Yes but it wasn't really practical.

I remember reading about Holland in the eighteenth century.  They tried rail cars powered by sails!  Not much came of it.

Hi!

     You do know that they tried that in the thirties? The thing worked allright on the Straight runs , but failed on the curves. Plus it scared the heck out of folks and was very noisy!

     The thing is you could find a small fan and set the motor on the flatcar and then use the pickups for car lighting to get power  to the the Prop

Thanks!

They both look pretty cool to me. I dont even ger into railroad stuff that much but I like them.

I just built this one from parts I had on hand along with fabrication.  

That it is.

True it needs a lot more power than the battery provides but it is pretty cool

A little less drag for the propwash on a curve, more clean air to some extent.  How the curve wheel drag compares to straight, no idea.  Probably a wash as for efencivy.

Have you thought about a loco power type pickup from the tracks.  Have to see if the prop would get enough to provide the thrust needed, along with any voltage difference.  Would be easier than a battery in the car.

Haven't messed with trains since "N" scale started to get a following back in the late '60's

Pretty cool! Though it does seem to me it'd work better on straight track than curves. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/8xGx2Rpc83g?feature=share