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Gauge: 1 Era: II
Prototype: Propeller-driven Kruckenberg Rail
Zeppelin. The unit looks as it did in 1931 on the German
State Railroad (DRG).
Model: Reproduction of the
two-axle Märklin I Gauge model of 1930. In appearance it
looks like the historic Märklin-model, but it is technically
updated in construction. It can be run on current 1 Gauge
two-rail track (cannot be run on three-rail track). Built-in
digital decoder for operation with DC power, AC power,
Märklin Digital, or Märklin Systems. One axle powered from a
current 1 Gauge motor. Powered propeller on the rear of the
unit. Built-in interior lighting as well as dual headlights
and a red marker light, both with incandescent light bulbs.
These lights are on all of the time. The body and frame of
this Rail Zeppelin reproduction are prototypically made of
metal with finer details imprinted on the metal. Minimum
radius for operation 1,020 mm / 40-3/16". Rail Zeppelin
length approximately 56 cm / 22-1/16".
Highlights:
- One-time series
- Reproduction close to the
historic Märklin original in appearance.
- Built-in digital decoder.
- Powered propeller on the rear of
the unit.
One-time series released in 2006.
Additional Information:
Airplane Technology on Rails. In the Twenties of the
previous century, aeronautical engineer Franz Kruckenberg,
born in Uetersen, Germany in 1882, had the vision of fast
railroad passenger service with propeller-driven railroad
cars. The plans developed by him were based on lightweight
airplane technology and reached their peak on June 21, 1931
in a triumphant record run by his streamlined Rail Zeppelin.
It reached 233 km/h / 146 mph, a speed record for powered
railroad cars that stood for 23 years. The principle of
propeller-driven railroad cars proved to be less than
ideally suited during test runs. Yet, Kruckenberg laid the
foundation for modern, lightweight high speed rail cars with
the Rail Zeppelin and axle-powered successor designs
developed by him. The Rail Zeppelin was and still remains a
legend and synonym for the rapid progress in railroad
technology that has reached its peak in the present with the
current high speed powered rail car train technology.
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 25.85 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? 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? 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.
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