This is really one for Juniatha. Give a concise story of this German "train." Was the inspiration for it, possibly people invokved, related to the WWI German Airmen at a base near Afula who mounted an aircraft engine with propeller on a flat or gondola car to travel to Haifa during time off for the beach there and other "attractions?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-ID_ktSoLY&feature=player_embedded
The idea matured. It flew down the tracks. In the end, it was not practical. At least the end was not a ball of fire above Lakehurst, NJ
Thanks for the You Tube link Victrola1! I'll have to treat my Lionel "Rail Zeppelin" with a lot of respect from now on!
Very interesting! { sorry, couldn't help it }. Heard of this idea before, but never saw any pics or video of it. Thanks for the link. I wonder if the long wheelbase was a problem?
Tim
The famous "Schienenzeppelin" was engineered by Prof. Hans Kruckenberg in 1929. It never saw revenue service and was scrapped in 1939. It´s biggest drawback was noise - and the fact that you could not make a "train" out of it by adding cars. In 1931, it made the journey from Hamburg to Berlin in just 98 minutes - the time it takes today.
I was at a car show in Michigan 2 years ago at Meadowbrook. The Lane Motor Museum had a propeller-powered car! Licensed in Tennessee and legal to drive anywhere in North America. two seats, fore and aft like a Piper Cub. The prop had a wooden ring around it but no other protection. The Lane museum has several prop-drive cars but the one they had had the propeller at the front. Very practical! But, weren't the people who built the Rail Zeppelin later involved with the Henschel-Wegmann train and possibly the Flying Hamburger (love that name, by the way) ?
54light15 I was at a car show in Michigan 2 years ago at Meadowbrook. The Lane Motor Museum had a propeller-powered car! Licensed in Tennessee and legal to drive anywhere in North America. two seats, fore and aft like a Piper Cub. The prop had a wooden ring around it but no other protection. The Lane museum has several prop-drive cars but the one they had had the propeller at the front. Very practical! But, weren't the people who built the Rail Zeppelin later involved with the Henschel-Wegmann train and possibly the Flying Hamburger (love that name, by the way) ?
AFAIK, Prof. Kruckenberg and his team were not directly involved in the development of the diesel-hydraulic DMUs that formed the "Flying ... " service network of the pre-WW II Deutsche Reichsbahn, but much of the insights on "high speed" rail traffic went into it. Kruckenberg later developed a prototype of a fast RDC (class SVT 137 155 of DR), which evolved into the TEE DMUs of the young Deutsche Bundesbahn in the 1950´s. Very few pictures remain of it.
This was its successor in the 1950´s:
Thanks for that, Ulrich! The VT115! I love those things! I have one on my N scale layout and hope to ride a real one someday. Aren't there 3 in that museum in Augsburg? It's interesting that the Germans and Americans both were coming up with diesel railcars in the 30s. The Flying Hamburger train makes me think of the original Burlington Zephyr. As a personal note, after it's dawn to dusk run in 1934, it made a national tour. My father grew up in Towanda, PA, and the whole school went to the station to watch it go by. Must've been something!
I am not sure whether one of the three remaining units is still in operation. One just burned down a few days ago, but it was up for scrapping anyway. Restoring the units is a major financial task, as they were insulated with asbestos, triplicating the cost of restoration.
The Flying ... service in the 1930´s was really something. They combined speed and comfort, something which is forgotten nowadays. I find riding the TGV or ICE trains uncomfortable, the seats don´t fit my lower end well and there is not enough leg room for a chap of 6´5". Let´s not talk about on-board service...
Sir Madog 54light15: I was at a car show in Michigan 2 years ago at Meadowbrook. The Lane Motor Museum had a propeller-powered car! Licensed in Tennessee and legal to drive anywhere in North America. two seats, fore and aft like a Piper Cub. The prop had a wooden ring around it but no other protection. The Lane museum has several prop-drive cars but the one they had had the propeller at the front. Very practical! But, weren't the people who built the Rail Zeppelin later involved with the Henschel-Wegmann train and possibly the Flying Hamburger (love that name, by the way) ? AFAIK, Prof. Kruckenberg and his team were not directly involved in the development of the diesel-hydraulic DMUs that formed the "Flying ... " service network of the pre-WW II Deutsche Reichsbahn, but much of the insights on "high speed" rail traffic went into it. Kruckenberg later developed a prototype of a fast RDC (class SVT 137 155 of DR), which evolved into the TEE DMUs of the young Deutsche Bundesbahn in the 1950´s. Very few pictures remain of it. This was its successor in the 1950´s:
54light15: I was at a car show in Michigan 2 years ago at Meadowbrook. The Lane Motor Museum had a propeller-powered car! Licensed in Tennessee and legal to drive anywhere in North America. two seats, fore and aft like a Piper Cub. The prop had a wooden ring around it but no other protection. The Lane museum has several prop-drive cars but the one they had had the propeller at the front. Very practical! But, weren't the people who built the Rail Zeppelin later involved with the Henschel-Wegmann train and possibly the Flying Hamburger (love that name, by the way) ?
Piko is going to make that 50's version in G gauge this year, I find myself wishing my layout was big enough for a set.
Have fun with your trains
In the 1950´s and early 1960´s, those sets were the epitome of comfort in German Rail travel. It was a first class only train and you needed special reservation for a ride on it. The level of comfort has never been reached again, today´s ICE trains are just a far cry from that.
My father used to take my brother and me to the train station on weekends. I still have fond memories of him lifting me up a bit, enabling me to peek inside.
The remarkable issue on the picture I posted is the litter on the track, that´s something you would not have seen in those days.
The Rail Zeppelin was basically experimental, but in its propellor driven form set a world rail speed record of 230 km/h (around 143 miles/hr ) in 1931 on a journey from Hamburg to Berlin. The AVERAGE speed on that journey was 157 km/h (just under 100 miles/hr). The subsequent speed records by the 05 class and the British "Mallard" did not reach this speed, and their speeds were only records for steam operation.
The record was only beaten in 1953 by French electric trains and not until the 1970s was a diesel train officially recorded at a higher speed.
The car was driven by a 443 kW BMW model VI aero engine, which was later connected to an axle on a leading bogie (truck) which replaced the leading axle through a hydrodynamic transmission. This was later replaced by diesel engine of a little less power, but the car served as a test bed for later rail cars with this transmission.
So it was quite useful vehicle, even if it didn't enter regular service.
As someone who rode extensively in TEE trains in Europe in 1973 to 1975, I agree with Sir Madog that current trains are not as comfortable, although I thought the DB ICE 1 trains were pretty close, in first class at least...
M636C
The place was Butler, Indiana, near the Ohio border, on one of the straightest sections of track in the country. The people at the Central's Collinwood, Ohio shops had fitted two jet engines from a surplus B-36 bomber to the roof of a Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC). The car was fitted with a streamlined cowling and the engine drive shaft was disconnected.
http://www.examiner.com/history-in-indianapolis/new-york-central-s-jet-railcar-of-1966
Another often discussed railroad oddity inspired by aviation. There was no propeller at platform level. How bad the back blast would be nearby was not mentioned.
Again, no practical application, but an eye catcher.
The new book "Flight of the M497" covers this test by NYC. It was conducted to gather data on high speed rail operations. They set a speed record, for America, of 183.38 mph [ avg] with an actual top speed of 196 mph. Although short, it is a very good book, with lots of pics from the "pilots" own collection.
On a side note I read in the Walters catalog that Marklin is making a Zeppilin in HO scale.
Thomas 9011 On a side note I read in the Walters catalog that Marklin is making a Zeppilin in HO scale.
Over the years Marklin has variously made this item in N, HO O and G, all of them frighteningly expensive
I have a repro Schilling tinplate version in O
That Lionel "Rail Zeppelin" looks just like mine. I lucked into it at a local train shop, didn't know what I was going to do with it but just had to have it. You know how it is. A wacky thing to see on the layout, but a lot of fun just the same.
Here is a video link to a test in 1930 of Kruckensberg's Schienenzeppelin "Hanover. 'A Railway Zeppelin'. Revolutionary designed coach, heralding new era in express trains, driven by 500 hp engine, working on oil fuel, attains speed of 94 mph on first test.!"
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/a-railway-zeppelin
And an interesting Wiki site referencing the same and its models with photos:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schienenzeppelin
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