Lets see you scratch build this!!


stripes

Member
Yesterday I went to the westend yard here in Capreol and got a picture of this weird MOW car. It has a DC-Jet engine with a duct and is used to thaw out switches that are frozen.

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David
 
Thats what alot of people assume they are! I allready have a good weed control system though.
 
Wonder if they ever sneak in late at night, take that duct off, find a nice long piece of straight track, and open that puppy up? :cool:

It would be just like the myth where they attach a JATO to some old car.



By the way, before you laugh too hard, keep in mind that New York Central did actually build an experimental jet powered RDC car.
 
By the way, before you laugh too hard, keep in mind that New York Central did actually build an experimental jet powered RDC car.
Now there's a kitbash...

I'm thinking a 1/4 A model rocket engine would fit the bill quite nicely :D
 
Yesterday I went to the westend yard here in Capreol and got a picture of this weird MOW car. It has a DC-Jet engine with a duct and is used to thaw out switches that are frozen.

David

Isn't that how Nascar started drying out the track on rainey days.
 
Isn't that how Nascar started drying out the track on rainey days.
<redneck voice> Yep ;) </redneck voice>

I'm still a bit of a closet Nascar fan at times, but most of my racing stuff has or will be hitting eBay.
 
As an aviaton guy, that sounds like an expensive way to thaw switches.:eek: Evidently, it's cheaper than the derailments though. :cool:
 
Now there's a kitbash...

I'm thinking a 1/4 A model rocket engine would fit the bill quite nicely :D

I used to belong to a garden railway club. On day a fellow showed up with a C02 engine from some kind of model car or something, strapped to a flatcar.

After getting permission from the host, he put it on the longest section of straight track on this fellow's outdoor railroad. It was probably 50 feet long or so. Since we all had a pretty good guess as to the pending result, he made sure there was nothing but lawn in the general direction of travel.

He turned it on, let it go, and I'll bet it was doing 30 actual mph when it came to the curve. Of course it totally ignored the curve and just continued straight out onto the lawn. We all had a good laugh.
 
As an aviaton guy, that sounds like an expensive way to thaw switches.:eek: Evidently, it's cheaper than the derailments though. :cool:

It's also cheaper than laborers and shovels and picks. It blows the snow out and melts the ice. One more advantage is that it works quickly, and when your whole yard is snowed under, that's important.

Many critical switches on the mainline have switch heaters installed to prevent freezing up. They work well, stopping pretty much anything short of a total blizzard.
 
These units are actually propelled by a small diesel sitting sideways at the opposite end. I've seen and photographed a bunch of CN ones in my area, with the idea of building one. I have a jet engine from a model airplane, but it's way too big. With the Custom Finishing kit I can now have one. All I need now is the ambition to complete the kit!

I made a copy of the NYC RDC with two jet engines on the roof many years ago. It was an experiment by NYC, and it went about 183 mph on a section of straight track.
 
Bob i have a picture of that going like hell kicking up a shower of ballast in it's wake, i think it's in the attic somewhere
 
Bob i have a picture of that going like hell kicking up a shower of ballast in it's wake...

Yep, that's the most well known photo. The shower of ballast is also a good indication of why the project never got off the ground.

Apparently they decided that having a miniature tornado run on a regular schedule wasn't the best idea.
 



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