The Official Eleanor Roosevelt (And Anything Else Non-Topical) Thread

[Firelock76]

Just a quick "back atcha" Juniatha.  The DeHaviland Comet survives today as the Royal Air Forces  "Nimrod"  anti-submarine patrol aircraft.   Mind you, it looks like a Comet  that's spent some time at the gym getting pumped up, but it's the Comet just the same.

[Anonymous]

Murray

 

Quentin, regarding the Chevy Volt, I saw this in the NY Times yesterday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/business/gm-offers-to-buy-back-volts-over-fire-risk.html?_r=1&ref=automobiles

This battery fire problem is a fast moving story.  Right now, they are offering to buy the cars back from the purchasers.  I predict that within days, they will permanently recall all of the Volts sold and refund the purchase price to everyone who bought one.  A lot more engineering and redesign needs to be done.   

[narig01]

Juniatha: If you want to build a high performance hybred put a bigger engine in it.  IE if you need 200 hp for propulsion put a 300 hp engine in. If you are not running it all the time rearrange the charging cycle. The idea is like a turbocharged gas engine leaving the waste gate open when you don't need to use the turbo but having all the extra power when needed or desired. 

     Also regarding the video on Pan Am:  Viva la  Blue Meat Ball!

Thx IGN

[Juniatha]

 

Hi IGN

Sure , diesels have been made a lot cleaner with incessant progress in fuel injection and combustion .   The smoke I mentioned produced by Mercedes cars was by E-class cars of 124 and 210 series with , I think , 2.2 ltr diesel four cylinder engines in built during the late 1990s .

About natural gas in trucking:

At the Mid-American truck show 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5-gmM5UaW0&feature=related

Andy Douglas , sales manager of Kenworth Truck Company on LNG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLchLn8zENw

Trucker Desiree Wood on CNG an LNG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07K8XkZA-L8

Trucker Desiree Wood on natural gas in trucking

 

Hi Paul

Checking the videos I saw one with a little sound (obviously the recording level was very much reduced since the turbine didn’t sound that loud but the diesel following wasn’t to be heard or scarcely .

This must have been a rather initial machine , gee , running a gas turbine on heavy bunker oil … (that’s fine with firing a steam loco’s boiler)

Cat :  thanx , Paul .

 

Hi Firelock

               Eddie Rickenbacker saw cabin walls flexing – wow !  the Brits kept smiling , nothing to be concerned about ?  sure not :  it works , or – you’ll never have to be concerned about anything again !

I need to find more information about Comet 4 design .   BOAC , I think then a national airline , kept flying the redesigned Comet aircraft .

Btw – ‘Comet’ … and then short lived career with planes falling from sky … hm---

 

Oh , and since we’re speaking of turbine-electrics :

From sources sometimes uniquely interpreting or slightly distorting information I have gathered , plans for full-length electrification of air transport have so far not reached beyond theoretical papers held at conferences :

(a) – a scheme for over-head wiring at 40.000 ft altitude , put up by one redoubtable commercial futurologist bureau has been declined because of –

.. sorry ?  uhm , wiring was suggested to be hung from geo-static satellites ..

– no , because of doubts planes could be made to climb to 40.000 ft on batteries alone ;

(b) – third rail electrified planes only seem to come anywhere near to realization in short distance air travel where high-altitude flying is planned be replaced by extremely low flying , possibly even using ground-effect with Ekranoplan type of aircraft , thereby it will become unnecessary to practice excessively steep climbing only to  reach flying altitude just before descending again for landing .

(c) – an earlier suggestion by one European committee for the encouragement of electrical air transport to use cables to be provided by airports directly connecting planes to power plants came to nothing because France and Germany could not agree on electric system to be used while Belgian politicians , at least one or the other side of the them , insisted on keeping their own national system that they had already started to plan on .   Anyways the system seemed somewhat difficult to use in Trans-Atlantic or Trans-Continental flight because of unsolved question of owner rights against national rights in regions where the cable will inevitably come down on earth behind the passed airplane . Also , question whether to keep unwinder stationary with airports as provider or have airplanes carry light weight unwinders on board saw two leagues who would rather go down fighting each other than see the ‘other’ electrification realized .

It’s totally untrue , though , budget airlines were planning on introducing rotary radial rowing airplanes where passengers depending on class will be offered a chance to do some work for getting there – although at first glance the idea would appear to have some sense of justice about it .

On the other hand , recently I thought I saw a shop at one airport that sold little , nicely labeled bottles of Lone Star Kerosene , Kérosène Rive Gauche (rouge ou blanche) , Desert Brand and Down-Under or Kiwi Kerosene .   It’s said , certain airlines in financially , uhm , somewhat austere conditions welcome it as a thoughtful gesture by passengers to bring it along when checking in .   Aeroscrap International have lately released a note to the press , declaring , that case of the PF drinking it was an isolated one and the circumstances are still being investigated !

 

Regards

             Juniatha

 

 

add to IGN

Personally I don't so muchlike the concept of hybrids - it's a lot of extra complication and it makes a car have two´very different characters .

 

 

 

[Anonymous]

Modelcar

New Motor Trend magazine has an article of the performance of a large group of "Volt" Chevy's.  Mostly possitive, and uplifting and with great effective "mpg" figures....

This latest report of battery fire concerns possible in an accident, is something that will have to be attended to.

I've wondered about that too, but not with just an accident, perhaps some {electronic}, malfunction while in an attached garage....

Hopefully, if these concerns are true, they can solve the problem.

Quentin, regarding the Chevy Volt, I saw this in the NY Times yesterday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/business/gm-offers-to-buy-back-volts-over-fire-risk.html?_r=1&ref=automobiles

Ironically...they also carried this story:

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/with-an-asterisk-chevrolet-volt-tops-consumer-reports-owner-satisfaction-survey/?ref=automobiles

 

[Modelcar]

New Motor Trend magazine has an article of the performance of a large group of "Volt" Chevy's.  Mostly possitive, and uplifting and with great effective "mpg" figures....

This latest report of battery fire concerns possible in an accident, is something that will have to be attended to.

I've wondered about that too, but not with just an accident, perhaps some {electronic}, malfunction while in an attached garage....

Hopefully, if these concerns are true, they can solve the problem.

[Anonymous]

Juniatha,

 

I see your reasoning about the gas turbine as it applies to a high performance super sports car.  I misunderstood you to be talking about small fuel-efficient cars, whereas this would be just another hybrid, but with a turbine engine. 

 

Actually, I like the smell of certain diesels, but that smell can vary.  The worst thing in the world is inhaling diesel exhaust from a diesel in cold weather when it has not yet warmed up.  That exhaust is a white, wet vapor of various exhaust components and unburned fuel.  That can leave a person gasping and hacking for air.  And if that kind of cold diesel exhaust happens to waft into your house, the smell hangs around for a couple days.  It is basically fuel oil deposited everywhere in the house.  Heavy diesel black smoke from turbo lag does not smell very good, but it is not like the killer white cold smoke.  I always thought EMD locomotives made a very sweet and agreeable smelling smoke.  I remember that agreeable diesel smell when passing between cars on passenger trains.

 

Regarding changing the public perception of diesels:  I was referring to changing the diesel engines first to create the high mileage, super fuel-efficient compact diesels for the future, and then showing those to the public.  Assuming that these super diesels would not be smoky, noisy, heavy, clunky, etc., I think the public would accept them, especially if they outperformed everything on fuel consumption per pound of vehicle. 

 

As IGN mentioned on the previous page, GM came out with diesels for full size cars in the 1980s, and that probably had much to do with the public’s perception of diesels today.  Those GM diesels were indeed noisy, clunky, smoky, smelly, leaky, heavy, sluggish, and hard to start in cold weather.  Moreover, since they were made with gas engine blocks, they did not have that wonderful engine longevity that a typical diesel has.  In addition to all the aforementioned bad attributes, the GM diesels were short-lived maintenance hogs.   

 

And within this topic of energy-efficient cars, I am most amazed by what is happening with the Chevy Volt.  A year ago, a friend was telling me they would have fire and explosion issues with the Volt battery.  Why couldn’t GM see this coming?  Actually that is a rhetorical question.            

[Anonymous]

creepycrank

Boeing ( and Lockheed and Douglas) had a long history of successful pressurized cabin propeller driven airplanes before the Comet. Boeing started with the 307 Stratoliner of 1940, of course the B29 cabin was pressurize and the 377 Stratocruiser based on the B29 did also. After the war both Covair and Martin produced twin engine planes with pressurization so I would think that the details of how to do it would have been in all the trade journals. Its very likely that everyone went over all their design theories after the Comet disasters just in case they missed something. I think that the British rushed to whole thing forward to leapfrog the American trans-Atlantic prop jobs. I also think that the 707 and the DC8 had to wait for development of a suitable engine for the size they thought that would be required. I think it was 1956 or 57 when airplanes first carried more passengers than ocean liners so a bigger plane was called for.

I was watching a program on the 707 on the History Channel not too long ago.  According to the program, Boeing originally designed the aircraft as a new generation Air Force transport, which ultimately became the KC-135.

Boeing actually took a gamble, according to the program and also designed the aircraft for commercial use.

And as they say..."the rest is history."

On a side note:  1960 marks a pivotal year in trans-Atlantic travel.  That was the first year in which airline travel surpassed that of ocean liner travel.

[Juniatha]

Hi Quentin

Yes , I saw it - no problem . 

My posting has moved down this discussion because

first I didn't get it posted then I reposted it just before because pervious appearance was incomplete .

Never mind - be kind !

Regards

                 =   J =

[creepycrank]

Boeing ( and Lockheed and Douglas) had a long history of successful pressurized cabin propeller driven airplanes before the Comet. Boeing started with the 307 Stratoliner of 1940, of course the B29 cabin was pressurize and the 377 Stratocruiser based on the B29 did also. After the war both Covair and Martin produced twin engine planes with pressurization so I would think that the details of how to do it would have been in all the trade journals. Its very likely that everyone went over all their design theories after the Comet disasters just in case they missed something. I think that the British rushed to whole thing forward to leapfrog the American trans-Atlantic prop jobs. I also think that the 707 and the DC8 had to wait for development of a suitable engine for the size they thought that would be required. I think it was 1956 or 57 when airplanes first carried more passengers than ocean liners so a bigger plane was called for.

[Modelcar]

......J:

Note I corrected my error on the 707 dates.

[Juniatha]

I re-posted this one starting with "Hi Quentin ..." because it previously appeared incomplete .

Time sequence is confused now , this posting should belong in after posting Quentin "Eleanor Roosevelt died in 1962 ..."

Now it has answers before appearing , apparently .

Don't worry - be happy ..

                                   =   J =

[Juniatha]

Hi Quentin

>> the last three … don’t know .. <<

Don’t tell me of stories like that , I’m afraid there is something in what my late dad said about my tendency to rescue ...   I was at the age of 13 when from our children’s roaming grounds on the wild derelict Reichsbahn property I brought home a badly wounded cat – everyone said 'twas no good because she would have to die , only me I said  “No !  she can make it with a little care and peaceful rest !”   I was like fiercely prepared to fight off the reaper himself in case he would show up to call that cat – he never did .   I treated her wounds and bandaged her .   Once during the night I heard her limb around in my room , got up and brought her back into the cradle I had made up for her , comforted her a little while she was staring ahead with pupils dilated in horror of what a dreadful fight she must have been through .   She recovered and eventually got well and stayed with us .  

 

Hi Bucyrus

Not knowing the exact figures , let’s say the turbine is rated at 50 hp continuous output , the electric motors total 900 hp .   As I wrote in one of my comments in topgear , copied in my above comment :   if you confine yourself to using not more than an average of 50 hp , energy spending and re-loading of batteries will balance out and the cycle can go on as long as fuel tank provides .   This would be like floating on a level highway at , say 50 – 60 mph constant speed , or moving in the city looking well ahead with but soft acceleration and braking to contain use of power .   With sporty driving on a curvy road or on the up on a mountain road , it’s easy to use much more power on average , so there is a deficit in using and reloading battery power storage which will drain batteries the faster the more average use of power outruns re-loading .   That’s what my croco visualization was about : circulation is too slow to keep up any hasty activity – after an outburst it has to retreat to ‘load up batteries’ .

What’s the advantage of a gas turbine over a diesel engine for re-loading ?  Hm , good question – non in view of re-loading cycle as such .   However , since this is a super sports car , idea was to keep everything about this re-loading equipment light and compact – that’s where you have a big advantage with a gas turbine !

There is always an inherent limit to improvement of thermal efficiency of engine concepts – in a nutshell , the limit is where thermo-dynamic efficiency becomes 100 % – which in practical engineering can be approached insignificantly easier than the speed of light .  In gasoline or diesel engines perfecting thermal efficiency would have to ensure no heat energy loss by cooling , i e no cooling at all – it’s not too difficult to see this is still difficult to realize although indirect heat energy losses caused by that fraction of output consumed with friction have become greatly reduced over 1960s / 1970s V8 engines of classic Muscle Cars .   Further advance comes by using modern materials with better heat resistance properties , most important for valves – exhaust valves namely – and piston heads , cylinder heads , too .   The higher mean enthalpy drop , generally speaking pressure and temperature drop , the higher thermal efficiency .  

>> in the US there is relatively little interest in developing the potential of diesels … US consumer market rejects diesels [as car engine] ..<<

Well , maybe the market would buy ... only the participants don’t – *g*

Why ?   I guess they are all steam buffs who still bear a grudge against diesels – *g*

No – I don’t know what’s the reason or what are the reasons – yet I go with the lot , I prefer a gasoline engine in a car for smoother running and more liveliness – even though diesels have been made to run races , mainly by Audi winning 24 hours of LeMans – disgusting idea !

And smoky – oh-yeah , they can be smoky , even the modern extreme pressure injection engines – not when fresh from factory but after some X0.000 miles of heavy foot driving , and I for one feel it's really annoying to have to drive behind a diesel car with an aged engine emitting a plume of smoke each time it gets the pedal down after idling at the traffic light .   Mercedes diesels were notorious with smoking , up to my time in the Nineties , I vividly remember holding breath regularly on my bike each time an E-class diesel taxi was launched at green light , leaving a black trail like your average octopus on the run , or when haphazardly dashing out from a side alley (bikers just rejoice with the thrill of it !) , making a turn and flooring it plus many more big ways of stepping on other participants in daily city traffic theatre .  

>> I am surprised that perception cannot be overcome <<

Not me – I’m the same , I cannot overcome my lingering suspicion diesel engines are noisy , smoky and old fashioned – in fact I see them as more elderly out-fashioned than steam never-ever was – yet maybe that's because of my admittedly somewhat ‘personal’ view on steam .  

Clunky ?  hm , not for too long before loosing a piston and having a con rod see the light of day . likely .  

 

Hi Firelock

Gee – the Gooney Goose two cylinder simple expansion E-6s PennAmerican air-train !  

Wonder what a carbon-fibre quasi replica could do !

 

Hi Paul

How did they sound , these UP gas turbine electric units?

 

Hi Quentin

>> Eleanor Roosevelt died in Nov 1962. Quite a few years before the 707 <<

Ooh-oops ? 

First flight of a Boeing 707 was in December 1957 .   PanAm had ordered twenty in 1955 and cooperated in fundamental development decisions making aim accurate .

It’s true , 707s only became really present in daily civil aviation in the early sixties – the initial series of 7-X-7 family of Boeing airplanes marked a great technical achievement and commercial success , a daring project of some enterprise , since with the then mysterious de Havilland Comet 4 disaster and consequential grounding just a few years earlier it was by no ways clear airlines would embrace the new long range jetliner of then high capacity .  

Creepy ‘mystery’ shrouding failure of the Comet 4 took some years to uncover :  after much speculation , it was material fatigue caused by a vicious combination of design shaping and cycles of dynamic and static forces in actual flight causing cracks to develop from corners of windows which had been rectangular in the original version in an effort to provide better outlook for pasengers .   When a thoroughly re-designed Comet 4 was finally taking to the air years later , the scene had changed :  meanwhile Boeing’s 707 was flying and a more modern , higher capacity plane , too .  

Time had passed the elegant Comet 4 with her unique ‘organic’ integration of jet engines in wing box of her just lightly slanted large area  wings .   Since finer values of  design changes were difficult to explain and psychologically maybe remained somewhat theoretical to an unassuming public , passenger’s confidence could not be fully restored .   Although plucky test pilots flew daring maneuvers with the new Comet 4 proving her solidity and air-worthiness , de Havilland’s initial civil jetliner was bound to disappear in history while Boeing wrote a golden chapter of company success and civil aviation progress with the very reliable and long lasting 707 .

 

Regards

               Juniatha

[Modelcar]

.....Another classic youtube video....Interesting to look back Murray.

[Anonymous]

creepycrank

I think Pan Am initiated transatlantic flights with Boeing 707's in 1958.

Yes Sir...you are correct:

Take a look at how flying with Pan American used to be:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvkxa1O7Mec

 

 

[Modelcar]

Juniatha:

You probably don't need to be concerned of any rescue attempt of the three Connies....The one's I spoke of at the Kingman airport, no doubt, they have disappeared by now.  Time frame for what I said about them goes back to about 1970.

Item:  Good job of saving kitten.

[Firelock76]

Interesting discussion on the De Haviland Comet.  I remember reading in Eddie Rickenbackers autobiography years ago that he and several other American airline executives were invited by De Haviland to fly in the Comet, obviously DeHaviland was looking for some American orders.  Capt. Eddie remembered being very impressed with the aircrafts performance, even flew it himself for a while.  While exiting the cockpit he looked down the length of the passenge cabin and saw the interior walls flexing in and out.  He was pretty alarmed at this and brought it to the attention of the De Haviland engineers, warning that sooner or later the metal was going to fatigue and crack.  De Havilands people said they were aware of the flexing and in their opinion it was nothing to be concerned with.  Well, we all know what happened.  Rickenbacker said later thank  God Eastern Airlines didn't buy any Comets.

And Juniatha, what did a UP gas turbine sound like?  Never heard one myself, but I met a former UP engineer several years ago who said they sounded just like a jet airliner at full take-off power.  Stand by the end of an airport runway he said, and you'll get the idea.

[narig01]

One comment on the Comet disasters. One of the lessons Boeing learned from the Comet crashes was something needed to be designed in case of a structures failure to prevent the explosive decompression that doomed the Comets.

     If I remember what I read many years ago Boeing redesigned the frame that in case of failure that the damage would be contained and the airframe could continue to fly(for a short period).

    As evidence of this fix I would point to 3 "major" frame failures 

1. In the late 1980's a 737 operated by Aloha Airlines  suffered a structural failure. Approxiamately 20 feet of the passenger cabin literally peeled away. The aircraft had been used in interisland service within Hawaii its entire life. It had (compared ot other 737's) a huge number of cycles and was a little over 20 years old.

     The flight crew actually managed to fly the aircraft another 20 minutes to an emergency landing.

2. Early 1990' a United 747-200 was enroute over the Pacific either Auckland to San Francisco or SFO-AKL when it suffered a failure in the baggage hold. This failure resulted in a 10 foot section of the lower deck being lost.  In this case the flight crew flew the aircraft about 2 hours to a landing in Honolulu

3. 2 or 3 years back a Southwest flight lost cabin pressure and landed in Yuma,Az. On landing it was found a 3 foot section on the top of the frame had peeled back.

All 3 of these became what is known as survivable I think as a result of the investigation into the Comet 's.

Rgds IGN

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Anonymous

  [snipped]  Hi Paul

How did they sound , these UP gas turbine electric units? 

  Juniatha, I never saw or heard one in person, but all accounts of them agree on one aspect of their sound:

LOUD !!!  (both at rest and at full power) 

For more info on them, the only book I'm aware of is:  Turbines Westward, by Thomas R. Lee - see:  http://www.abebooks.com/9780916244019/Turbines-Westward-Lee-Thomas-R-0916244016/plp 

Also:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_GTELs 

EDIT:  Link to a 1:29 promo clip for Pentrex's video "Union Pacific - Turbines of the Wasatch" -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhz5NzkMgsw  But as noted in the comments, there's no sound of them in this clip, and I have no idea if there is in that video, either - see: http://www.pentrex.com/uptdvd.html  

Also a link to a 0:32 video/ sound clip of an M1A1 starting up:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sXE4tMEYCoI

- Paul North. 

P.S. - I liked your cat story, too !  Our current housecat is a stray who just showed up about 16 months ago, but fortunately he wasn't in such bad shape as yours was.  No doubt it was your faith, love, and care that got it through that difficult time ! - PDN.   

[narig01]

A couple of comments about diesels in the US.

During the late 1970's GM produced several diesel engined vehicles. I think that GM used a block from a gasoline engine to save production costs. These engines did not last and many failed within 1 year.

Also during the same time frame Volkswagon produced diesel engines for the Rabbit. By way of contrast their are still quite a few gasoline engined Rabbits on the road from that time frame however I do not think I've seen any diesel rabbits in a long time.

In addition Mercedes did sell quite a few diesel autos. The Mercedes diesel autos I think afre the only survivors of the 3 lines that sold diesels.

     Next truck diesels.  I drive a truck for a living. My current truck is a 2008 with a series 60 Detroit Diesel. The 1st thing I noticed about it was the inside of the exhaust stack was clean ie no black soot. That became my guide to tell me if something was wrong with the pollution control systems. (engine warranty 5 years 550,000 miles).

   The newer trucks in the US do not put out black clouds of smoke, unless something is wrong with it(or someone has bypassed).

Rgds IGN

[Modelcar]

creepycrank

I think Pan Am initiated transatlantic flights with Boeing 707's in 1958.

Correction:  I spoke in error.  I stand corrected...Agree:  About 1958.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

I have a 1960 copy of the OG that includes some airline timetables which show 707's and DC8's as the equipment on the longer domestic flights.

As far as auto-size diesels are concerned, they are turning up with more frequency in pick-up trucks and other light trucks plus some larger SUV's.  Finding a diesel in a sedan is still not that common.  I would think the older perception of diesels as noisy and smelly still hangs on.

[creepycrank]

I think Pan Am initiated transatlantic flights with Boeing 707's in 1958.

[Modelcar]

Victrola1

Back on "topic," Eleanor Roosevelt died at the dawn of civilian jet transport. Eleanor flew in DC-3s. Did Eleanor ever fly in a Boeing 707? Did Eleanor have a favorite version of the DC-3?

Eleanor Roosevelt died in Nov. 1962.  Quite a few years before the 707.

[tree68]

On aircraft - one thing I love about airshows is when the vintage warbirds take to the air - especially the Mustangs.  What a sound!

I've flown once on a DC-3.  Unfortunately it wasn't a "flight to remember," unless you want to remember flying to basic training, packed in with a planeload of other airman recruits headed for the same place...  Houston to San Antonio - tired, late at night...

[edbenton]

the VW TDI Jetta a Diesek gets 15 more MPG than the Gas model trust me for that Differance in Mileage I would consider getting one.

[WSOR 3801]

The US emission regs for automobile diesels are different than the European regs.  Otherwise, tried and tested diesels could come here pretty quick.

I think the other big stumbling block is the fact that around here, diesel is almost $1.00 a gallon more than regular unleaded.  It would have to be a big jump in mileage to make that pay off, considering getting the diesel engine in the first place can be a $2-4000 (or more) option.  Around here, the car would rot out from the road salt before you could make up the difference in purchase price through buying less fuel (at a higher price).

[Victrola1]

Back on "topic," Eleanor Roosevelt died at the dawn of civilian jet transport. Eleanor flew in DC-3s. Did Eleanor ever fly in a Boeing 707? Did Eleanor have a favorite version of the DC-3?

[Firelock76]

Hello, Modelcar!  Continuing on the DC-3, when I was in the Marines in the '70s we were still using the last variant of the DC-3, the "Super DC-3", its military designation was the C-117 if I remember correctly.  We used to call them  "Hummers", since jets screamed but the Hummers being recip engine powered  "hummed".  Everybody just loved the Hummers, they were a throwback to the Marines glory days of the '40s, and the pilots who flew them loved them too, they didn't feel cheated that they weren't flying  C-130s, or fast-movers for that matter.  What finally caused the retirement of the Hummers was the decision  to standardize  Marine Air on JP-4/5 jet fuels and eliminate anything that used conventional aviation gasoline.  Too bad. They were sorely missed.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Those of us "of a certain age" will remember the Union Pacific's series of "Big Blow" 4,500 HP and 8,500 HP GE Gas-Turbine Electric Locomotives, United Aircraft TurboTrain passenger train sets that ran for a few years in the 1970's - 1980's in Canada and from New York City to Boston, the Rohr TurboLiners passenger trainsets for Amtrak along the Hudson River that didn't run much at all, and maybe a few others (Budd's SPV2000 car ?).  But we'll skip the NYC experimental twin J47 jet-powered RDC M-497 for now. 

John Kneiling used to advocate small gas-turbine engine packages for his integral train designs, cycling individual units on-and-off to modulate the power output as needed.  Also, to avoid running them at less than full load, when the fuel efficiency was poor (supposedly those kinds of turbines use fuel at about the same rate of gals. per hour, whether idling or running at full load . . . ).  He would have had a direct-drive via reduction (and reversing ?) gears, with the axles connected by either side rods (!), chains (!!), or gears.   

The 1960's Chrysler automotive turbines mentioned by Juniatha above may have found a similar application a few years later.  The US Army's M1 Abrams series of Main Battle Tanks are powered by 1,500 HP gas turbines, which I believe were developed and manufacture started by  "Chrysler Defense", and then continued by General Dynamics after it bought Chrysler's tank division (see letter from Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Steve Bliss about 2/3 of the way down this webpage: http://www.g2mil.com/abramsdiesel.htm ; see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Abrams#Development ; http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2008/06/whatever-happened-to-the-gas-turbine-engine/ ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGT-1500 ). 

In my wilder thoughts, I wonder how practical it would be to adapt a couple of those M1 turbine packages to drive a power truck, for say under the slope sheets of a coal hopper or covered hopper car, or as the equivalent of a lower-level container on a double-stack intermodal train, etc. . . .   

- Paul North.