Monorail?

[johnnychips]

Are there, or have there ever been, any monorails in this country apart from the one at Alton Towers? (Been playing the Simpsons 'Tapped Out', which inspired this question).

Perhaps this belongs in another thread, so mods do move it if you want.

 

[John Luxton]

I recall there was one at Blackpool Pleasure Beach years ago and I am sure I saw an old picture of one at a holiday camp.

Wasn't there also a suspended monorail at Devil's Dyke near Brighton?

Just across the Irish Sea the Listowel and Ballybunion a short section of which has been rebuilt as a tourist attraction.

John

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

There are a fair few at theme parks up and down the country, but not on the same scale as Alton Towers. Actually, i had the honour of getting to go in the siding there due to a faulty train

 

[Mojo]

There was a Monorail at the Merry Hill shopping centre near Birmingham.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbu74UEKd28

 

[thenorthern]

There are several monorails at Theme Parks and there used to be one at Merry Hill but that has now long gone. There is also one in Listowel although that is in the Republic of Ireland.

There were plans to build one in Swansea in 2004 although I think it never got past the talking stage.

 

[johnnychips]

Thanks John

I went to Blackpool a lot as a little kid, but I can't remember it. Of course that doesn't mean it wasn't there as I was probably more interested in sweets, arcades and the Mad Mouse.

I suppose the ultimate monorail is the Shanghai Maglev, which I have been on, but I was wondering about the UK. I'll wait for other replies about the ones you've mentioned.

EDIT: looks like a few people got in when I was typing. Any specific theme parks, and are they still operating?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Flamingo Land has *two*

Alton Tower's track and rolling stock, plus, I understand, associated buildings and spares, came from the Vancouver Expo 86 Monorail

 

[johnnychips]

There was a Monorail at the Merry Hill shopping centre near Birmingham.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbu74UEKd28

This is amazing. I never knew it existed, and it certainly wasn't short. If you look at this YouTube, it will link to a Part Two. I suppose they thought there would be loads of people coming by car to Merry Hill and they would need this link, but if you watch it there are lots of empty car park spaces. I wonder if it was all privately financed.

On a dafter note, one of the vehicles looks just like the Simpsons' monorail. Has Matt Groening visited the West Midlands?

 

[G_A_C_C_C]

There's one at Beaulieu Motor Museum...goes right through it in fact!

 

[snowball]

I always thought there was one at Birmingham Airport but I see from the web that, though it calls itself a monorail, it isn't.

 

[gage75]

I believe there's a monorail carriage at Railworld in Peterborough, on an elevated section of track, next to The Nene Valley Railway

 

[Mojo]

I always thought there was one at Birmingham Airport but I see from the web that, though it calls itself a monorail, it isn't.

Are you referring to the link between the railway station and the Airport? This was originally a maglev, was then closed and replaced by a shuttle bus, and since 2003 has been operated as a cable hauled people mover system.

 

[gage75]

Thanks John

I went to Blackpool a lot as a little kid, but I can't remember it. Of course that doesn't mean it wasn't there as I was probably more interested in sweets, arcades and the Mad Mouse.

I suppose the ultimate monorail is the Shanghai Maglev, which I have been on, but I was wondering about the UK. I'll wait for other replies about the ones you've mentioned.

EDIT: looks like a few people got in when I was typing. Any specific theme parks, and are they still operating?

There's one at Chessington WoA in Surrey, also they had a narrow gauge line as well I think might have been about 18" but could be wrong, wen I was working there, I found the loco (diesel I think) in the undergrowth out behind what was terrortomb

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

As late as last year Central Station on the Merry Hill Monorail was in almost perfect condition... Some kid was given permission to go inside it. I presume that as the lift there is still in use, the shopping centre staff have access to carry out maintenance when needed to the lift

http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/Merry-Hill-s-ghost-station/story-21254198-detail/story.html

 

[thenorthern]

I think there were proposals in Liverpool and Preston for monorails although they never got past the talking stage.

The problem with Monorails is they are very expensive compared to light rail or metros and I still think they are seen as a novelty mode of transport.

 

[mbreckers]

They used to have one in North Haverbrook, but the whole scheme failed due to cost-cutting and just general shoddy management.


[/sarcastic] post fyi

 

[richard1976]

There is one at Chester zoo

http://www.chesterzoo.org/plan-your-visit/getting-around-the-zoo/monorail

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

They used to have one in North Haverbrook, but the whole scheme failed due to cost-cutting and just general shoddy management.


[/sarcastic] post fyi

Same things happened in Brockway and Ogdenville

 

[theageofthetra]

Don't forget the bonkers Bennie Railplane. A test track ran for a short distance near Glasgow I believe.

 

[the sniper]

Butlins Skegness and Minehead has Monorails, both opened in the 1960's and closed in the late 90's or early 2000's when the camps were redeveloped. At least towards the end they were pretty unreliable.

 

[superalbs]

I believe there's a monorail carriage at Railworld in Peterborough, on an elevated section of track, next to The Nene Valley Railway

Is that the RTV-31 Hovertrain?

 

[Pigeon]

Yes, it is.

One wonders how much the development of maglev was hindered by Laithwaite coming out as a nutter on the subject of gyroscopes at about the same time.

The problem with Monorails is they are very expensive compared to light rail or metros and I still think they are seen as a novelty mode of transport.

The problem with monorails is that the measures you have to take to stop them falling off are inevitably a lot more complex than simply using two rails. They are about as useful an invention as the unicycle.

 

[najaB]

The problem with monorails is that the measures you have to take to stop them falling off are inevitably a lot more complex than simply using two rails. They are about as useful an invention as the unicycle.

Under hung monorails are more stable than wheel on rail trains. Barring a massive structural failure there's no way for them to derail.

 

[Philip C]

I don't think reference has yet been made to the monorail which ran at Rhyl in the 1980s or to the proposals for a route between Langley and Manchester Airport(?) which pre-dated the Picc-Vic proposals of the early 1970s.

 

[GatwickDepress]

The National Grid has a couple of underground monorail systems for maintenance reasons.

 

[edwin_m]

The biggest problem with monorails is that junctions are large, costly and slow to operate, so they tend to be simple shuttles or loops rather than wider area services that might be more useful. Another issue is the difficulty of getting people out if the system stops working, so there has to be some thought about whether cherrypickers etc can be brought up to any part of the rail or if it needs evacuation walkways that make the structure a lot more visually intrusive than otherwise.

Most monorails run on rubber tyres, and since these are less energy-efficient than steel wheels they are probably using more power than a tram or metro of the same size.

All in all, for most transit applications monorails are a solution in need of a problem.

 

[thenorthern]

I think if more monorails were built the technology could be improved however there has been little incentive to do so.

In the really bad 2004 film Thunderbirds there was a London Monorail next to the Houses of Parliament although that doesn't really exist, the Monorail that is.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

I remember watching that film onboard the Pride of Hull ferry to Rotterdam - in the company of fifty beered up students whom all sung the theme tune at the top of their voices. From what i remember, they could hear us on the bridge - four decks up!

Wasn't that monorail in the film an overhead monorail?

 

[ironstone11]

All the World's monorails are listed Here

 

[gazthomas]

I don't think reference has yet been made to the monorail which ran at Rhyl in the 1980s or to the proposals for a route between Langley and Manchester Airport(?) which pre-dated the Picc-Vic proposals of the early 1970s.

I was going to add Rhyl - it was inside the Sun Centre swimming pool, which also had a wave generator