Has anyone made an actual propeller-powered rail vehicle for O-gauge?

Looks like Atlas made an HO version in the early 1960's, when slot cars became popular. I've never heard of it previously. I expect they all got busted in high-speed crashes !

Something like this for O-gauge would be a fun item, if it was designed to resist crash damage.

I think I've seen or heard of one, but it is all vague and I can't document it.

very interesting subject

Bob C.

axles need to be on ball bearings,  an electric airplane motor would do it,

It would be easy to do. Rc controlled, utilizing  a model airplane electric motor with a Lipo battery. Otherwise as stated before the car body would have to be nano light. I can make you one, but it would not be cheap.

How about your airplane electric motor controlled by DCS or ERR?    The motor will turn a prop the same as it would a worm gear inside a truck.

ron,,marty yap,

dang,,,think I need to make one,  thinking rocket, atlas, Saturn,

except ,,it would need weight,  ball bearings help with that,  maybe a gang car, ,, or a trolley, inspection car,  man can keep going, track or battery power

Good morning,

LGB made a propeller driven rail vehicle about twenty years ago. Runs quite well. I also have a G Gauge rail zeppelin that is powered by the propeller. Very light, the body appears to be vacuum formed. It was a small production run by a small German producer.

All the best.

Miketg

Ace posted:

Video:     A Gauge 1 Propellor driven Rail-Zeppelin/Schienen-Zeppelin

Prop drive, no details on who made this.

I notice the prop shaft has a slight angle to place slight downward thrust on the body. Shouldn't be rocket science to build something for O-gauge. 

That looks very much like a "Rail Zeppelin" model that has been issued and I think re-issued by Marklin in both HO and 1 gauge and indeed also Z scale. Details on the HO version here: 

https://www.maerklin.de/en/pro...tails/article/37777/

I'm not sure that the propeller actually drives either model. The HO parts list clearly shows a geared and powered front truck with a separate motor for the prop over the rear truck. Of course if you want to blast your track ballast I guess you could have the prop truly functional.

Once I nearly got one just for curiosity value (I have some Marklin 3rail HO sets) but never actually followed through.

I've never seen an O scale version of these rail cars.

I think that Atlas HO propeller driven car is fairly difficult to find. I've only ever seen a few of them. My brother had a pair, one complete, and one with a broken propeller. I doubt he held onto them.

A small ducted fan unit like the ones that go in RC airplanes should help to reduce or even eliminate any torque problems.  Thrust would be more than plenty.  Easy enough to mount a lipo powered micro RC system in a gondola or on a flatcar for experimentation, run it independent of track power.  Hmmm.

Pete

Consider a ducted fan for the power, it'll allow you to generate more thrust in a smaller space.

I inherited this reissue Lionel windup version from my brother.  I never really looked at it until now.  The body is lightweight stamped sheet metal.  Probably would be easy to put in an electric motor and functional prop, but I think I'll leave as is.

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

How about your airplane electric motor controlled by DCS or EDD?

First the locomotive would have to have some heft to it so as to not fly off the track with speed. The model airplane engines, ducted fan or prop, consume amps that I do not believe our power packs generate. one could use a geared motor swinging a really big lightweight prop, track powered, but it would look pretty stupid. These motor spin in the 10s of thousands rpm.

Texas Pete posted:

A small ducted fan unit like the ones that go in RC airplanes should help to reduce or even eliminate any torque problems.  Thrust would be more than plenty.  Easy enough to mount a lipo powered micro RC system in a gondola or on a flatcar for experimentation, run it independent of track power.  Hmmm.

Pete

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Consider a ducted fan for the power, it'll allow you to generate more thrust in a smaller space.

Ducted fans would be safer, too.  A motor/prop combination powerful enough to push a train car would not be kid friendly.

Ron, that was my thinking as well.  Better thrust and fewer chopped fingers.   I must admit, a big prop swinging out there would be cool to see.

CAPPilot posted:

I inherited this reissue Lionel windup version from my brother.  I never really looked at it until now.  The body is lightweight stamped sheet metal.  Probably would be easy to put in an electric motor and functional prop, but I think I'll leave as is.

I have that one by Lionel as well. I think it needs 036 curves or larger to run on, definitely don't do well on 027 curves.

Lee Fritz

The Schylling Lionel Lines Rail Zeppelin runs excellent on FasTrack track and switches.  Makes for a neat flatcar load.

Michigan & Ohio Valley Lines posted:

The Schylling Lionel Lines Rail Zeppelin ....  Makes for a neat flatcar load.

Keith,

That is a great idea  Hope you don't get mad when I steal it

I'm sure Ralph Nader would be frowning at the prospect of exposed propeller blades on a "toy train".

I was surprised to learn that there are some high-performance model aircraft with ducted fans. Some of these have cool turbine sounds from the high RPM's. But I like the cheap low-tech functionality of those early 1960's propeller-powered train items.

http://www.greatplanes.com/discontinued/gpma1771.html        - check out the video

No, but I do remember laying a straight, 30 feet or so tubular track on the floor, strapping a Jetex solid fuel engine to a flat car, and pretending that it was a test sled for jet pilots. It really went fast! This was around 1952-53; remember those?

Alex

Ace posted:

I'm sure Ralph Nader would be frowning at the prospect of exposed propeller blades on a "toy train".

I was surprised to learn that there are some high-performance model aircraft with ducted fans. Some of these have cool turbine sounds from the high RPM's. But I like the cheap low-tech functionality of those early 1960's propeller-powered train items.

http://www.greatplanes.com/discontinued/gpma1771.html        - check out the video

Ralph then would hate R?C model airplanes!  Or REAL prop planes!

what some of those model airplane guys  have done,  b-24s,  b-52s,  and now real jet engines, put that on an engine...

Strap one of these Estes rocket motors to that car and you'll have trouble finding it among the wreckage!

john,,, thanks for the laugh,,,,mythbusters

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Strap one of these Estes rocket motors to that car and you'll have trouble finding it among the wreckage!

Umm, that sounds like a "one shot".

In the 1960's my older brother and his friend made "rocket motors" by stuffing empty CO2 cartridges with match heads. They ran one on a "suspended monorail" on a long wire stretched between trees. I regret to say, they also used an old 12-wheel Ives passenger car as target practice for one of their rockets. Back then the old tinplate trains were just "junk" items in the basement because we had "better newer" HO scale trains.

I think a propeller-powered O-gauge rail vehicle is a practical attainable fun goal for me in the near future.  

Tried a handheld "pocket fan" you get for $1 during the summer.  3V = 2 x AA batteries and a foam-like prop so finger-friendly.  Generates a surprising amount of wind....but no luck getting a 2-truck/4-axle (needle-point) gondola to even budge.  Here's just a photo since a video would show the same thing.  Only tried PRR...perhaps better luck with another line?

Another source of inspriation might be consumer drones with prop guard rings.  I'd think there's a lot more technical advances going on there than in model airplanes.  Apparently some have the smarts to electronically sense an obstruction to the spinning blade and instantly stop (dynamically brake) the motor.

Stan, 12VDC on that probably would have moved the car, at least until the motor went up in smoke!

Fan blades and real propeller blades are made differently. Props have more of a wing profile to get more "lift" than plain old fan blades

I used to build race cars and speed boats from thin plywood and aluminum siding scraps and powered them with Cox .049 glow plug engines and propellers. I actually had to weigh down the race cars to keep them on the road!   LOL