New Disneyland Mark VII Monorail

Slimmer Kimmers · Post by **Slimmer Kimmers** » Jul Sun 27, 2008 12:45 pm

I saw the new red one go by on the tracks once while we were waiting in line for a ride and it looked pretty cool (at least the quick glimpse I got of it!). It's too bad that there are so many problems with the new model.

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Jul Sun 27, 2008 1:01 pm

Being an easterner, I have only been to WDW, but I love the look of the look of the Mark VII, I wish they would install them here. But alas, ours are more transportation than amusement. Oh well.

bamato · Post by **bamato** » Aug Fri 01, 2008 1:27 pm

agingerbugg wrote:Being an easterner, I have only been to WDW, but I love the look of the look of the Mark VII, I wish they would install them here. But alas, ours are more transportation than amusement. Oh well.

Yeah I don't think you would want the DLR monorail transporting you around in the Florida summer.....

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Aug Fri 01, 2008 1:40 pm

bamato wrote:
Yeah I don't think you would want the DLR monorail transporting you around in the Florida summer.....

Aren't they air conditioned? That's all you need. Oh, and maybe an hourly going over with febreeze. all those hot sweaty people leave a pleasant odor in the trains.

Junglecsipper · Post by **Junglecsipper** » Aug Fri 01, 2008 1:57 pm

Monorail blue is now doing day time testing http://micechat.com/forums/blog.php?b=553 There are sixteen pic before the monorail Pics.

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Aug Fri 01, 2008 2:17 pm

Wow, Monorail Blue looks really amazing. I can't wait to see that in motion and transporting people.

bamato · Post by **bamato** » Aug Mon 04, 2008 12:42 pm

agingerbugg wrote:
bamato wrote:
Yeah I don't think you would want the DLR monorail transporting you around in the Florida summer.....
Aren't they air conditioned? That's all you need. Oh, and maybe an hourly going over with febreeze. all those hot sweaty people leave a pleasant odor in the trains.

The middle trains have no AC.

reiki1 · Post by **reiki1** » Aug Tue 19, 2008 11:23 pm

I just had the opportunity to ride the new monorails and can confirm that there is no air conditioning. They have open windows and you can get a good breeze. A cast member told me that when the temperature rises above about 90 or so degrees they do not use them because they are too hot.

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Aug Mon 25, 2008 11:25 pm

I managed to go on the new red monorail on Friday and it was pretty cool. As reiki1 has mentioned, there is no air conditoining but the windows are open. The driver (since we sat in the cone section) told me that they had both blue and orange in storage so they could test them out. When I went today, I saw the blue monorail being tested all day so that was really nice to see that one go out on the track.

Esmeralda · Post by **Esmeralda** » Aug Wed 27, 2008 7:47 am

I'm really surprised they don't have AC for all the cars. Hopefully the windows open fairly wide!

They look super slick, what a fantastic design. Can't wait to see them in person!

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Sep Tue 09, 2008 11:26 am

Esmeralda wrote:I'm really surprised they don't have AC for all the cars. Hopefully the windows open fairly wide!

Ok, so lets delve a little into why the DL Monorails are NOT running with air conditioning in the cars. According to my sources in the DL transportation group, the whole question of the AC comes down to the D/C. They run on 600 volt Direct Current and only has one sub-station. This does not provide enough power to the beam to run, 3 monorails with air conditioning at one time. Now the WDW version of the Monorail was made to run multiple monorails with air conditioning at the same time. they have sub-staions for every mile of track. Remember the DL Monorail was built in 1959 and back then air conditioners weren't that small, they were huge and sucked down power with great veracity, and besides the weather in S cali. is a lot better than Florida (i.e. No Humidity). When the WDW monorails came out air conditioners were smaller and more efficient.

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Sep Tue 09, 2008 12:35 pm

Okay, I can see the need not to have A/C in Southern Cali, but technology has advanced to the point that there should be something they could do. A car full of people is going to be hot and stuffy regardless of the humidity and the windows being open.

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Sep Tue 09, 2008 9:29 pm

agingerbugg wrote:Okay, I can see the need not to have A/C in Southern Cali, but technology has advanced to the point that there should be something they could do. A car full of people is going to be hot and stuffy regardless of the humidity and the windows being open.

I agree, I think they should have a/c in the cars, but it seems it all comes down to power allocation. I was going to go into it further in the last post but work interfered (as it always does).

OK, so power. Disneyland needs to build and new power system for the Monorails. They know this and they have had several ideas on how to do it. The first is the simplest (yeah right) they basically replace the old system with a new one. Seems simple enough right, well not really this would mean the monorails would be shutdown for several months as they replaced the entire electrical grid. Not exactly the top of the list of things you want to do during the Monorails upcoming anniversary.

Option 2: Add another sub station to the line to boost the power. This is doable, except that they would again have to shutdown the monorail do to the rewiring that would be inevitable, but this would only be for a day or two, so not as noticeable. The biggest problem with this where to put it, in DCA area where the smallest amount of track is, and a place that is getting gutted in the next few years. Or how about DTD, but where.....in the middle of the tram stop......no.........how about....no that doesn't work. Well you get the point.

Option 3: there is an option 3 but I haven't heard what it is yet.

Oh well back to waiting.

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Sep Tue 09, 2008 10:09 pm

Okay, (I know, I really need to quit starting posts with "okay") I am no electrical engineer and I am sure I am thinking too simply here, but couldn't they just use batteries to run the A/C when the trains are stopped and generators when the train is running? I know, it means that they have to refit the trains and that means months without monorails, but don't you think this is something someone could have thought a solution to? Oh wait, I am sorry, I forgot we are talking about WDI, not WED.

Post by **js3901** » Sep Tue 09, 2008 10:44 pm

oh, I'm sure there are a million ways they COULD solve the problem of building alternate sources of power. they could take the battery idea and use solar panels on the top of the monorails. but, like agingerbugg said, it's WDI, not WED that is doing the planning/execution now