Rocket Powered Train Impact Test

Archive film of Sandia National Laboratories case integrity test of a container designed to transport nuclear waste. Obviously this was the product of engineers with too much time on their hands and few extra Nike rocket motors laying around cluttering up their space. Add a few too many beers on a Friday night planning session and you now have all the ingredients for this test being conceived and conducted under the auspice of real science. Of course they could have just drooped the container from a crane or maybe even just try the train approach using the diesel motors they typically come with but where's the fun in that?

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• rockets
• train
• sandia
• nuclear
• locomotive
• scientists
• nike
• crash
• test
• trains
• railroad
• fallout
• railway
• car
• radiation
• radioactive
• disater
• accident
• destruction
• atomic
• Nuclear
• Flask
• Endurance
• Testing
• engineering
• engineers
• power
• weapons
• express
• Nuclear Reactor
• Radioactive Decay
• Blast
• Destroy
• Missile

[uswine]

well yes i did .......damn n right next to the m

[Msts196]

ok, the container is safe, but what would happen to the crew in the locomotive?

[uswine]

@Msts196 obviously they would be highly impacted

[jpdemers]

When did the Mythbusters start working for Sandia?

BTW, if you want to wind a locomotive up to 80 mph, your choices are to build several miles of track, or strap rockets to the thing. Gonna cost a lot either way ... I'm betting they had the rockets on hand, or got them for free from the obsolete Nike program.

[uswine]

you only need 1/2 a mile for an unloaded engine .... easy to verify on web under train acceleration rates

[mynameswill]

i'm pretty sure there's other ways to get a train going 80mph than rockets...

i wonder if they ever thought about turning the train on and maybe hitting the accelerator? that might have been too expensive and time consuming though.. better just rig up those 6 rockets

[bestamerica]

'

the train is more harden metal and stronger metal than trailer / truck

[ThatAdelaideGuy]

Nike Rocket Motors: Just do it 

[terminalblue]

that's flasking amazing

[Spencerianism]

6 rocket moters to get the train to 80 mph?

[bfs1888]

um, i'm sure this train was at a much better at 80 mph, than regular trains doing 80 mph, becuse of the rockets,,,,who in the fuck was this trying to impress because of the rockets?  (besides idiots) was this film made during the 'convoy' trucking years?

[supressorgrid]

@molo265 Picky,picky,picky. I have never let the facts get in the way of a good joke.

[molo265]

@supressorgrid actually. that's uranium what they use in nuclear plants. plutonium is mainly used in nuclear weapons.

[saintangerinc]

results could be devastating muahahahahahahahahah!

[samubabe101]

4 JATO ROCKETS DAMN.