The M-497 (nicknamed Black Beetle by the press) was an experimental jet-powered railcar test bed of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

, developed and tested in 1966 in the United States. Two second-hand General Electric J47-19 jet engines, originally used as boosters for the

Convair B-36 Peacemaker The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced Reciprocating engine, piston-engined aircraft ever built. It ...

intercontinental bomber, were mounted atop an existing Budd Rail Diesel Car, an RDC-3 of coach and baggage-mail configuration which had received a streamlined front

cowling A cowling is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings are a cove ...

. The construct was then successfully sent on test runs over the existing tracks between

Butler, Indiana Butler is a city in DeKalb County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,684 at the 2010 census. History Butler was platted in 1856 when the railroad was extended to that point. It was likely named for David Butler, a pioneer. Butler was ...

, and Stryker, Ohio. The line had been chosen for its arrow-straight layout and good condition, but otherwise unmodified track. On July 23, 1966, the car reached a speed of , an American rail speed record that still stands today. Even with this spectacular performance, and even though it had been built relatively cheaply, using existing parts, the project was not considered viable commercially. The railroad gathered valuable test data regarding the stresses of high-speed rail travel on conventional equipment and tracks then existing in America. The data was largely ignored, as NYC was headed for a merger with its arch-rival Pennsylvania Railroad that was already heavily involved in the Metroliner project, funded by the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States a ...

. M-497 continued to serve for

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

after the jet engines were removed until retirement by Conrail in 1977. The engines were re-used as X29493, an experimental

snow blower A snow blower or snow thrower is a machine for removing snow from an area where it is problematic, such as a driveway, sidewalk, roadway, railroad track, ice rink, or runway. The commonly used term "snow blower" is a misnomer, as the snow is ...

. Like most similar jet engine blowers, it was effective at clearing snow and ice but also tended to dislodge the ballast.

References

External links

Photo of the train
Gas turbine locomotives of the United States High-speed trains of the United States Experimental locomotives New York Central Railroad locomotives Scrapped locomotives {{US-train-stub

See also

References

External links