How Fast can a Model Train Go? 

That last run, in scale speed, broke the sound barrier. I'm impressed.

10:56 *_Thomas had undergone a massive remodel in the past year. He was outfitted with the Doc Martin kit and ended up going back to 1885_*

10:54 - *"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 8.39 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious s___"*

10:56 I was surprised it didn't go back to 1885.

It is time for Thomas to leave. He had seen everything.

Doc Brown: WHAT DID I TELL YOU?!!! 11 MILES PER HOOOUUUURRR!!!!!

You sure it wasn't 88 Mph at 11:02🤔, cause if so, DOC WANTS TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION

This is something James May would do for SURE.

“GREAT SCOTSMAN MARTY!” -Back to the future theme intensifies.

Awesome how you put so much effort to find the limits of model trains.

You have created the Worlds Fastest Model Train. I’m proud of you son.

Depends. Bachmann freight loco: not very fast Hornby pacific: unrealistically fast Hornby 0-4-0: lighting speed

10:57 like if you saw the sparks

11:12 I think you hit 88 mph That’s no train that’s a Delorean

Sam: 8.3 MPH, that is faster than anyone can sprint Usain Bolt: *Am I a joke to you?*

Those sparks from the wheels made me think it was going to go back in time. What an exciting video, very impressed with the speeds reached.

Need to see more of that really fast train - perhaps do some load tests and see how quick it would go on the normal layout? Great video as always Sam :)

Guinness world records would like to know your location

Great fun, you need to get a Flux Capacitor now for the first model train to travel in time.

Never mind Stevenson's Rocket, all hail Sam's Propeller powered Rocket 🚂

Sam, stop putting your trains on steroids jk but I dare you to put a body and proper couplers on the propeller loco and use it on the layout (not at full throttle)

I love how so many of us had the same idea from 10:55 :D

this challenge: *exists* electrical engineers: I am about to destroy this man's whole carrier

10:03 that sudden cut in power got me laughing lmfao Engine was like : BRRRRR *hits wall* BR- i sleep

"YOU can't Arc Weld with a Model Train" ..... ..... Sam: *"HOLD MY BEER!!!"* 😜

Just a cover scheme for Sam to obtain a fleet of super fast model zeppelin railcars

Sorry sam but usain bolt can run at 22.3 mph. That fact makes the 8 mph look like nothing! XD

Imagine a normal train going supersonic 😂😂😂

Some people may make fun of model railroading (very few Nowadays) but they obviously don’t appreciate the math and stuff that goes into it. This video was so big brain

*The last one would break the sound barrier on a big scale!*

I feel puny that a toy trains faster than me...

That was flipping epic! I love it when you make content like this and I hope to see more like it in the future. :-)

Gordon be like: I WANT THIS CHASSIS

Atlas Trains made an HO Gauge speeder back in the 1960s and in the late '70s I found one new-old-stock in an old hobby shop. It was a de-geared switcher frame with a big motor and a propeller. They gave it a plastic rocket sled body. It was challenging railroading! On an oval with 6 foot straightaways and 18" radius curves you were lucky to go around twice before it tipped going around a curve. In the end the crashes destroyed the thing (wish I still had it!) Isaac Newton says if you make your straight track long enough, you can basically go as fast as air and rolling resistance let you!

you just gotta push the voltage to 1.21 "jiga"watts

Are you familiar with the triang battle space turbo car?? A brilliant fan powered OO gauge car from late 60s early 70s

My dad did something like this many many years a go he had an old 101 DMU Power car model painted it in a A brown yellow colour and put a mini rocket on the back of it you can imagine what happened next

We got an LGB Furtuna Flyer up to 60 actual mph

"I've never seen anything like that before" I have. On the welding table. You got the voltage so high the wheels and the track started to weld together. If the railcar hadn't been going so fast the wheels would have stuck to the track.

*Puts two Rocket motors in the tender of my HO scale NYCRR J3 Hudson.*

Bruv that's NOTHING compared to the super class 47!!! Like if u no wat I meen

Great video! You made a 'model train' travel at Mach 1.1 :)

7:50 and Sam’s trains presents.. THE WORLD’S FIRST FLYING MODEL TRAIN!

FPV pilot here, Use bldc motors with an esc, they will have drasticly better performance with fraction of voltage. A 2S quadcopter (2S batteries have 7,4 nominal voltage) with 2,5 inch diameter propellers can cruise faster than irl 60 mph

[Footage of APT-E tests at Derby Technical Centre, 1974, restored] That railcar setup is really interesting, a bit like the German Schienenzeppelin railcar, or the Bennie Railplane! Amazing just how quick these models can go, though!

Frightening! I don't think I've ever been so frightened in my life. At one point it hit a bit of foam and flew over 3inches! Truly petrifying!!

10:54 almost sounds like a tornado siren lol

I clicked watch faster than the train! : D

GREAT SCOTT.! Imagine the double sonic BOOM!! at 850 mph... brilliant

A couple of thoughts: 1) The arcing between the wheel and rail has got to be due to losing contact, even though it would seem to work against going faster, you might try adding additional weight, just for contact (losing contact means losing voltage to the motors, losing power through the spark - that power goes to melting wheel and rail instead of the motor) 2) Using segmented track is ok, I guess, but in the views down the rails, the "loco" seems to be nosing back and forth (hunting or yawing) which could also be contributing to the sparking. Some ways to help this would be to a) use longer segments of "flex-track" (but obviously kept straight), tack them to a piece of plywood, and add the dead section at the end b) use tighter gauge wheels (less gap between the flange and rail) c) use something to damp swaying motion of the bogeys (as you Brits I think would call them, we'd say "trucks") - something to restrict the side to side motion - springs, foam, etc - to help keep the wheels straight 3) Use a longer track and a longer slow-down section - to my eye the "loco" was still accelerating through the speed trap, and if you take longer to speed up, you'll need additional space to let it slow down to avoid crash damage. 4) Don't even worry about aerodynamics, yeah scale speed is 'above the speed of sound,' but that's not how aerodynamics works: to the air, it's still just going 11 mph, which is far from worrying about significant aerodynamic effects. It might go faster to streamline the body, but probably only minimally. Freer rolling wheels, better contact, and high speed motors that can take higher voltage are almost certainly better ways to get higher speed. 5) If you want to go really fast, try the vacuum-ping pong ball method - the Mythbusters did this. There's no reason you couldn't put a piece of track in a tube, put a properly weighted rail car on it, and pull the vacuum. I bet you could be getting TRUE (not scale) speeds over 100mph. Link to Mythbusters video with ping pong balls: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-87Cpe4bJn0U.html

Look up rail zeppelin on Wikipedia and the George bennie rail car

You said that 8 mph is faster than anyone can sprint I can sprint 11 mph and I’m 12

This is brilliant! Got some Photonicinduction vibes from it with the cranking up of the voltage to see what happens

(loco one) "hey you've got to come back with me" (loco two) "were?" (loco one) "back to the future!"

If I was asked how fast a loco could go, id drop it off something high and point at it and say "That's how fast it can go"

upgraded rail chopper: hits 850 mph Thomas in hero of the rails: ARE YOU CHALLENGING ME!

Speaking of toy trains. Most HO modelers consider Tyco locomotives toys but, what's so great about them is that they're easy to modify. Take some Brass detail parts and you've got a neat looking heavy duty engine. As for your challenge I don't have a camera or the skill to make a super fast model. But what I do know is, if you were to take two gears, one large and one small, Put the large one on the armature shaft and place a smaller gear on the wheel axle it would make it go faster.

You could make a Rail Zeppelin with those propellers!

To validate your measurements and results you need to post the voltages being used. Off camera you're making voltage adjustments so we have no idea how fast you ramp up to the target voltage. I'd recommend having a switch that interrupts power to the track while you set your output voltage to the desired setting, then switch on the track and see what happens. You'll probably get even higher speeds simply because the train is running at its intended voltage the full length of the track. It seemed to me like in some of the earlier tests the train voltage was not at an instant voltage but the result of you turning the dial up till you get the speed you want. However, if you DON'T want to incorporate a switch you could put tape on the Variac and mark dial position at specified voltages to help you get the dial up to that voltage faster. But I think the best way to go would be to have a switch turn the track on at a preset voltage. Reading wiring and voltages - that capacitor could be the weak link. If it's rated for 35 volts, exceeding that voltage COULD have spectacular results (catastrophic failure). The sparking on the track could have been the result of the capacitor beginning to break down. But I don't know that for sure.

WOW! Sam, I've never seen model 'anything' go that fast. And, as a 1 1/2 inch to the foot live steamer, I've been asked, to many times, how fast with this thing go? I heard you say that at the start of this video, and I started to laugh to myself. I run a coal fired 4-4-2, with 10 inch drivers(scale for 80inch). What I usually tell people is this, "It will go fast enough to scare the hell out of you"! "And thats with you on it"! Great video.

Making even faster local that goes so fast the quickest way to break is via parachute from the back so it can't have any carriage attaching features so it can automatically detach to get out so the parachute can be deployed or all cars have brakes built in

So crazily fast it beggars belief. Well done you Maverick. Cheers, Rick the Bulldog

All that sparking and arcing was fun. c: The damage to the track and wheels came from that because the electrical arcs are hot enough to vaporize and ablate the metal, which causes little molten bits of metal to splatter on everything nearby.

Slow start. Fast speed. That is awesome either way Sam! Keep up the good work!

i think you can make it faster with the normal controller, a proppeler and some gears

So Scale Speed, You broke the Sound Barrier ! Brilliant!

Hi Sam, Loved the time trials sooner you than me, glad to see John back with his new Dog , All the Best Brian 🤗

I think one of the reasons for the arcs is the lack of contact with the track.as it starts to lift the current is jumping to the wheels and basically welding the wheels to the track.

The sparks or electricity or whatever made it look like the delorian from back to the future

Arcing happens when the current on the inductance of the motor is stopped because the wheel does not touch the rails continuosly. Then the current in the inductance can't stop and will make high voltage and thus arcs. Using digitally controlled motors combined with big capacitors the arching problem could be solved. On this relatively short track it is not only about high speed but also about acceleration. Metal on metal has not enough friction for big acceleration. If we accept low acceleration then with regular trains the power of standard engines would be enough for high speeds but the gearbox should be changed to have less traction but higher high speed. I would try building a loop with superelevated (bent) turns and use a modified gear ratio engine with digital control to achieve high speed. Maybe one day I will try and also video it.

Sam’s model: 850 mph Sonic: You’re too slow!

You are very thorough. Your dedication is most commendable.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 9:15 chopper train service to London Paddington. Brace yourselves, I'm about to open her up!

In my misspent youth I fitted a "Jetex" rocket motor to a Hornby railway wagon,. After just a few feet the wagon left the track and bounced across the lawn in a cloud of smoke.

Me and my Dad did back in the 95. Took model rocket engines and strap them to a G scale car and cut out back of a LGB Stainz engine. Took it to the convention in St Louis and had the fastest Drag train at the drag race that year.

We once made some motors in A level physics and me and a couple of friends decided to get all the power supplies we could find and connect them in series to this little motor designed for 3V. In total it was something like 40V across that motor and the motor did break rather quickly (I have the video if you want to see it). I also think that I can beat your speed with the aid of model aircraft motors that can push a model plane over 100mph real speed.

That was a cool experiment. Making a custom locomotive with propellors like that makes me think of the experimental locomotive, the Schienenzeppelin. Which was sadly scrapped 80 years ago, by the way. But watching those sparks jolting out was just awesome overkill.

The train looked like the dolaren from back to the future

Kato sells banked curves for its N-Scale unitrack. If anyone sells HO-scale or OO-scale banked curves, I would recommend getting _that_ (and a lot more room) for speed tests.

I love how the train just sounds like it's screaming

brings a whole new meaning to rail welding.

Haahahah Good onya Sam haha ,, & I thought us ozzies were the only ones to see if we could break the speed record in a billy cart down hill with no brakes hahah. When i was a kid i fitted a slotcar motor into a failed jeouff 4601 class nsw engine i had here and it was literaly the fastest engine i ever had and could pull every carriage i had on my track that used to run around my whole floor and got it going so fast the last cariages used to fall off and constatina'd until the engine finally rolled. Even my sad cranky uncle jim got a laugh out of it... keep up the gr8 vid's m8. Cheers from John in Australia.

It's been about 15yrs since I worked in a model shop, and I still remember my managers story. Back in the 70's/80's the train sets didn't include the controller, due to the tax reasons. A man (I believe Indian from his story) bought the set, and connected it STRAIGHT TO THE MAINS! The story goes it ran extremely fast, ran off the tracks and fell on the floor, before bursting into flames.... You hit 60v, UK mains voltage is 230v...... As you said, don't try this at home....

Model railroader turned mad scientist. Good man.

Ducted fan would improve your results. The only thing in the device capable of creating that big of a load would be the electrolytic. Was it's voltage rating enough? The magnet wire in the motors would melt before the track would arc weld. Wheel hop probably played a roll to.

I think the little 040 could be modified using a performance motor they sell for slot cars. I know hornby's sister company scalextric used to make performance tuning motors to replace the standard motors in the cars. The 040 motor is the same as some found in the scalextric cars.

When it sparked it totally reminded me of back to the future part 3 XD

god damn that last run turned it into an F1 loco XD also those sparks were the time space continuum errupting as the loco almost hit the magic number to time jump XD doc brown would be proud!

That was...AWESOME!!! Reminds me of Back To The Future.

An outstanding test, Sam. I was indeed impressed how you made the system of the speed, the resistence of the locos, and I'm happy that the little Pocket Rocket didn't burned up. I was also surprised how much volts you putted on the rail chopper, and it got quite scary when the sperks were sparks flew out of the model, and when it almost ruined the track and its wheels, that was just crazy and somehow it didn't went back in time. It was just astonishing how it managed to go more that 10 miles per hour, and that the chopper didn't exploded, and it would be interesting if you once do an autopsy with the engines, like you did with Miles. Anyways, I hope you're having a good day and I'll se you next time!

You know, watching your things with the propellers, it made me think of a rail zeppelin

Fun fact: The prop train's 850 mph run went over 1.14 scaled mach.

brilliant! and..... you broke the scale sound barrier!!!!!!

Imagine a full-scale locomotive like that one! That ought to be dangerous, but rather speedy all the same! Reminds me a bit of the Rail Zeppelin.

10:55 Reminds me of Back to the Future part 3 with those sparks on the track at the end.

I noticed that you got a cow on a flatbed rail car, on your shirt. That’s sick. I like it 10/10 in my book

This reminds me of the 25v train power supply hooked to the 12v slot cars with high speed gearing. They liked to do burnout and fly off the track

Cool!!! So does this mean we can have models that look similar at 1:87 scale (HO) but we can also have models that can match the speed and performance of the real locomotive?. I'd love to get an HO Ouigo, TGV or AGV with the exact scaled speed.

At 11:00 the thing went so fast it was trying to time travel, it even set the track on fire (kinda)

Hi Sam, a great bit of fun. I'm surprised you don't have an adjustable power supply on your bench, most go to 30V at about 5A along with current limit. These supplies will allow you to do a proper controlled start, Your supply is an Auto-transformer, which means its output is not isolated from the mains. Your power supply, did you have any filtering on the "DC" output? If not then your DMM is measuring average of the pulsed DC, so the peak voltage would have been higher. Are the props both the same? Not cw and ccw types. If you just turn the back prop around to fit the rear motor shaft and rotate in the opposite direction to the front, you may not be getting full performance. You would need to put the prop on so it still faces the same way as the front prop and both motors rotate in the same direction. You may need to fit a "spoiler" to keep the truck on the track.👍👍😊