a few of them today at RAF Lakenheath, some empty and others loaded with crates, gawd knows what was in themAre they still pulling them with yank trucks? Think they used to have Freightliners but haven’t seen them for a while.
saw one in there today along with several MAN tga units
I thought they were being delivered for Carryfast for his mega draw bar 
Trev_H:
I thought they were being delivered for Carryfast for his mega draw bar
Although for the first time, our crazy friend is actually correct on this, they’re ACL ro/ro trailers, they come in through Liverpool and have been doing so for years 
out of intrest have they changed the indicator lenses from red to orange and are they running on palm couplimgs
The majority are heading for British Aerospace at Broughton, Chester from the ACL Ro-Ro boat that docks at Seaforth with high grade aluminium and wing components from the States. Think they have to be pulled with units taxed at STGO.
Big Joe:
The majority are heading for British Aerospace at Broughton, Chester from the ACL Ro-Ro boat that docks at Seaforth with high grade aluminium and wing components from the States. Think they have to be pulled with units taxed at STGO.
.
Is that because of the length? The standard flat bed here is 48’ but they do have 53’rs too, don’t know what size those ACL ones are, but I presume they’re 48’s
fred kelly:
out of intrest have they changed the indicator lenses from red to orange and are they running on palm couplimgs
last one i noticed had a lighting board fixed to it and written on the front of the trailer it said something about not removing it uk use only,normal red lights were still fitted to trailer,and they have palm couplings.tandem axles with them right at the end of trailer means you need to be careful on corners.
Back in the 90s I pulled several US registered trailers out of Liverpool,they were all purpose built exhibition trailers for some of the business aviation companies, including Cessna, Lear, and Gulfstream.
smallest was 48’ long (Cessna) longest was 61’ long for Gulfstream.
They all had mockup fuselages on set up as rolling exhibitions. They were destined for initially Paris or Farnborough airshows and we then took them on tour around Europe and Scandinavia to various airports.
They were shipped in on ACLs ro/ro vessel from IIRC Norfolk, Virginia or New York .
Happy days money no object…hotels every night, free car hire at each venue, free nosh on site, free jackets, hats and the like. Just had to make sure the trailer turned up at the right place at the right time, whatever! The trailer could NOT be late. They were trying to sell private jets to VERY rich people who wouldnt have been impressed turning up to see a plane that wasnt there!
I’ll try and dig some photos out and post them at the weekend, (if i remember 
)
newmercman:
Trev_H:
I thought they were being delivered for Carryfast for his mega draw bar
Although for the first time, our crazy friend is actually correct on this, they’re ACL ro/ro trailers, they come in through Liverpool and have been doing so for years
And the only thing stopping anyone running TIR between Europe and North America is the shipping rate for ro ro on that service versus the rate for a container 
.So how anyone can make it pay to send even unaccompanied trailers is anyone’s guess.
Carryfast:
And the only thing stopping anyone running TIR between Europe and North America is the shipping rate for ro ro on that service versus the rate for a container
I’ve used them loads of times over the years, besides the extenders for aerospace stuff they have normal 40’ flats called Z (zee, remember the Yanks talk funny 
) trailers - I used them for delicate oversize machinery which couldn’t be transhipped and had to be foil bagged and sheeted, and flatracks just weren’t suitable
Oh and Could be wrong, but don’t think the US recognise the TIR Convention by the way
jj72:
Carryfast:
And the only thing stopping anyone running TIR between Europe and North America is the shipping rate for ro ro on that service versus the rate for a containerI’ve used them loads of times over the years, besides the extenders for aerospace stuff they have normal 40’ flats called Z (zee, remember the Yanks talk funny
Oh and Could be wrong, but don’t think the US recognise the TIR Convention by the way
TIR Canada and US are both part of the convention.Not a lot of people know that.
Yes they are used for wing componants for Airbus, they also use some long bodied trailers as well, for those that have never been to Airbus at Broughton, its well worth a visit on an open day, the A380 wing assembly plant is awesome, and watching the Belugas being being loaded is very interesting, almost like something out of Thunderbirds lol… Beechcraft are also made on site.
I used to work on the ACL/Cunard contract out of Seaforth between 85-89 Was a real good number to be on The flat trailers were all identified as ‘ACLZ 1234567’ whereas boxes were usually ‘ACLU 1234567’ IIRC The flats all used palm coupling’s so you always had to have adapters with you and we didn’t use light boards just used them with the American lighting, red indicators and amber marker lights down the side. The axle’s (tandem’s) were adjustable and more often than not were right at the back so at times meant for some interesting manouvering but can’t say I ever moved them around
The main jobs I remember doing with the ‘Yankee flats’ was crane parts from Groves Cranes, Sunderland, out & back, and some steel fabrication work from a place in South Wale’s.
Regards
Dave Penn;