I know that this train hasn`t been copied by Lionel, Mth or K-line but I thought you guys might like these pics …
It is like the Tim the Tool Man “Tool TIme” version of a Lionel train.
Richard - If you could be so kind as to edit your post to separate the two photos and put a carriage return (new paragraph)between them so it does not expload the page across ones PC. Makes it hard to view.
Wow! Looks like a Flying Yankee with Rocket Engines mounted on top. Would be nice to see in a Museum! P.S. It looks like a contraption Grandpa Munster would build if he owned a railroad.[;)][:D]
Is that a Beep at the tail end of that train.
Keith and all, that train run thru Cleveland
Tom- What year did that train run through Cleveland as I was born in 1964 ? Never heard or seen anything like it.
Producing a sound replication in Railsounds or PS2 would be an interesting problem, the prototype must must have been extremely loud,sounding maybe like a jet plane?
Dale Hz
I remember seeing a website about that train & how back then the Big RRs were all trying to outdo each other. There was a newspaper article about that train just a few years ago. It was more a publicity thing for some reason. Maybe Tom still has the web site it was on, I lost it !
The Doctor is In !!! As a evil doctor, I like the idea !!! Where can I get one??? The perfect tool for domination of the railroads!!!
Does it come with rocket launchers ???
Till My Next Missive I Remain The Humble Yet Strangly Evil Doctor!!![}:)]
The wierdest part is not that no one has made a model. The really strange thing is that someone actualy made a “LOCOMOTIVE” like this in the first place…!!! Shold be able to kit bash one.
You probably could kit bash one if you used a messed up Budd car body and the front of an old Marx Commodore steam engine.The Engines could come from any model of a jet . If you do kitbash one please send a pic .[^]
Or the tail lights from a '59 Cadi.[;)]
Bruce Webster
I seen that on t.v. one time on the history channel.I think it still holds the U.S. speed record for a railcar at around 189 mph.And those are two jet fighter engines on top.It would have to be one brave soul to ride the rails in that contraption.
There was a great article about this in TRAINS about 15 years ago written by a Mr. Krauss. The speed tests were done on a straight, flat section of the Waterlevel Route, using a standard Budd RDC retrofitted with the “nose-cone” and what I believe was a surplus engine pod from a B-36. This is the engine used on the planes in Jimmy Stewart’s “Strategic Air Command”.
But again, the article was 15 years ago…so my memory may be a bit faulty.
LIONEL has already made excellent models of the caboose and engine modeled, and has tooling for the Budd RDC, so they could make the entire consist easily, or a hobbiest could pick up an airplane kit and some pieces of plastistruct and do it for themselves pretty easily.
I myself have a large Mountain Division with O-31 curves and switches, and I’d hate to see the RDC go airborne!
Jon [8D]
Strange how something so futuristic looks kinda medieval.
I know that the NYC M-497 existed and I’ve seen other b & w photos of it. However, those color shots look doctored. The highlight on the front does not jive with the rest of the photo. There is also a double shadow from the tiny red projection near the roofline.
I got them from a train web site.I didnt play with them at all.It took me long enough to figure out how to post picsin the forum to begin with.
heres the website
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/diesel32.html
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A modified Lionel RDC was actually used for wind-tunnel testing of the cowling.
Great pictures! I’ve always been intrigued by this train. One of the manufacturers should really make a model of this. As others have said, doing do probably wouldn’t be too difficult. I’m sure that one would be a really big seller. It would have the “cool factor” going for it. Just look at the popularity of Lionel’s Phantom.
Keith and John, I remember seeing the newspaper artical on it. If I remember correctly, the engineer lives or did live in NE Ohio, out by John. I am trying to find the artical now.