Monorails in History - Part II

 

1952 - ALWEG Monorail

Swedish industrialist Dr. Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren was the first to build a monorail test track after World War II. Wenner-Gren's first system design was geared more towards a high-speed city to city rail system. Seen here is the scaled-down train which attained speeds near 160 km on an oval test track in Fuhlingen, Germany. While impressive in speed and banking capabilities, the ALWEG system didn't find its niche until a later version was developed and unveiled in 1957 (see below).
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1956- Skyway Monorail

Monorail, Incorporated built a short test track of their suspended system at Arrowhead Park in Houston, Texas. Each bogie was powered by a 310-horsepower Packard automobile engine. The driver was seated high above the passenger carriage on one of the two bogies. After eight months of testing, the track was dismantled and rebuilt at the Texas State fairgrounds where it ran for many years. Its promoters claimed it could reach speeds of 160 km but no Skyway transit installations were ever built.
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1957 - Ueno Zoo

Japan in the 1950's was in an all-out effort to improve its transportation systems. The first Japanese monorail debuted at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in 1957. Basically a modern version of Wuppertal's system, the Ueno line used off-the-shelf parts including rubber tires. Japan would later adopt the Alweg and Safege monorail systems and build more transit monorails than any other country in the world.
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1957 - ALWEG Monorail

Based on knowledge gained from the original test track of 1952 and subsequent modifications, ALWEG unveiled what has become the most successful monorail system in July of 1957. Located at the same Fuhlingen test sight, this was ALWEG's first full-scale monorail. It caught the attention of Walt Disney, which resulted in the world's attention to the design after Disneyland opened their ALWEG monorail in 1959. Today ALWEG-based systems exist all around the world and many more are in the works.
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1958 - SAFEGE Monorail

In 1947, the eminent French bridge builder Lucien Chadenson became interested in the Bennie Railplane experimental line. Also impressed by the Paris Metro Route 11, which uses rubber tires, he decided to combine the two principles. The result was a suspended monorail in which the bogies are protected from weather conditions inside a steel or concrete box-beam above the train. The test track operated for many years in Chateauneuf, south of Paris. Film buffs may recognize it from the sixties classic "Fahrenheit 451." Curiously, the French have never used the system, but the Japanese have built two successful Safege lines (see Monorails of the World page). The Siemens Company of Germany has developed a smaller scale system similar to the SAFEGE Monorail. Aerorail of Texas and Sky Train of Florida are promoting steel-wheel versions of SAFEGE as well.
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1959 - Disneyland/Alweg Monorail

No monorail in history captured the attention of the public quite like Walt Disney's Alweg Monorail did when it opened in 1959. The result would be the unfortunate type-casting of monorails being "theme park rides," except in Japan. Later versions of the Disneyland monorail improved on the Alweg system and in 1971 a larger dual-rail system was built in Florida at Walt Disney World. A full-sized Alweg monorail was also built for the Tokyo Disneyland Resort area in the 1990s.
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1961 - Turin, Italy

In  July 2, 1961, TMS member Albert G. Nymeyer took this picture of the first full scale non-test track Alweg line. It ran at Italia 61, which celebrated Italy's national centenary. Over one and a half million passengers traveled on the line for the short period of the fair. Plans to operate the monorail on a permanent basis and extend it to Moncalieri never came to fruition.
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1962 - Seattle 

The first dual-rail Alweg line opened for the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. It remains there today. In the 1990s and early 2000s Seattle voters supported an expanded monorail system for the city four times. The project was cancelled in 2005 after the Mayor and Council withdrew support and financing became controversial.
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1962 - Nihon/Lockheed Monorail

This unique system was invented in the USA and built at a test track in Gifu, Japan. While actually being selected for both Seattle and Tokyo, Alweg later won out for those milestone monorails. The Lockheed design is similar to Alweg in that it uses a concrete beam, but the track and wheels are steel. Two were built for transportation in Japan, yet they no longer operate.
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1964-1965 AMF New York World's Fair

In an effort to promote their Safege licensed monorail, AMF installed and operated a one-station I-Beam monorail for the two-year New York World's Fair. The dual-rail system looped around the amusement area. An earlier Disney monorail plan to surround the entire fairgrounds was rejected, probably due to a much higher price tag. While AMF never sold or built any Safege Monorails, this installation was responsible for many of today's enthusiasts first ride on monorail. See our Links Page to get to a terrific website on this monorail.
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1964 - Tokyo/Haneda Monorail

We've chosen to end our history section on the monorail that began the modern era of transit monorails. The Tokyo/Haneda Monorail was the first major system to incorporate the Alweg design and use switches for direction reversal. It continues to operate safely and at a profit today. More information on the Tokyo Monorail (with pictures of current trains) can be found in the Where Are They section.
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