What ever happened to Jet Trains?

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[Del_S]

"Why did jet powered trains never take off" sounds like a good thing to me, if it takes off then it's just a missile.

[EvanG]

I love how most of these videos are like "This vehicle used a very unique aerodynamic phenomenon to fly" but this one is just "they strapped a jet to it"

[natehill]

I love the efficiency of having a jet engine blasting 400 degree exhaust right into the air conditioners.

[hrunchtayt]

Tiny (huge) correction, the engines were taken from a decommissioned B-36 and not a B-58.

[doylethomason]

Two J47 turbojet engines were mounted outboard of the three Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major piston engines on each wing of the B-36 - that's where they came from

[Borsuk]

The rock thats on the rail: im boutta end this train whole career

[maxmachac]

*Somewhere in the USA*
"So hear me out, we will strap jet engines to a New York Metro rail car"

"Genious! Youre getting a bonus!"

[chriskortan]

That engine pod looks an awful lot like the one used on the B-36D, not the B-58.
An internet check shows this to be the case.

[Austriantrainguy]

Japan: Let´s build a highly aerodynamic high speed train that changes rail travel.
France: Let´s build something that could compedte with airplanes similar to what japan built and embarres the brithish.
Britain: We´re too broke to build a highspeed railline so let´s build a crappy train that leans into curvs but the leaning mechanism will make the passengers sick and break, then we will sell the patent to italy, see them improove it, get jeluos and buy it back. Sounds good, doesn´t it.
Germany: Let´s build a huge diesel train that consumes ungodly ammounts of electricity while not being in service(TEE Trans Europa Express).
East Germany: What´s luxury and
Merica: Yall think a bit: railcar + jet engine =

[th_rc]

How to make something faster?
Put a jet engine on it
Not fast enough?
Put two jet engines on it

[WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

The NYC is not called the New York City railroad. It's the New York *Central*.

[fi]

I am pretty sure that the engines are not from a B-58 but from a B-36. The mounting looks exactly the same as those found on the B-36D onwards. Also, in one picture of your video, one sees that the jets have can-type combustors, which the B-58's J-79s did not have (they had more advanced annular combustors instead), but the B-36's J-47s did have. Finally, in one picture showing the salvaged engines before mounting, one can still see the intake shutter panels that allowed the B-36 to turn off its Jet engines in cruise (for fuel economy) and rely only on its 6 radials instead. Nice video as always.

[owenjones]

then engines are from a b-36 peacemaker

[paulhunter]

The J-47's were installed in their original pods from a surplus B-36 bomber. The B-58 had four J-79 after burning turbojets that were much more powerful than the J-47 even without the afterburner.

[whawaii]

6:57 - The reason you "CAN NOT figure out how", is because the B-58 NEVER used the J-47 engines. The engines mounted on the B-58 are the J-79. The same type used in the F-104 Starfighter & the F-4 Phantom fighters.

If you look at the jet engine pod used, with it's 2 J-47 engines, it looks exactly like what was found on later models of the B-36 Bombers. The reason they were able to get these engines was because the US Air Force had evolved way past the B-36 & they were all being scrapped.

That is a SIGNIFICANT ERROR in making a video like this. Even a simple Wikipedia check of the B-58 indicates that its' power-plant is the J-79, NOT the J-47. Bad Video.

[PlaneSaddles]

Looks like the engine pod is from a B-36.

[Harrier]

That ‘record’ in 1893 was never authenticated which if they wanted to they could have with a Dynamometer car. They based this record on using a stopwatch and the distance between miles posts and not with actual measuring equipment.

[jschudel]

If concepts like this didn't succeed, how could a concept like Hyperloop, that's a 1000 fold more complex, ever succeed.

[ATomRileyA]

It was a great era for trying new and crazy things so much optimism,
One of the biggest downsides would have been the noise, diesel trains are pretty loud as they are with two jet engines on them it would have been deafening.
Be like having a low flying jet go past each time.

Still shame it was not rebuilt and ran again or at least in a museum.

[unclenogbad]

Actually, it never ever stood a chance of being put to practical use, but even knowing that, man, I would have killed for the chance to work on such a project! Fun, or what?

Whatever the positives or negatives of the engineering, the jet wash would have destroyed anything sitting trackside. Loved your animations, but look at the telephone lines running alongside and imagine how many split seconds they would survive as it passed.