Trivia: Rare or unique Gadgetbahn systems from around the world

[PTR 444]

I’m not sure if Gadgetbahn is the official term, but I’m interested in finding out how many transportation systems there are around the world that use technology which is unique to that system. Basically any mode of propulsion or infrastructure that isn’t replicated anywhere else. While there are some good systems, many are the pie in the sky ideas thought up by entrepreneurs such as the Cambridge Autonomous Metro and Elon Musk’s “loop” beneath Las Vegas (which is simply a road tunnel reserved for occupied taxis!)

On the other hand, long established one-of-a-kind systems such as the San Francisco cable car system, Wuppertal suspended monorail and Morgantown PRT have been more successful, but one must wonder why these technologies haven’t had widespread application as public transportation solutions in the same way that heavy rail, bus and tram have.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Kuala Lumpur has a monorail (on top, not a danglebahn)?

 

[edwin_m]

The Soule cable-hauled peoplemover that never quite opened in the suburbs of Paris?

A trawl through this channel will probably turn up a few more for this thread. The Nancy TVR was one of two but I suppose was unique after the Caen one closed, until it also closed a week or two back.

The Stourbridge Parry People Mover is also the only application of that technology other than demonstration systems.

 

[DelW]

"Unique" sets a high bar...

There are hanging monorail systems similar to Wuppertal's Schwebebahn at Dusseldorf Airport and Dortmund University.

There is a vehicle-on-top monorail line similar to KL's running to the Space Needle in Seattle.

Admittedly those examples are much shorter than the better known ones, but the technology is similar.

 

[Lucan]

one must wonder why these technologies haven’t had widespread application as public transportation solutions in the same way that heavy rail, bus and tram have.

They have not spread because they have turned out to be either ineffective, inefficient, or poor value for money in some way, or effective only because of a special set of circumstances. In most cases their shortcomings could have been forseen while still on paper, but they were pushed through to the building stage because of an obsession by someone in ownership or some other position of power. In some cases they have been left in place once built because they might as well be, but in many more cases, mostly forgotten, they were abandoned and dismantled.

Brunel's South Devon Railway's atmospheric propulsion was a case in point. Brunel was a brilliant civil engineer but a lousy mechanical engineer, and people around him told him atmospheric propulsion was a bad idea (George Stephenson said it was "humbug"), but financiers (who usually have little technical understanding) latched on to the famous name. Elon Musk, who is not an engineer at all, attracts investment to schemes which he does not even believe in himself (Hyperloop for example) by sheer salesmanship - apparently as a joke or to enjoy the feeling of power it gives him.

 

[Rescars]

The Soule cable-hauled peoplemover that never quite opened in the suburbs of Paris?

A trawl through this channel will probably turn up a few more for this thread. The Nancy TVR was one of two but I suppose was unique after the Caen one closed, until it also closed a week or two back.

The Stourbridge Parry People Mover is also the only application of that technology other than demonstration systems.

There is (or used to be) a cable operated system at Zurich Airport. A sort of horizontal funicular IIRC.

 

[pdeaves]

Somewhere in the world (can’t remember where) there’s a ‘cliff lift’, but rather than do the slope it does horizontal like a little train then vertical like a lift. I have never been on it, just seen a video.

 

[Railsigns]

Somewhere in the world (can’t remember where) there’s a ‘cliff lift’, but rather than do the slope it does horizontal like a little train then vertical like a lift. I have never been on it, just seen a video.

That'll be the Ascensore Montegalletto Funicular Railway in Genoa.

 

[Basil Jet]

I was going to suggest the Opicina tramway, but apparently it hasn't run since 2016.

 

[edwin_m]

There is (or used to be) a cable operated system at Zurich Airport. A sort of horizontal funicular IIRC.

Is this the same system as at Birmingham and now Luton airports? The Soule one was unusual in that the vehicles could detach from the cable. There were some temporary ones at exhibitions, but according to the video I linked the Paris one was the only example of an upgraded version and the only one intended to be permanent.

 

[SargeNpton]

Was the Birmingham Airport MagLev unique, or were there other working examples?

 

[birchesgreen]

Was the Birmingham Airport MagLev unique, or were there other working examples?

I believe it may have been unique at the time though there are other maglevs around now such as in China.

 

[edwin_m]

Was the Birmingham Airport MagLev unique, or were there other working examples?

It was unique at the time, and subsequent ones are likely to be very different.

 

[stuu]

The Shonan monorail in Tokyo is unusual, both for being a suspended monorail, but also for being a single track monorail in low density (for Japan) suburbs - somewhere you might think a tram was the better option.

Line B of the Rennes Metro is effectively an automated Translohr line, and so far unique

 

[Rescars]

The reconstruction of the Lartigue monorail at Listowel must be unique, even if it is no longer a means of travelling to Ballybunion.

 

[Ediswan]

The Shonan monorail in Tokyo is unusual, both for being a suspended monorail, but also for being a single track monorail in low density (for Japan) suburbs - somewhere you might think a tram was the better option.

It also pushes the defintion of a monorail. It is suspended below the centre of (narrow) bogies, which run on a pair of rails.

 

[Basil Jet]

Was the Birmingham Airport MagLev unique, or were there other working examples?

The M-bahn in Berlin was also a maglev, but I can't comment on how similar the systems were.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Medellin in Colombia has escalators and cable-cars as part of its transit system.

 

[stuu]

It also pushes the defintion of a monorail. It is suspended below the centre of (narrow) bogies, which run on a pair of rails.

Yes that's a good point, but those are always referred to as monorail. Presumably the mono bit refers to the whole beam that the wheels run in?

 

[Ediswan]

Yes that's a good point, but those are always referred to as monorail. Presumably the mono bit refers to the whole beam that the wheels run in?

The defintion appears to have drifted from 'single rail' to anything which has a narrow guideway supporting a (much) wider train.

 

[PTR 444]

Somewhere in the world (can’t remember where) there’s a ‘cliff lift’, but rather than do the slope it does horizontal like a little train then vertical like a lift. I have never been on it, just seen a video.

Sounds a lot like the ThyssenKrupp Multi elevator:

ThyssenKrupp unveils the world’s first sideways-moving elevator system

The world's first rope-less, horizontal-vertical elevatorsystem – akin to Willy Wonka's glass elevator – has been installed inside a purpose-built innovation test tower in Germany.

Called Multi, the groundbreaking system has been developed by German elevator manufacturer ThyssenKrupp.
Through the use of multiple magnetised cabins, which operate in the same shaft on an electromagnetic track, it makes it possible to travel sideways as well as up and down.

 

[Basil Jet]

Sounds a lot like the ThyssenKrupp Multi elevator:

ThyssenKrupp unveils the world’s first sideways-moving elevator system

I'm underwhelmed. I want a game of snake played out on the outside of a skyscraper.

 

[fandroid]

There's an inclined Schwebebahn in the outskirts of Dresden. Quite old. Probably of a similar vintage to Wuppertal's

 

[PTR 444]

There's an inclined Schwebebahn in the outskirts of Dresden. Quite old. Probably of a similar vintage to Wuppertal's

That gives me a thought, at what point does a suspended monorail become a cable car?

 

[stuu]

That gives me a thought, at what point does a suspended monorail become a cable car?

When it's hanging from a cable? The rigidity of the support and also being pulled from one end are the key differences, but it's something you would probably struggle to exactly define. It's all a bit of a continuum (see also railway/metro)

 

[edwin_m]

When it's hanging from a cable? The rigidity of the support and also being pulled from one end are the key differences, but it's something you would probably struggle to exactly define. It's all a bit of a continuum (see also railway/metro)

There are also cable-hauled peoplemovers like the Birmingham and Luton airport ones, which are pulled from one end but run on a track. Cable cars "proper" can just have one moving cable, or a moving haulage cable and one or more fixed cables for support, and the cars may or may not be able to detach at stations. And what Brits would call a cable-hauled tram is known as a cable car in America...

Last time I looked there were about three Personal Rapid Transit systems in the world (that definition also being a bit fuzzy), each one using a unique technology.

 

[zero]

Medellin in Colombia has escalators and cable-cars as part of its transit system.

Technically a cable car is part of London's transport.

Hong Kong has a long series of escalators though that is not really part of the public transport system.

Bern, Switzerland has a lift which is part of public transport, as it is paid but local and general travelcards are valid.

The Heathrow pods must be quite rare.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Is the inter-terminal shuttle between Gatwick Airport North and Gatwick Airport South terminals (i.e. the so-called "monorail" - although it's not really that) a one-off system, or is or based on something similar elsewhere?

 

[stuu]

Is the inter-terminal shuttle between Gatwick Airport North and Gatwick Airport South terminals (i.e. the so-called "monorail" - although it's not really that) a one-off system, or is or based on something similar elsewhere?

It's a rubber tired train with a central guiderail, there's lots of them around the world, especially at airports, including Stansted and Heathrow. There used to be a shorter one to a pier at the south terminal as well.

 

[edwin_m]

It's a rubber tired train with a central guiderail, there's lots of them around the world, especially at airports, including Stansted and Heathrow. There used to be a shorter one to a pier at the south terminal as well.

There are actually very few that aren't at airports, so although this system is relatively successful in that environment, it shows that even a technically proven product doesn't find much application elsewhere. Although the VAL light metro mentioned somewhere above is kinda similar.