Jet powered train from the 60′s still holds the fastest record

Everyone has heard of steam locomotives or electrically powered trains but have you ever heard of a jet powered train? Well that is exactly what New York Central Railroad engineer, Don Wetzel, did in 1966 and still to this day, it holds the record for being the fastest self propelled train.

Wetzel’s love for trains grew during the days that his dad would take him on trips to the Ohio trainyards. In the featured video he says that on one of his trips, “they put me in the cabin of a steam engine and they let me blow the whistle and at that moment, I knew it was where I wanted to go eventually.”

He went on to join the marines and became familiar with jet engines and it was only a matter of time before he combined both of his passions. In July, 1966, he led a team of engineers who went on to strap two GE j47-19 jet engines to the top of a train and little did they know, they were about to make history. The engines, which were originally used as boosters for the Convair B-36 intercontinental bomber, were bought from the United States Air Force for a price of $5,000 for the pair.

The train was dubbed the M-497 Black Beetle and when Wetzel let the engines rip, he powered the train to a whopping 196 mph! Unfortunately though, only a confirmation of 184 mph was made using speed traps as Wetzel said they were planning to cruise at 180 mph and had to decelerate for the speed traps. It still however, broke and holds the record.

The mission was to get trains to run safer, faster and cheaper – and they definitely ticked the faster box. Wetzel said, “many of the neighbours thought a fighter was coming down the tracks at low level, they didn’t realise it was a train.”

He said that if he had known that he had hit 196 mph, he “sure as hell” would have given it a little more kick to beat the French land speed world record at the time of 202 mph.

Unfortunately the idea never really took off and was seen more as a publicity stunt than serious research. The Black Beetle eventually had its jet engines removed and it returned to normal service.