Wednesday, June 29, 2016

J-47 Powered Train

Did you know that there was a train powered by twin J-47 engines enclosed in a B-36 jet pod? I didn't either. A project of the New York Central Railroad, the train was named the M-497 Black Beetle. During a test run in 1966 from Butler, Indiana to Stryker, Ohio, the train almost reached 200 mph. Sadly, the jet-train concept didn't catch on and the engines were removed and turned into snowblowers.

Someone really needs to use a spare Monogram B-36 pod and scratch build this in 1/72.

2 comments:

David M. Knights said...

Way cool.

Dave Shirlaw said...

BC Rail (now defunct) had lots of Bud cars. When they were sold off I heard one went to operate on a private estate in Maine. Sort of like you buying a CF-101. 😃