An absolute railway highlight as a one-time series.
Rail Zeppelin (Art. No. 39777)
▪ Retro packaging inspired by the historic packaging
▪ mfx digital decoder with extensive sound functions
▪ White LED headlights / red marker light, which changes over with the direction of travel
▪ First time with a marker light
▪ Factory-installed LED interior lighting
▪ Cab lighting can be controlled digitally
▪ Powered propeller on the rear of the unit can be controlled digitally
▪ Figure of a locomotive engineer in the cab
▪ Interior has miniature figures as passengers
Prototype:
Propeller-driven Kruckenberg Rail Zeppelin. A legendary classic of the Thirties.
Good to know:
Gasoline/benzene as well as diesel motors had certainly been discovered long before, but truly mature application of them in rail service had to wait until the end of the Twenties / beginning of the Thirties, whereby many missteps were made. The engineer Franz Kruckenberg, a former airship builder, and Curt Stedefeld came close to the goal. By 1930, they had put together a fast propeller powered rail car with the nickname “Rail Zeppelin“ in Hannover. This silver-painted vehicle with an intentional similarity to a Zeppelin on rails ran on only two single-axle sets of running gear. Its rear was flattened for streamlining and the most remarkable thing to strike the observer about it was the large, double-blade propeller on its upper area, which was driven by a twelve-cylinder aircraft motor from BMW with 600 horsepower, mounted on the rear. An astonishing advantage when in operation was that the propeller allowed smooth and thereby ideal speed control by simply stepping on the gas. Since there was no gearbox or other weight, it was possible to build the meter / 84 foot unit using lightweight methods. It only weighed 18.6 metric tons and accommodated 40 people.
After the first test runs in the Hannover area, Kruckenberg wanted to test this propeller car once on a longer line in fast service. He thus stood ready in the early morning hours of June 21, 1931 in Hamburg-Bergedorf around 3:27 AM for the departure to Berlin. The route between Hamburg and Berlin was considered in 1931 by the DRG as one of the fastest lines, since it had a mostly straight course and hardly any grades worth mentioning. After the departure, the speedometer dial quickly swung between 150 to 180 km/h / 94 to 113 mph on the open stretch of track. Soon, the 200 km/h / 125 mph mark was also passed and over a distance of about twelve kilometers, the car raced between Karstädt and Dergenthin at the peak of 230.2 km/h / 144 mph! This was a record! At around 5:05 AM after a running time of 1 hour, 38 minutes and 19 seconds, it finally rolled up to the platform at the Spandau West station. The “Berliner Tageblatt“ newspaper then observed, “Rail Zepp faster than an airplane, Hamburg – Berlin in 102 minutes“. In any event, the average speed of this record run at 157.3 km/h / 98 mph was impressive.
Starting in August of 1932, this experimental vehicle was completely rebuilt, because it quickly became apparent that the propeller drive was not usable on a conventional railroad network. The BMW motor was now moved to the front of the vehicle and there it was geared to a freshly installed two-axle truck using a Föttinger System hydraulic transmission for forward and reverse running. Several experimental runs were done with the hydraulic transmission after the vehicle had been sold to the DRG in November of 1934. The vehicle then remained in storage and it was scrapped in the spring of 1939 without further ado.
_______________
All novelties:
Märklin Social Media
Märklin Newsletter
Märklin Magazin
Märklin Club
Brands
1 view
32
14
3 months ago 00:03:29 1
Grand Funk Railroad - We’re an American Band / YOYOKA’s 12th Birthday Session
3 months ago 00:07:57 1
Grand Funk Railroad - Paranoid (1969)
3 months ago 00:05:42 1
Philip Sayce - It’s Over Now
4 months ago 00:52:16 1
Traversing The Old World; The Oldest & Most Unique Vehicles [350+ Images] (1850-1950) 60K Special!
4 months ago 00:00:41 1
Drunk Reines
6 months ago 00:03:50 3
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song (Live) - Drum Cover - Vintage Ludwig Green Sparkle Drumkit
8 months ago 00:00:10 1
Idea for you. (Click Link below for Step-by-Step Tutorials)
9 months ago 00:01:17 2
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files { Rail Zeppelin } Grace note | Официальный трейлер [русские субтитры]
10 months ago 00:02:23 1
Alan Aztec - Party Gustav (feat. R5on11c)
11 months ago 00:05:19 1
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (Lyrics)
12 months ago 00:00:44 4
My Happy Marriage - Official Manga Trailer | TVアニメわたしの幸せな結婚PV | Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon
1 year ago 00:01:27 1
Rail Zeppelin - Märklin Novelty 2021
1 year ago 00:01:30 3
Lord El-Melloi II Case Files OP Creditless
1 year ago 00:10:36 1
Рельсовый цеппелин или рельсовые самолеты. Чудо техники которое опередило свое время
1 year ago 00:18:52 1
Unsere Zeppeline (1938) - Construction of the LZ 130
2 years ago 00:04:36 9
【Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo】ASCA - Hibari (Rus karaoke version)
2 years ago 00:54:08 2
Waver Reunion and the Magic Lantern reaction#事件簿アニメ#ロードエルメロイⅡ世の事件簿 #LordElMelloiIIseinoJikenbo#anime
2 years ago 00:04:22 5
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files Special EP Theme Song『♪Kimi ga Mita Yume no Monogatari - ASCA』♪Lyrics
2 years ago 00:01:02 4
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note -Special Episode- Official Trailer
3 years ago 00:00:56 2
Lord El Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note
3 years ago 00:02:06 5
Reines El-Melloi Archisorte Twixtor - Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note
3 years ago 00:04:35 9
Hibari (rus) | ASCA | Aka
3 years ago 00:04:52 1
Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note ED [Hibari] (Russian cover)
3 years ago 00:03:07 45
[ANIME MIX AMV] - Code-EC : Earth 4 - [ 1st Public Choice Award Japan Expo 2021]