Rocket Trains???

[Chompers]

Has Any one ever built a rocket powered train??? You Know for First Class Mail and High Speed passenger servise.[:p] I am into model rockets, and just want to know if any oe has tried this[xx(].

Just thinking:
Might attach one to the Ruby to help it up my 6% grade.[^](Just kidding with that)

well if you have please post!

Chompers

[ttrigg]

I tried one, just for the fun of it, in a "builders challenge" a couple of months back. I used Estus Rocket Motors. It had ZERO ability to negotiate curves. Flew off the track, over the fence, 40 feet down the hill, landed in the middle of the street below, and got run over by a large truck.

Total life span from lighting the fuse, about 1.3 seconds. Construction time 6 hours.

I'll never try that one again. Not very cost/time effective.

[ttrigg]

BTW, had the idea of taking pictures during the "second" run, since it never survived the first run, no pictures.

[tangerine-jack]

Nonsense. I built one and it worked just fine.




Sorta.


Ok, so it flew off the rails and burst into flame. But it was you gotta admit it was awesome!

[Tom The Brat]

You haven't heard of the train races each summer on the East Coast? One of the big train shops sponsors them.

[Anonymous]

TJ
You needed a long straight track, 500 ft maybe ,and the turn was to sharp, Torby hows the new job doing ben

[ttrigg]

TJ

Yes it was an awsome sight to see it fly through the air. Just wish I had the smarts required to realize that it was going to be a one time event. IF I do it again I'll know enough to take pictures the FIRST run. Then maybe, just maybe there will be a second run.

[kstrong]

Chompers (and other interested parties)

Ridge Road Station, up in Holley, NY (between Rochester and Buffalo) in May and September (or October) has train races, where rocket trains are a HUGE part of the day's activities. www.ridgeroadstation.com I didn't see a schedule on their web site, but give 'em a call and ask.

Later,

K

PS - don't forget the "http://" in the URL, and the "/" in the closing <img> tag. So, if you take out the asterix

[*img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cc08b3127cce96680a1c433c00000010102AbN2jZk2cMd[*/img]
you get:

[FJ and G]

Jack,

That's pretty spectacular! You could make a short film about that one.

Several years ago, there was a scientist living in Michigan who also was a model train person. He did some outrageous stuff that included making a Tesla Coil to produce real lightning on his layout. He also built a rocket train that burned jet fuel. He found several miles of abandoned track in a wilderness area of Michigan, where he attached his rocket train to one of the rails via some wheels (like a monorail); then fired it down the track. I don't know if it broke the sound barrier but I believe it blew up some ways down the line.

I haven't heard from this guy in a while and don't know if he's still around after some of his wild experiments. I knew him from a forum that went off line and lost track.

[vsmith]

I wanted to try organizing a rocket race one of these years for the west coast Big Train Show, but its a daunting task, no one person can do it alone and it needs a loooong racetrack- 150 feet, the killer is I dont think the BTS organizers would be too thrilled hosting such a pyrotechnic area hog of an event.

[Chompers]

The Ridge raod station event seems to have only a few different types of rocket trains, and the same ones have been there for EVER. This May I'm Bringing My Ruby to Run it on the Steam track SOOO, i'l be doing that [:D]!

I've "Built" a rocket train out of an LGB Log car, Mettle weels, 1 by 4 inch piece of wood, and Some 1/2 inch Copper Pipe. Like i've said ive built one, if il ever launch it... I don't know.
I just lost another Rocket on Saturday. Went up 2000 feet and lost it in Mendon Pond.

OK i'l be quiet now!

P.S. thx for the pick advise.

[tangerine-jack]

I'm convinced my rocket train had a few flaws in the design, one was the rocket motor was too large for the total mass, and it was set at 0 incidence relative to the plane of travel, the other was the energy curve of the motor itself.

That is to say, the motor is factory set for what amounts to a heavy launch thrust to get the mass moving, then a longer medium power phase, with a low energy glide phase before the final ejection charge fires. This to me is backwards from the way it should work. A motor redesign would have a low thrust to gently accelerate the train, then a long medium thrust phase, followed again by a low thrust deceleration without parachute ejection charge. Set this motor on a platform with 3 or 4 degrees down thrust and that should do it. I don't know of any commercial motors that do this, perhaps I will home make one if I try this again.

[Capt Bob Johnson]

TJ,
Sounds like more work than practical for a 1 shot deal! Aren't rockets inherently designed as disposable cause they burn or have metal fatigue after that 1 shot?

[tangerine-jack]

That is subject to some debate. The shuttle program is clearly designed otherwise. It's a cost vs. utility issue. A cheap disposable rocket cost a lot less but has limited practical research scientific use. Disposables are great for remote satelite launches, a craft like the shuttle is far more usefull for research and repair of the satelites once in orbit. Von Braun was a great proponent of cheap AND reusable but became outraged when his shuttle design became too expensive, overweight and over complicated.

A full sized rocket (excluding the shuttle) uses a uni-body type of construction where the fuel cells, when full, provide a stressed outer skin and therby becomes a structural component of the launch vehicle. This type of rocket at launch not only accelerates, it loses mass (from the loss of fuel used for propulsion) and structural strength. Because the fuel itself acts as a structural component, the integrity of the rocket is compromised much like stretching then deflating a balloon, only with aluminum instead of rubber. In the case a 40g launch, mach 18+ velocity acceleration through atmospheric drag makes the rocket a one time deal due to the enormous metal fatigue (think again about a big aluminum balloon).

For a model rocket garden train, stress is not as big of a factor. If you increased proportionaly the size of the components to what a full sized vehicle would be, the craft would be too heavy to move in the real world. The usual construction involves a tube of some type containing a motor and surounded by a superstructure giving several hundred percent of an overbuild factor.

Bottom line is I am thinking of making a really flaming launch model train, not put the Telstar in orbit, so I can construct a vehicle where total mass and theoretical stress computatons are not so much an important factor. Metal fatigue is not an issue for at least the number of launches I can perform based on stress analysis from the thrust of the motor as it acts upon the vehicle's build materials, and I am looking at probably a few dozen or more runs before the platform needs an overhaul. By using a lower energy motor with a reprogramed power curve I can overcome the deficiencies of my first design and kill the Dalek but good.[:D]

[John Busby]

Hi TJ
When I have a scanner some time in the near future
Will send you the artical on the Mighty Mouse rail car and you can see what you can do with that.
You will have to convert dimentions from HO to G and work out how to build a rocket propelled one.
Small point the track curves from the horizontal plane to the vertical one so you will have to consider vehical recovery
Did you get my station pic?
regards John