They've been working on the railroad

BELLBROOK, Ohio (WDTN) - While most students are coasting this time of year, for one group of Bellbrook seniors it's full steam ahead.

"Never expected to be building something like this," says senior Scott Jarrett.

The locomotive is far from your typical volcano science project.

Sure it smokes and it can also erupt, but the engines are quicker than any low-grade lava flows you'll find.

"It just morphed into this and became this really cool project," Jarrett says.

It started when a group of Bellbrook engineering students tried to come up with a way to get high speed rail back on track.

Right now they say the electric lines needed are too costly, so they went to work coming up with a better version.

"We never had a step we couldn't overcome," Jarrett says. "We just had to keep working."

What they ended up with was a locomotive powered by two engines, one diesel electric and the other jet propulsion.

"It's a very interesting concept," says Ron Mock with the Carillon Park Rail and Steam Society.

With some help and support from the Rail and Steam Society the students tested their train Thursday.

"Everyone has got an obligation to teach someone and that's what we're doing is passing down our knowledge," Mock says.

The next step is taking the mini-model and trying it on a larger scale.

They just need a company to step forward and help.

"If a bunch of high school students can put this together, we'd like to see what a company like General Electric would do," Bellbrook senior Charlie Black says.

So the challenge, like the track, has been laid down.

"If they want to keep going with it they can call us," Jarrett says.

If you want a look at the jet powered locomotive, you can see it at Rail Fest at Carillon Park on June 23.