They streamlined a Budd Rail Diesel Car, added two General Electric J47-19 jet engines, and nicknamed it the M-497 Black Beetle.
Testing was performed on a 25 mi (40 km) length of the normal NYCR system – a virtually arrow-straight layout of regular existing track between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio.
On 14 August 1974, using the jet engines, the LIMRV achieved a world record speed of 255.7 mph (411.5 km/h) for vehicles on conventional rail.
[3][4][5] In 1970, researchers in the USSR developed the High-speed Laboratory Railcar [ru] (SVL) turbojet train.
If the research had been successful, there was a plan to use the turbojet powered vehicle to pull a "Russian troika" express service.