A turbojet train is a

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

engines. Like a

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines. Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...

, but unlike a gas turbine locomotive, the train is propelled by the jet thrust of the engines, rather than by its wheels. Only a handful of jet-powered trains have been built, for experimental research in

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

. Turbojet engines have been built with the engine incorporated into a

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

combining both propulsion and passenger accommodation rather than as separate locomotives hauling passenger coaches. As turbojet engines are most efficient at high speeds, the experimental research has focused in applications for high-speed passenger services, rather than the heavier trains (with more frequent stops) used for freight services.

M-497

The first attempt to use turbojet engines on a railroad was made in 1966 by the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

(NYCR), a company with operations throughout the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian– American region centered on the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Ca ...

. They streamlined a

Budd Rail Diesel Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC), also known as the Budd car or Buddliner, is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars ...

, added two General Electric J47-19

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

s, and nicknamed it the M-497 Black Beetle. Testing was performed on a length of the normal NYCR system – a virtually arrow-straight layout of regular existing track between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio. On July 23, 1966, the train reached a speed of .

LIMRV

In the early 1970s, the U.S.

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce railroa ...

developed the Linear Induction Motor Research Vehicle (LIMRV), meant to test the use of

linear induction motor A linear induction motor (LIM) is an alternating current (AC), asynchronous linear motor that works by the same general principles as other induction motors but is typically designed to directly produce motion in a straight line. Characteristica ...

s. The LIMRV was a specialized wheeled vehicle, running on standard-gauge railroad track. Speed was limited due to the length of the track and vehicle acceleration rates. One stage of research saw the addition of two Pratt & Whitney J52 jet engines to propel the LIMRV. Once the LIMRV had accelerated to desired velocity, the engines were throttled back so that the thrust equaled their drag. On 14 August 1974, using the jet engines, the LIMRV achieved a world record speed of for vehicles on conventional rail.

SVL

In 1970, researchers in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

developed the (SVL) turbojet train. The SVL was able to reach a speed of . The researchers placed jet engines on an ER22 railcar, normally part of an electric-powered multiple unit train. The SVL had a mass of 54.4 tonnes (including 7.4 tonnes of fuel) and was long. If the research had been successful, there was a plan to use the turbojet powered vehicle to pull a "Russian troika" express service. As of 2014, the train still exists in a dilapidated and unmaintained state, while the research project has been honoured with a monument made from the front of the railcar, outside a railcar factory in

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

, a city in western

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Notes

References

External links

A collection of photographs of the ER22 turbojet locomotive
Gas turbine multiple units Jet engines Railcars of Russia High-speed trains of Russia Experimental locomotives {{locomotive-stub

M-497

LIMRV

SVL

See also

Notes

References

External links