There have been a few people asking about the passenger coaches run along with the low floor ROLA cars for trucks. Those who ran the DB models could attach the Kombiverkehr couchette coach by Maerklin, Fleischmann or Roco. Those who modelled Hupac could use coaches by Lima, Tillig or Liliput. Those who modelled Austrian ROLA trains were more limited. There was a limited edition coach from an Austrian dealer, but it was otherwise hard to find a suitable coach to go with the ROLA cars.
This year, Jaegerndorfer has released a model of an Era IV coach (1/87) which can be used with the Austrian ROLA trains from the 80s and very early 90s.
https://memoba.at/produk...seitig_aus.html?search=1

If you are looking for a coach to add to your 4797 ÖBB Rola cars, this is a perfect match

Regards

Mike C

I have seen the Laads (47430) type cars used to transport cars and trucks north and south on the Gotthard, both in person and on video. The loads might be Fiat cars or trucks heading north or VW, Audi, BMW or other heading south to Italy.
I seem to recall seeing Zurich and Bern trams loaded on cars similar to the Laads for shipment to Eastern Europe.


If you like those Maerklin cars, make sure you also look at the ones from Trix, which. have different car numbers.

(3:00) BLS Hupac ROLA


Regards

Mike C

The trailer service is being moved to the existing Intermodal services. Instead of loading the whole truck and trailer onto the low floor cars used for ROLA, the trucks will drive to the appropriate Intermodal terminal, where the trailer will be loaded onto cars designed to transport containers and/or trailers. The major difference is that with the ROLA trains, the truck and driver accompanied the trailer and completed the delivery from destination, while under the Intermodal system, the truck and driver will remain in the original country and distribution and delivery will be handled by a different truck in the destination country.

With the ROLA system, a truck would arrive at the loading terminal and would rather quickly be put on the next available train. With loads being dropped off at the Intermodal terminal, the load may sit for a day before it is put on the next unit train to the desired destination terminal. Delays might be even longer if the load is now deposited at a container terminal near to the shipping location and then has to travel to another terminal/yard/hub where it will be shifted to a train heading to the desired destination.

Regards

Mike C