The “Black Beetle” returns!
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2025 1:02 pm
by webenda
https://www.lionelstore.com/New-York-Ce ... -RDC-LC2.0
I wonder if it will go 183 scale miles per hour?
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Re: The “Black Beetle” returns!
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2025 2:28 pm
by healey36
What's that red/white probe-looking thing sticking out of the front...an air-speed detector?
Re: The “Black Beetle” returns!
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2025 1:55 am
by webenda
Yes.
The Budd RDC-3 used for the experiment had a speedometer that read 85 miles per hour maximum. Not knowing how fast the Black Beetle would go, powered by the jet engines from a surplus B-36 bomber, the engineers wisely installed a pitot tube speedometer. The internet sources I looked at do not specify the exact aircraft model from which the surplus pitot tube speedometer itself was taken.
The Black Beetle was officially timed over a specific, measured distance by a team of engineers from the New York Central Railroad (not Penn Central). The engineer had been asked to run around 180 mph, but as he approached the speed trap, he saw 196 mph on the pitot tube speedometer, so he reduced power. The speed trap timed the Black Beetle's average speed over the measured distance at 183.68 mph.
I think Acela trains are the fastest in the Americas today, reaching 150–160 mph.