In Swiss the wheel bases on & between truck & trailer were enforced by law & all A frame tow bars had to 2m long so that going forward on mountain bends the trailer followed perfectly & reversing was a doddle ,you had plenty of time for reverse correction. The fave config was 2 axle truck,3 axle trailer with 6m floor & 8m floor respectively. I will put snap - once again -of my old gal.
PS. That FIAT had a small detatchable A frame at the back that I stuck on the disabled Scanny & towed 'em both fully freighted from Chalon to Calais. The old girl pulled like a train. Around 35m long -around B. Peripheriqeey !!
LB76:
those drawbar trailers were as long as any that were being used in England Harry and as for reversing them i learnt from a master and used to consider it a failure to have to nose a trailer in - in fact i never did , i used to keep my front bumper pin freshly painted as an advert to say that i could reverse properly. Nosing in or onto a bay was not an option either do it right or get another lorry that is easier to reverse (like an artic)
I had an a frame draw bar and it came fitted with a front towing hitch, I did try it on the nose once but found you needed even more room to shunt it. It was pointless nosing it because it was all multi drop in London, so I had to reverse it, when you get used to one you can put it in tighter spots than a 40 footer would go. The only downside I found with one was that the trailer tended to wander in the ruts on the motorway but you got used to that.
LB76:
those drawbar trailers were as long as any that were being used in England Harry and as for reversing them i learnt from a master and used to consider it a failure to have to nose a trailer in - in fact i never did , i used to keep my front bumper pin freshly painted as an advert to say that i could reverse properly. Nosing in or onto a bay was not an option either do it right or get another lorry that is easier to reverse (like an artic)
I had an a frame draw bar and it came fitted with a front towing hitch, I did try it on the nose once but found you needed even more room to shunt it. It was pointless nosing it because it was all multi drop in London, so I had to reverse it, when you get used to one you can put it in tighter spots than a 40 footer would go. The only downside I found with one was that the trailer tended to wander in the ruts on the motorway but you got used to that.
Glass Glover ran several “A” frame drawbar trailers and “nosing in” was unheard of. I had plenty of practice with them when shunting and never had a problem on night deliveries with them.The trailers did tend to sway a bit going down Windy Hill M62 when Woodhead was shut probably due to excessive speed
Those Swiss trailers never wandered -ever, if you look at the configuration you will see that the distance between the first axle & second is the same as the second to the third,& third to fourth. I used to drive that old truck empty with 12t of scrap copper on the trailer over the Swiss mountains with no prob. It used to be 28t gross in Swiss but 32t (ish) across the border so if you were loading for Portugal you loaded the trailer first & took it to the border & the went back with the truck & stuck on 8t.Or you freighted both & took the window of opportunity between 1200 & 1400 when the cops went to lunch. That Italian job was another story -hardly any stability at all, when the air went out of the brakes you were in free fall - no safety brakes, to reverse in a straight line there was an air valve lever on the front of the drag that locked the 2 steering axles ,there were 2 draw-bars,one for the front another for the back of the drag if needed -total BS !
I never had a problem with trailer ‘wander’ either our home built trailers used to follow as they should, we did have some problems with newbies getting all crossed up and bending the drawbars as well as hitting the front of the fridge, but they were very stable on the road, AEC axles were used on a lot of the trailers both drawbars and artic trailers.
That’s a great picture LB and all AECs including some MK3 “tin fronts”,MK5s and tilt cabs.Any more? I had a lift in a Fridged Freight MK5 Mammoth Major and drag from Kings Lynn to Sutterton on the A17 in about 1961 when I was in the RAF.He disappeared into the night and picked me up at Sleaford about an hour later minus the trailer and dropped me in Sheffield.I remember how impressive that outfit looked,big stuff in those days.
LB76:
i have heard the name but didnt know him personally, jeff hubbard will do or bobby martin i will ask them for you and let you know
cheers mate he used to ride with george betts ,when he came home from a trip abroad he used to bend my ear in the cafe on victoria road regards stoney 03
I had a lift in a Fridged Freight MK5 Mammoth Major and drag from Kings Lynn to Sutterton on the A17 in about 1961 when I was in the RAF.He disappeared into the night and picked me up at Sleaford about an hour later minus the trailer and dropped me in Sheffield.I remember how impressive that outfit looked,big stuff in those days. 
