295:, New York City. On the first trip of the monorail, the vehicle, with the inventor at the controls, slipped off the supporting lower rail. Though some of the New York newspapers erroneously reported that the accident was a major catastrophe, that is not so, and only one passenger on the car claimed a minor injury. The car was quickly repaired and the monorail operated safely on a regular basis from 1911 until 1917, when it was dismantled by the military at the outset of World War I, because the terminal near City Island was requisitioned. A propeller-driven suspended monorail, claiming the speed of aircraft with the safety and reliability of railways was designed by George Bennie in 1926, and named the '
374:) are now little more than historical curiosities. The advantage of the monorail of crossing rough mountainous terrain was relevant to the time of expansion of railway networks over virgin country, and in most cases the conventional railway proved the more appropriate solution, except for a few niches. Monorail tracks were rarely longer than 60 miles, and usually considerably shorter. The motor road vehicle finally displaced the monorail from its few niche applications.
216:
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63:, different criteria and measures of effectiveness were relevant at different times, and alternative design solutions were proposed. Hence, a monorail of the early 19th century bears little resemblance to current designs, and were optimized for different performance objectives, within different technological constraints.
91:, who described it as 'a single line of rail, supported at such height from the ground as to allow the centre of gravity of the carriages to be below the upper surface of the rail'. The vehicles straddled the rail, rather like a pair of pannier baskets on a mule. Propulsion was by horse. A line was built in 1824 in the
276:
was built in Long Island. Designed by Jose Ramon
Villalon, who would later become one of Cuba's greatest statesmen, this railroad ran on a single rail at ground level, but with an overhead stabilising rail engaged by a pair of horizontally opposed wheels. The railway operated for only two years, but
24:
is used to describe any number of transport systems in which a chair or carrier is suspended from, or rides on, an overhead rail structure. Unlike the well-known duo-rail system, there are many rail-guided transport options which have been described as monorails, so that tracing the history presents
361:
In 2018 a design for a gyroscopic rail car won first place at the German
Mobility Award. In 2020 developers secured government funding of EUR 3.6 million to develop a prototype and it is expected testing could commence in 2022. The vehicles will be designed to run on existing but abandoned railway
306:
Russia worked on a system similar to the Bennie
Railplane in the 1930s and were even planning a 332-mile line through Turkestan with a top speed of 180 mph. Their system was unique in that it had two side by side cars suspended on one rail, and it could actually dismount from the rail to cross
120:
Throughout the 19th century, the Palmer design was improved, with the addition of stabilising wheels and additional rails (rendering a misnomer of 'monorail'). In 1829, Maxwell Dick introduced 'safety rails' below the running rails to reduce the likelihood of derailment. He also articulated the main
260:
Valley where a conventional railway is quite impractical. The suspended monorail, like the Palmer monorail appears a potentially superior solution over rough and mountainous terrain, but since the majority of the track is over more favourable territory, it only rarely offers an overall better
390:
which owes little to the work of Palmer and
Lartigue. These vehicles are suspended from or straddle concrete beams, and use pneumatic tyres to improve adhesion and reduce noise compared with wheel on steel. They have more in common with guided buses than conventional railways. The beam is less
339:. This was a true single track train which used a gyroscope-based balancing system to remain upright. All were demonstrated by full-scale prototypes, but development was effectively stopped by the First World War. Brennan's design was given serious consideration for the
377:
Wheel on steel characterised monorails of this early era, just as it does conventional railways, although some bicycle railways could react against the stabilizing rail to increase adhesion, improving acceleration, braking and hill climbing.
269:, seem to be the niche for this type of monorail. This particular example used a form of regenerative braking, such that the electricity generated by the full descending trucks was sufficient to drive the empty trucks back up the mountain.
316:
206:
was built in 1924 between a magnesium mine at
Crystal Hills, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, and a railhead in Trona, California. This used petrol driven locomotives, and mounted the rail on a set of wooden A frames.
121:
advantage claimed for this class of vehicle: 'the pillars or supports to be of different heights as circumstances of the country may require'. In other words, the system was better suited for crossing rough terrain.
154:, and this was closed after only one year due to a lethal boiler explosion in 1879. Around 1879, Joseph Stringfellow devised a similar "one-rail" system for possible use as a "cheap railway" in Australia.
109:, this line made history as it was the world's first passenger-carrying monorail, and the first railway line to open in Hertfordshire. In 1826 a company was formed to construct a line between
391:
obtrusive than an overhead roadway or railway, and the modern designs may have a niche in dealing with right of way problems in congested city centres, at lower cost compared with tunneling.
307:
rivers as an amphibian and then on the other side remount the rail. And while elements of this system were tested in Moscow, the
Russian government instead built a conventional rail system.
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to replace a mule train in military use. This embodied lateral guide rails, but was basically a pannier design hauled by a locomotive having double vertical steam boilers.
284:(1881–1960) designed a monorail having an overhead stabilizing rail with spring-loaded vertical stabilizing wheels, but although a car was built, it never saw service.
48:. Another generally accepted rule is that the guideway or track must be narrower than the car/vehicle. Elevated, supported, cable propelled systems like the
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to transport esparto grass, to replace mules and camels, although the motive power is recorded as 'animal'. He also demonstrated his ideas in Paris (1884),
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In 1886, the Enos
Electric Company demonstrated a suspended monorail on the grounds of the Daft Electric Light Company in the Greenville section of
87:
The earliest patent for a vehicle designed to run on a single rail can be traced to UK patent No 4618 dated 22 November 1821. The inventor was
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200:, in Ireland, which stayed in service from 1888 until 1924. Part of this railway survives as a preserved railway and tourist attraction.
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245:, which was closer in its appearance to more modern monorails, but the most famous suspended monorail of this era was Eugen Langen's '
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M.I.C.E. presented a paper proposing a monorail system that could be built at ground level in or alongside roads. The
795:. National Library of Australia. 17 May 1872. p. 1 Supplement: Supplement to the Perth Gazette & W. A. Times
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In the early 1930s, New York city considered a monorail system, which would have been the first in the US.
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The
Dynamics of Railway Vehicles on Straight Track: Fundamental Considerations of Lateral Stability
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solution. Short sections in mountainous areas, such as a system built for the Ria Copper Co. by
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733:"America's First Monorail Line Planned For New York", November 1930, Popular Science
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as any rail-guided vehicle which does not employ the coning action of conventional
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The vehicles referenced above (with the exception of the still in full service
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From 1910–1914 a monorail system designed by Howard H Tunis was used on the
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for transporting passengers, but failed to exploit the concept also on the
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The development of automotive technology has given rise to a new class of
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By the end of the 19th century, the main proponents for the monorail were
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Garner Adrian S 'Monorails of the 19th
Century', 2011, Lightmoor Press,
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745:"German Mobility Award Winner CountryCab – Gyro-Stabilised Monocabs"
193:, but construction never started through lack of financial support.
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regarding what should be included and what should be omitted.
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in 1929, but the system did not progress further in the UK.
253:, which entered service in 1901, and is still in daily use.
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Bearing in mind the pattern of development of conventional
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in 1921. Funds ran out shortly after construction began.
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and F. B. Behr. Lartigue constructed Palmer monorails in
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of India, and a
Schilovski monorail was proposed by the
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were built in India on the principle that he described.
40:
to achieve directional stability. This would exclude
185:(1897). Behr proposed a high speed monorail between
95:in London, and in 1825, another line was built in
847:The Stability of Gyroscopic Single Track Vehicles
480:"Finchley Society Annual General Meeting Minutes"
362:lines, passing each other on the existing rails.
831:, Institution of Loco Engineers, 6 February 1962
56:are generally not considered to be monorails.
146:General LeRoy Stone demonstrated in 1876 his
8:
117:in Germany, but construction never started.
874:Description of a Railway on a New Principle
792:The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times
464:Description of a Railway on a New Principle
854:On the Stability of Running of Locomotives
849:. Engineering, Nov 21, Nov 28, Dec 12 1913
674:. Harrow: Capital Transport. p. 320.
196:The most famous Lartigue monorail was the
640:"The Boynton Bicycle Elevated Railroad"
428:
323:Perhaps the only true monorail was the
366:Evolution of 'wheel on steel' monorail
365:
139:In 1869, J Haddon built a monorail in
588:"Unique Irish Trains run On One Rail"
7:
551:The Listowel and Ballybunion Railway
512:"June 25 – Today in Science History"
289:Pelham Park and City Island Railroad
220:Pelham Park and City Island Railroad
628:Scientific American, 28 March 1891.
256:The Wuppertal monorail follows the
696:"Twin Amphibian Cars For Monorail"
575:"Listowel and Ballybunion Railway"
299:'. A demonstrator was built near
277:the design was adopted elsewhere.
152:Bradford and Foster Brook Monorail
14:
32:Common usage appears to define a
889:Listowel and Ballybunion Railway
834:Wheatcroft E L E, Woodhouse LC
553:(LP33 ed.). Oakwood Press.
382:The modern era: straddling beams
198:Listowel and Ballybunion Railway
130:Patiala State Monorail Trainways
856:, Proc. Royal Society July 1928
478:Finchley Society (1997-06-26).
711:Self, Douglas (20 July 2004).
211:Suspended and bicycle railways
1:
670:Badsey-Ellis, Antony (2005).
604:"Testing An Electric Railway"
282:Elfric Wells Chalmers Kearney
648:. 1894-02-17. Archived from
327:developed independently by
249:', or floating railway, of
925:
672:London's Lost Tube Schemes
510:Today in Science History.
232:Kearney High-Speed Railway
904:History of rail transport
713:"The Schilovski Gyrocar"
437:"Definition of Monorail"
274:Boynton Bicycle Railroad
222:, believed to be c. 1910
204:The last Lartigue design
871:Palmer, Henry (1823) .
766:"Monocab vor dem Start"
461:Palmer, Henry (1823) .
549:Newham, A.T. (1998) .
411:Meigs Elevated Railway
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134:Kundala Valley Railway
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865:Proc. Inst. Mech Eng.
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229:
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89:Henry Robinson Palmer
83:The Lartigue monorail
82:
74:
787:"A ONE-RAIL RAILWAY"
441:The Monorail Society
840:Proc. Inst Mech Eng
645:Scientific American
538:. 27 November 1878.
347:government between
341:North-West Frontier
148:Centennial Monorail
27:demarcation problem
22:industrial monorail
608:The New York Times
372:Wuppertal monorail
321:
319:Brennan's Monorail
235:
224:
85:
77:
75:Palmer's monorail.
67:Early developments
46:funicular railways
311:The gyro monorail
93:Deptford Dockyard
38:adhesion railways
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159:Charles Lartigue
106:Cheshunt Railway
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877:. J. Taylor.
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272:In 1890 the
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701:, July 1934
247:Schwebebahn
239:Jersey City
181:(1894) and
179:Long Island
167:Westminster
50:Cable Liner
898:Categories
719:2006-12-23
656:2012-01-21
614:2010-05-13
517:2009-04-03
496:2009-04-03
423:References
243:New Jersey
191:Manchester
909:Monorails
836:Monorails
829:Monorails
349:Leningrad
293:the Bronx
280:In 1908,
251:Wuppertal
187:Liverpool
124:In 1868,
115:Elberfeld
54:MiniMetro
16:The term
406:Monorail
395:See also
388:monorail
267:Pyrenees
183:Brussels
177:(1894),
173:(1889),
169:(1886),
97:Cheshunt
61:railways
34:monorail
18:monorail
799:16 July
771:25 June
750:25 June
446:26 June
401:Gyrocar
301:Glasgow
265:in the
263:Siemens
163:Algeria
821:
678:
557:
416:Haddan
258:Wupper
111:Barmen
490:(PDF)
483:(PDF)
418:1872
171:Tours
141:Syria
819:ISBN
801:2011
773:2021
752:2021
686:p257
676:ISBN
555:ISBN
448:2021
351:and
345:USSR
335:and
230:The
189:and
132:and
113:and
52:and
44:and
291:in
20:or
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863:.
838:,
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