Monorail Urban Legends

Post by **rdeacon** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 8:57 am

Werner Weiss has an interesting article on the myths that surround the monorail and any expansion projects.

Monorail Urban Legends

1 million a mile... HA

Its a fun article and the best part is its part one of two

Rich

Post by **YZFDonor** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 9:54 am

Speaking of, I was there the night of the Epcot Monorail fire and I love some of the things I have heard...

TheCheshireStitch · Post by **TheCheshireStitch** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 11:46 am

wow, my hubby and i own some SSR points and i don't remember reading that! lol...i'm sure we skimmed over it sometime or another, though, before signing (at least i hope! lol)

the epcot monrail fire? i've never heard of this

so when is part two of this article coming out? or did i miss the link?

FlyingMouse · Post by **FlyingMouse** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 12:22 pm

Just for grins, I would like to see the breakdown of the cost to put in a 2.5 mile Monorail system. That would be 1 mile each way, plus .25 miles on each end for a turn around.

What would that system include? A new train, station(s), track, track support pillars, engineering for pillar pads?, actual contruction labor. What else?

Land cost and rights of way are (or at should be) non-issues.

As for the $1 million per mile, depending on how many miles would be constructed, I bet it could get down that low. (may take 100 miles, though

)

Post by **YZFDonor** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 1:56 pm

TheCheshireStitch,

the epcot monorail fire? i've never heard of this

http://people.virginia.edu/~wp4f/monorail/

TheCheshireStitch · Post by **TheCheshireStitch** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 3:03 pm

wow, i was only 2 years old, then... but i'm still surprised i've never heard of this!

wow, so people climbed onto the roof? i'm pretty surprised no one fell down 30 feet! the monorails seem so smooth-- i wonder how so many people were able to hoist themselves up onto the roof...is there something i'm not thinking of?

so where were you that night? did you see anything?

thanks for the info and the articles!

greatly appreciated!

Joe90 · Post by **Joe90** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 3:42 pm

$1million a mile does seem a bit low. A technology and development budget isn't required, feasibility study? not required, access rights are a given you would think. So it's really just a "How much to build it?" budget.

$50 million a mile seems way to expensive for big lumps of pre formed concrete.

What size is the rail 1 yard by 3 yards? $100 "ish" per square yard (for unformed concrete) 1760 yards a mile thatâ€™s around $600,000 just for raw materials. OK even if you double that for the pillars or treble it for reinforced concrete. Lets call it a round $1 million a mile for the electrics. Now lets give the construction crew a million a mile as well. (well how many would you need?) The company making the rail should get a million a mile as well just to keep it fair.

OK lets get a bit more generous and double everything. I'm still under $10 million a mile. Would they wear that?

You got me right on the interested button Rich. Nice post.

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 4:40 pm

Thanks, as always, for the link. Good reading.

Post by **YZFDonor** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 5:32 pm

so where were you that night? did you see anything?

TheCheshireStitch, I was AT EPCOT. After Illuminations (I think it was that show then), we walked towards the front of the park and noticed a Monorail going VERY slowly (think less than walking speed) towards the station. We noticed another Monorail already in the station and you NEVER see them this close! The first Monorail pulled out of the station and the second pulled in and unloaded. The second one backed up so the back half was hanging out of the station and the first one backed in and left it's front half hanging out the front (wished I had a pic). The Pilots got out and they shut them down. I don't know if they were running on reduced power or batteries or what...

We were ushered to a waiting area that is now used by all the Resort Busses without any idea of what was going on other than the Monorail was not running tonight. After a short wait, a stream of trams were brought in with a Police escort. We all loaded into our trams and off we went for the Ticket and Transportation Center, again with the Police escort. There was a Police car in front, one or two in the middle and one at the rear. If you are familiar with the route you will realize we ended up passing the burned Monorail on the beamway. Once we started enroute, the tram teams were INCREDIBLE [I hope that those castmembers read this and hear me say that and THANK YOU!]!! They had us singing and yelling and having "wars" between trams. We were having a blast when all of a sudden, everyone and everything fell completely silent. NOBODY spoke. No noises or sounds except the trams and the wind when we came down the ramp and could see all those flashing lights. I didn't know exactly what happened but it was obvious it was "bad". Everyone stared as we went by. After passing, you could hear quiet conversations. The tram teams didn't interrupt the families but let us talk. Once we got closer to the T&TC, they started making announcements as to how we could make further travel arrangements.

WDW Transportation and it's Castmembers should have won medals that night! Except for the speed of our trip from EPCOT to the T&TC, I am willing to say the trip happened as fast as it would have on a normal night. For some reason, nobody was complaining that night about waiting or anything else. I sit here typing this and am actually choked up from my memories of that night.

TheCheshireStitch · Post by **TheCheshireStitch** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 5:37 pm

thank you so much for the story! always really interesting to get a first-hand account!

yea, castmembers seem to be stellar at keeping people calm and reacting to things. so professional!

i still don't get how people got on the roof safely, though...i wonder if anyone has any insight on that...

great story, thanks!

Post by **YZFDonor** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 10:10 pm

First off, remember that the Monorails then were the Mark IV. The doors opened on each row of seats unlike the bi-fold doors you see today. See http://people.virginia.edu/~wp4f/monora ... _Small.jpg Third paragraph.

They opened the window far enough to stick their hands out and release the latch on the bottom of the door handle that manually opened the doors. Once the door was open, it allowed the people to use the open door and latching mechanisms as a 'ladder' to the roof. You are right, the roof at that time was a sleek domed piece of aluminum.

Our first trip back after this incident, we noticed these additions:
* Grab Rail along the center of the trains along it's length.
* Emergency egress doors at each end of the cars to the roof.
* Emergency 'phones' to the Pilots.
* A ball of string in the egress doors (I presume for pulling something up or letting something down).
* [Possibly] Rear View mirror above the pilot to see down the top of the train

I am sure there were other things I didn't see. I can't rememebr exactly when but I think the Mark VIs were brought in about 1989/1990. Here is the best pic I could find wihtout an extensive search of the inside of the Mark IV:
http://www.bigfloridacountry.com/monora ... vseats.jpg

hope that clears some of those remaining questions up.

TheCheshireStitch · Post by **TheCheshireStitch** » Jan Fri 25, 2008 10:33 pm

wow, thanks so much for all of the information! the first link didn't work, but the rest of your info was really interesting. it still must have been quite frightening to use those doors as a ladder-- kudos to the people realizing they could open them with the latch outside and not panicking to death.

wow, i've never seen the old monorail interiors-- almost like a bus or van! i must have ridden in them, i just was too young to remember.

interesting about the string...i wonder what they'd use that for to lower?

i always wondered if the monorails had cameras in case something happened...

thanks so much for all the cool info!

GarbNJ · Post by **GarbNJ** » Jan Sat 26, 2008 8:50 am

Ihad no idea any of this had happened. This is a fascinating story, and very personal. Thaks for sharing!

Post by **YZFDonor** » Jan Sat 26, 2008 9:23 am

There is a really good, yet old, thread on another forum I found looking for more information. Out of respect for Subsonic, I won't post a link to that thread until I obtain permission. As for the first link, the forum cut it in half. Cut it all the way out to the end (.jpg) and paste it in your browser.

As much as I LOVE the Por fa vor montanganese... (or however you spell it) I really miss when a Mark IV would pull in. It would stop and get positioned, the Pilot would step out and when he opened the doors it was a chorus of "clacking" as they all unlocked in unison. Better than that was once you were seated and ready to go, you would hear from afar, bang bang bang bang bang getting closer and closer as the castmember would basicaly hold their arm straight out and walk the length of the train slamming the doors shut. I never witnessed it happen but I am sure some hands or feet got slammed. If EVER there was a time to "Keep you hands and feet inside the train at all times...."

[edit: grammar/spelling]

Post by **js3901** » Jan Sat 26, 2008 6:37 pm

YZFDonor wrote:There is a really good, yet old, thread on another forum I found looking for more information. Out of respect for Subsonic, I won't post a link to that thread until I obtain permission.

you can post links to anywhere you want, so long as the links go to appropriate materials. If it's questionable, then you should ask an admin.

As for an older thread regarding the monorail/problems/rumors, I found this thread. enjoy.