For the powered Grav Trailer it's got a computer onboard and computer linked controls so there should be no problem with the tractor and trailer interacting to be able to adjust flight characteristics of the train via the standard grav units of the trailer to ensure a smother ride or to make the train act like it's on rails. Especially as it doesn’t have to worry about the inertia of the container or the cargo in it.

Didn’t know it was a "thing" otherwise would have written it in the description :)

For the unpowered trailer not a chance.

--
For the fallen in the cause of the free:
 "When I go home I will tell of them and say,
 For our tomorrow, They gave their today."

 My spelling is entirerly due to dyslexia, typos, and poetic license

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxxx@simplelists.com <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
Sent: 01 June 2026 20:13
To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com
Subject: Re: [TML] Grav Trailers

On Mon, 1 Jun 2026 09:55:53 -0700, "Greg nokes - greg at nokes.name (via tml list)" <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote to Freelance Traveller:

>I’ve almost always assumed at tl12+ the containers themselves have small grav modules and a battery for about 5 minutes of use.
>The hand trucks have power and connectors, so you walk the hand truck over, plug it in. Way easier in a cargo hold.

Yes, but 5 minutes isn't going to get you from Paulo Down (southwest US) to the Manhattan district of the East Coast megacity, and even if you use local grav freighters to get from Paulo to JFK, you've still got to get from JFK to the final destination...

Which brings up a potentially interesting question, both for EDQ's grav trailers, and for present-day wheeled trailers, especially for road trains in .au: Is there any sort of mechanism so that the trailers "track" the path of the "tractor"?  I know in the US, there isn't (universally, as far as I can tell), so that the driver of a single cab+trailer has to swing wide to make sharp turns (like when delivering to retail establishments in urban/suburban areas), and tandems (2 trailers) or triplexes (3 trailers) are prohibited in areas off most interstate-grade highways - but in a lot of SF, the trailers *do* track, so that the entire "train" acts like it's on rails. (For an example of such a "tracking" train, see _Wheelworld_ by Harry Harrison.)

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