The Real Thomas and the Jet Engine

I just saw this on Facebook and thought I should share,

https://www.facebook.com/DidcotRailwayCe...323448524/

Apologies for it being a Facebook video (as I know not everyone has access) but I can't find it replicated on YouTube,

If you can't see it, it's an old English video from the GWR where they fitted jet engines to a wagon to clear snow from railway lines, it's interesting - or I thought so!

[Super]

LOL...thats the first thing I thought of when they cranked it up...how far the ballast would fly. Can't blame them for trying but wouldn't the force of the two jet engines oppose the train engines force and make it hard to move forward?

Ha, yeah it ended up making a super powerful shot blaster, firing ballast the size of tennis balls, no wonder the idea never took off!

At first ithoyght the same as you about it pushing the train backwards, but I imagine the weight of a steam engine would be more than enough to stop it, I don't know exact figures but I imagine a plane is no more than a ton (probably a lot less) and even a small loco is 30t plus, also the loco has a direct tractive force on the wheels,

Regardless I found it hard interesting, it's great to see these prototype ideas!

What a novel idea, typical british way of thinking laterally lol