One of the earliest known uses of an aircraft engine to power a train was in 1919. Having lost World War I, the Germans, having to dismantle their war-production industry, used a surplus six-cylinder airplane motor to create the Dringos Prop-Locomotive. Tested on tracks around Berlin, the Dringos featured a two-blade prop on each end. Capable of sustained speeds of at least 60 mph, the train may have been able to go faster, but safety concerns, such as the ability of the chassis to tolerate the forces involved, or stop, prevented higher speeds from being attempted.
Germany's next attempt at aircraft-engine-powered rail transportation was perhaps more notable. A Zeppelin airship designer named Franz Kruchenberg designed the Schienenzeppelin (rail Zeppelin) in 1929. It was powered by a 12-cylinder BMW engine that developed 600 hp. It was never intended to pull cars, but was a single, four-wheeled, twin-axle vehicle.
The Schienenzeppelin achieved a speed record of 145 mph in 1931, which was remarkable considering that few WWI aircraft attained this speed in level flight. The first version used a four-blade prop, and later a two-blade prop. Safety again prevented widespread adoption of the rail Zeppelin. The chief concern involved the potential for the propeller to hit passengers on the platform. A further impracticality of this design was the vehicle's inability to go in reverse.
While the use of German aircraft engines to power trains was brief and unproductive, some of the design characteristics, including advanced aerodynamic properties, contributed to the rise of modern, high-speed trains, such as the bullet trains of Japan, which share the same sleek, aerodynamic profiles.