"QUANTUM SHOT" #558 Link - article by M. Christian and Avi Abrams
A dream of high-tech splendor balanced on a single rail
Why use two tracks when you can have only one, or no track at all (magnetic "levitation")? Same sort of logic gave us mono-wheel vehicles, Segway, and today is used extensively for public transportation in high-density urban areas. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to you, for your amusement and edification, one of the strangest and counter-intuitive ways of getting from point A to point B: the monorail.
While the concept of possibly traveling across a city, and/or across the landscape, on monorails has become close to acceptable these days – or even grudgingly acceptable - back in its infancy visionary proponents of this form of transportation instead saw a future where everyone, everywhere, moved in gleaming high-tech splendor balanced on a single rail.
top image: The George Bennie RailPlane System of Transport, see below, via - bottom image via
Early Dreamers
One of those first dreamers was Henry Palmer, whose creations worked the docks of London for many years – and even carried quite a few passengers. Terrified of falling over, to be sure, but passengers nonetheless. Other inventors, like Ivan Elmanov in Russia and Charles Lartigue, the French Engineer, saw their dreams made in iron and steel and even – in the case of Lartigue – were able to ride their visions and see them as, albeit short-lived, successes.
Left image - Schwebebahn in Barmen-Elberfeld, via -- Top right: 1876 - Philadelphia Centennial steam-driven monorail (by General Le-Roy Stone) -- Bottom right: 1911 - William H. Boyes Monorail (Seattle, Washington), via
An interesting early 1910s application of monorail technology is U.S. Senate Monorail (1912) - carrying senators along the tunnels under the U.S. Senate building on the "shortest and most exclusive railway in the world." (read more info) -
To be fair, some of these early designs were more thought-out than you might think – though the actual engineering was naturally a bit primitive. Some designs used a single rail for both balance as well as power (either balanced by a gyroscope or hanging by an overhead support), while others kind of ‘cheated’ by having a single rail for balance and then a second wheel off to the side for propulsion.
Propeller-driven"The Bennie Railplane" - "The short test track was built over a railroad line near Glasgow, Scotland. Two electrically-powered propellers delivered 240 horsepower in a short burst for acceleration to the cruise speed of 160 kph. There were plans for a high-speed link between London and Paris, with a seaplane to carry passengers across the English Channel, but the grave economic difficulties of the 1930's doomed the Railplane from the start." (source)
Russia has a long history of playing with monorail concept - as far back as 1820, in the small village of Mychkovo, Russian inventor Ivan Elmanov built an elevated single-track: the horses would draw carts sliding over the wooden pole "rail". The idea became even more popular in Russia than a normal steam train at the time (old salt mines in Crimea used Elmanov's monorail, for example):
Another Russian inventor Ippolit Romanov asked permission from the Romanov royal family to build an elevated monorail in the city of Gatchina, and got the blessing of the Russian Imperial Technical Society. The road was constructed in the best Victorian fashion and received its first passengers in June, 1900 -
After that, much more ambitious project, a high-speed monorail (with speeds up to 200 km/hr) connecting St.Petersburg and Moscow was considered and declined for the lack of funds. An image of projected huge terminal station survives (see the whole series of "Moscow of the Future" from 1900s - click here) -
The Oldest Monorail System in Operation: Steampunkish Wuppertal Schwebebahn
Wuppertal Schwebebahn (Suspension Railway) opened in 1901 along the Wupper river and remains in operation for more than 100 years. Perhaps it is the biggest miracle that it remains profitable and safe, economical and simply gorgeous (with new or vintage cars). It was designed by the Civil Engineer Eugen Langen of Cologne:
1930-1970s always saw the future as balancing on one rail
While the early 20th century didn’t see a lot of huge developments in one-rail trains – except for here or there earnest experiments and limited uses – the 1920s and 30s were a boom year for the monorail in the pages of science fiction and techno-gee-whiz magazines like Popular Science and Modern Mechanix.
For some reason the brilliant artist of these and other magazines always saw the future as balancing on one rail. Their images are bold and daring, a plastic … or more like bakelite … glowing and chrome gleaming tomorrow of pipe-smoking, hat-wearing business men and balloon-toting and picnic basket-carrying children and wives zipping across meticulously manicured landscapes at the astounding speeds of 300 miles per hour.
Amphibious Monorail - Designed to traverse the deserts of Turkmenistan (and to bring economic development to the area rich in natural resources), this Soviet "dream train" would turn into a boat for the independent crossing of major rivers. This "boat-train" idea may seem a little far-fetched, until you consider the projected link between Siberia and Alaska: a fleet of amphibious transport vehicles could be a viable alternative to building a costly tunnel.
Cover of "Popular Science", July 1934 (fragment), images via
Dreaming along similar Tomorrowland vistas, Disney’s imagineers adopted the monorail as the futuristic way of traveling around their famous amusement park:
Other engineers looked to this high-speed, or at least futuristic, way of travel as well, getting their visionary monorail systems installed in Japan (naturally), Seattle and a few other rare urban experiments.
It’s ironic that a system put in place – sometimes -- as a way to bring the future into the backward world of today would now be seen as a realistic future mass transit alternative – all because of magnets.
Well, Maglev to be precise: “magnetic levitation” to you and I. The principle is simple: put the plus pole of a magnet to the plus pole of another magnet (or negative to negative) and you get resistance, that fun little ‘repulsion’ that’s delighted kids since magnets were first discovered.
Shanghai-Pudong Magnev Monorail (top speed 501 km/h - 311 mph)
While this propulsion method was often included in those chrome and bakelite futures of one-railed, high-speed trains it wasn’t until recently that the idea of using magnetic levitation has been taken seriously as a mass transit alternative. It seems that one of the best ways of using Maglev is as the lift for a monorail system – as test beds around the world have proven. Proven so well in fact that Maglev trains hold the current ‘fast train” record at Modern Mechanix, Popular Science astounding speeds of 361 miles per hour.
It’s fun to look back at those old pulp dreams of tomorrow, at their bulbous machines and glowing tube control panels, their mountain-sized turbines and silo-proportioned engine cylinders and barely suppress a superior smirk at how they – charmingly, to be sure – got it so wrong, but, who knows, maybe sometime soon we’ll be doing that smirking while we silently blast across our own carefully maintained landscape as passengers in 300+ miles per hour, magnetically supported, one-rail trains.
Discarded Ideas
A few concepts that did not make it in public transportation (single-rail or no-rail). First, some ideas for those on a limited budget:
An interesting futuristic vehicle, that made appearance in the popular German science fiction show "Perry Rhodan" - A Cable Police Car, concept by Georg Joergens:
Great roundup and pix, but here's one you missed: Morgantown, West Virginia's Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) at University of West Virginia. But it doesn't have a rail so technically doesn't qualify. But so cool! http://admissions.wvu.edu/undergraduate/discover/prt.asp
Monorails! Fantastic, thanks. I'm still waiting, and won't believe that the future has arrived till I ride one. The last image is almost identical to one of Chris Foss's concept drawings for Superman!
Here's some more you've missed: http://peeron.com/inv/sets/6990-1?showpic=6467 http://peeron.com/inv/sets/6991-1?showpic=3077 http://peeron.com/inv/sets/6399-1?showpic=6487 And I have 6399. ha ha, had to do it.
Bertin's Aerotrain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A9rotrain) was tested in the late 60s on a test track constructed near Orléans France. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VvsxaaFNAs
I used to know a bloke who'd ridden on the Bennie Railplane as a young man. Sadly, he died last year, and I wish I'd talked to him more about it. Although, frankly, I don't think there was much to tell: as you say, it was a test track, and didn't actually go anywhere. He did say that it sounded - as you would expect - exactly like a plane. And at 20-30 feet from the ground, that must have been quite a racket. Not to mention the wash from the propellers (one at the front, one at the rear).
By all accounts, Bennie wasn't much of a businessman, but I can't help thinking that the technical issues doomed it as much as the economics.
The Senate subway wasn't (and still isn't) a monorail. Notice the motors on the trucks beneath the cars. The upper track is just the power source, like pangraph, but more durable.
Good article. An interesting fact for you, Komodo Dragons are capable of parthenogenisis, this is the ability to produce offspring without mating. There is a dragon exhibit at my local zoo and a few years back, a female who had no male contact ever, produced several baby dragons! So much for the "miracle of the virgin birth." Its worth looking into this fascinating process. I am a member of the zoo and visit often, I though the keeper was kidding when they told us about it.
A sillily pedantic point: I'd always been told (as an NZer) that the Tuatara (a much slower, less bitey animal) was the closest thing to dinosaurs that were still living.
No need to go to remote islands! there are loads in malasia , in KL (the capital) just head for the hills, near the park, i saw 20+ just walking around, i didnt realise they could kill a man so i tried to grab one of their tails! it snapped at me but didnt get me, i left them alone after that! i have photos of them if anyone is intrested
Two points of clarification: First, the initial claim that they are venomous is incorrect -- they have enough bacteria in their mouths to infect just about any bite to the point of fatality as is mentioned later in the article, but it's not the same as venomous. Second, only the little ones can climb trees, which they generally do to get away from their hungry and cannibalistic parents. For more and lighter on dragons, Douglas Adams recounts his trip to see the dragons in chapter 2 of "Last Chance to See".
Surely the closest living thing to a dinosaur would be their descendants the birds? Lizards aren't even archosauromorphs (the clade that includes (non-avian) dinosaurs, birds, pterosaurs and crocodiles).
Anonymous: those you saw are monitor lizards. They look like Komodo dragons, but they're smaller. And yes, monitor lizards are quite common, even Singapore has them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Monitor
I recall two great shows about these creatures. One with Dave Attenborough, and the other was a Kratt bros “Be the Creature” episode.
Even though he had a big stick, Dave was definitely getting quite nervous when a bunch of them started getting a little too close.
The Kratts filmed them eating a large pig or a boar… apparently they have jaws that can dislodge like a snake …the last thing to eat was the animal’s head and one of them swallowed it whole –The head was easily twice the size of the dragons if not more.
The Kratts said the dragons don’t like poo and the young will roll in it as a deterrent to being eaten by their parents. So, if you’re ever stranded in Komodo and it’s getting dark… Another oddity is that they have a ‘third eye’ on the top of their head. Not really an eye but light sensitive nonetheless (not unique to komodo dragons btw).
need to update the part about "bacteria in the mouth is what kills prey" in the komodos. they actually have poison glands and inject venom that causes rapid loss of blood pressure so the victim can not run away. Other than that, excellent pics
Breaking News: Komodos ARE venomous. It has recently been determined they have a well-developed venom gland that is ducted to between their large teeth. See this link to BBC:
The long held notion that their mouths were so infested with bacteria that the condition acted as a venom is incorrect. This is the work of U of Cambridge herpetologist Clemente in a follow up study of U of Melbourne.
I agree that the mystery object is a radar, but judging by the high-visibility markings it is most likely a mobile ground-controlled approach radar station for airports or military airfields. These were often used during the construction of the Distant Early Warning radar sites in northern Canada to assist cargo aircraft landing in bad weather.
The Sergei Kharlamov image is reminiscent of paintings Picasso did in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Seated Bather (1930) is probably the most famous (and most extreme).
Things that do not belong in a funny photo post, ever: photos taken at a wake, with an OPEN COFFIN in the background. Maybe I'm just being oversensitive, but I really truly think that #7 has no business being in this post, and I'm shocked on behalf of the deceased and his family that this picture is being circulated around the internet for cheap laughs.
That said, the rest of the photos ARE hilarious. :P
Thought you should know that #6 is used by a pedo who calls himself Black Bart.He pops up from time to time,putting up imageboards on free hosting sites.where he disseminates Cp from old Russian sites.
person with the first pictures - the person is party to the popular Russian project - "House-2": 1. http://dom2.ru/everyday/photos/5331267?order=day.date:desc 2. http://dom2.ru/
Nice reading again! A small addition to your information, the "strange prototype" plane with the front and rear propellor is a Dornier Pfeil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_335
while planned, V-1s were never air-launched from planes.
Germany did lead in the developement of radio-guided stand-off weaponry with the HS-239 anti shipping missile ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henschel_Hs_293 ) and the less successful Mistel combos ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistel )
I can't find any info on a USS Essex being destroyed. The aircraft carrier I found on Wikipedia was decomissioned after the war, and used later during the Cuban middle crisis.
Nice post! Although one of the shown short-wing planes is a japanese Yokosuka Ōka Modell 11 plane. This kamikaze-plane should have been carried by a bomber to the target. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokosuka_MXY-7
fantastic post. i was at the german industrial museum in munich the other day and saw a lot of the aviation stuff you mention - amazing how advanced they were back then. spotted you on the searchles portal. so many thanks for sharing
The german word for "curved" means "gebogen" or technicaly more fitting to the curved MP44 "gekrümmter Lauf".
The second aircraft in the side comparsion to the V-1 is not a Baka, but a Fieseler Fi103R Reichenberg. It is a german suicide plane based on the more common Fi103 (V-1), following on reports of sucesses about the japanese kamikazes, but it was used only for training. About 175 Fi103R have been build until the program was cancelled in Fall of 1944.
Not only the MiG-15 is based upon the Focke-Wulf Ta183, but also its american counterpart the F-86 Sabre. Because of this similarty pilots of both side during the Korea War had their trouble to identify friend and foe.
The pictures of the E100 are false. It was never completed. Only one chassis was partially built and it was captured before completion. It was later scraped by the Brits.
Maus (and especially the larger design study at Krupp) put me in mind of Keith Laumer's Bolos (Gigantic cybernetic... well, tanks, but writ Colossally, Titanically *hyooge*.
Intersting article ; you could also have mentioned the (unproperly called) "V3", a very long supergun similar to the one planned by Saddam Hussein during the 90's.
While the Ar-234 was used as a bomber, it was more often put to use as a reconnaissance aircraft. In fact, one of them buzzed some of the Normandy beaches on D-day.
It should be said that super-large tanks were a BAD idea. Hitler had been in the trenches in World War I, and he personally demanded that large tanks be designed. He even took personal control, by radio, of the first combat mission of a new-model big tank. The mission was a disaster.
Aside from sinking into swamps, not going between obstacles, and the like, they had a more basic disadvantage that they could never be plentiful. The American light tanks weren't exactly unstoppable, but like the jeep, they were plentiful, and that mattered.
The IR baffles on German submarines were introduced when Allied planes started sinking Nazi boats at night. The Germans had developed IR vision equipment and figured the enemy had done the same and were using it to find the subs. However, the Allies "knew" IR vision equipment was impossible.
The actual situation was that the Allies had developed airborne microwave radar, which the Germans "knew" was impossible.
So why the fcuk they didn't win the freaking war?!! Looks like the US stole most of their technology to develop what we know as US advanced army. Maybe that's why US goes into war every time, to steal something!
The Germans actually relied on a lot of captured Jewish scientists to come up with they're scientific breakthroughs in Aviation and Rockets. I believe the flying wing and swept wing concepts were originally pioneered by them. The Americans took a lot of the captured Jewish & German Scientists/German Weaponry back to the US to further the development as did Russia. The F-111 and F-14 are two examples of this as are the early Mig's for Russia, the single mid mounted jet engine was also a Messerschmidt concept from memory. Germany in reality lost the war because of Hitler's Ego causing him to make a number of emotional strategic errors, bottom line. I believe Jet fighters were originally held back by German High Ranking officials and quite possibly, Hitler. If these developments had been funding boosted pre-/early WW2...the outcome may have been very, very different and we could all be talking German right now.
Pretty pictures, yes, but rather gullible writing.
The German navigation beacons could certainly be said to be forerunners of GPS... in the same sense that fire can be thought of as the forerunner of lasers.
I don't know what the picture at the bottom is, but it reminds me of a church in a an earlier era prison, where the "solitary" prisoners were made to/allowed to go to church, but never permitted to even see each other, yet alone come into contact with each other (security guard in front, church organist on the left).
This must be in church in some high security prison. Prisoners are guided to church hall individually and seated in seperate chambers, so they can't contact with each other, and all they can see is preist in front. If i remember correctly, this was first used in New Zealand.
the left worker-on-a-scaffolding picture looks a lot like south korea to me. while in germany, scaffoldings almost always stand on the ground (for a famous exception, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/klaus-ottes/2991170356/ the (cologne cathedral)), are anchored in the walls, have walking boards that safely rest on the scaffolding's bars, have a handrail, and even a rim shelf (to make it less likely for a worker to slip their foot under the rail and fall from under the handrail). nothing of that applies to korean scaffolds: they are often hung from the top of the walls that are being built, often with thin wires; the boards are shifted around on the struts to wherever they are needed, and are in no way fixed. rails are unheard of. one false move and world population decreases by one. i have seen workers standing on the 30cm x 30cm top of a steel column that ended in thin air tens of meters above the ground, waiting for the crane operator to move a multi-ton I beam towards him so he can grab its end and nudge it into position. scary. no saftey ropes, nothing. an accidental swallow could have knocked off the guy with ease.
Montsnmags and Jealousy are right. This is a church in a prison - unfortunately Iscanned it a while ago and can't remember if it's american or french. Must be during the 50's.
The Disney cloned animation left out the Winnie The Pooh steal from Dumbo of the Pink Elephants On Parade used for Heffalumps. No big deal - just sayin'.
The last photo showing a prison chapel was not first used in New Zealand as suggested. There is one very similar to this (without the tops, and standing room for one person in each compartment - at least 6 rows of over 10 compartments one in front of the other) in the Port Arthur Penitentiary ruins in Tasmania, Australia, in use when New Zealand was first settled by the English - the prison in Port Arthur was for English criminals.
Moving large pieces of furniture into the narrow houses in Amsterdam is frequently done by hauling them up via the protuberance at the top front of the houses, built into them for that very purpose. You can see them on some of the photos.
Another incredibly skinny house on Place Kleber in Strasbourg, France, a little gem that tourists seem to overlook. It is 26 m deep, 6 floors high, and approxiamtely 2.5 m wide. The owner also has a smoke shop downstairs. (Scroll to the bottom of the page):
Great Designs! I love the Kitchen interior shot in Japan.
I remember eating in a restaurant in Lyon about 10 years ago called Traboule. ( Traboules are tunnels between buildings that were used to transport silk up from the river to the shops are warehouses in the 13th century- only wide enoughfor men to carry the bolts of silk on their shoulders.)
The restaurant was built into one of the traboules in central Lyon- a row of 2-person tables along one wall, kitchen in the back. Very intimate, and like all restaurants in Lyon, great food!
I couldn't find a reference online, so it may not exist anymore. I can't imagine that they could have made a decent living in such a small place. Not much turnover on four tables.
The first building you show ("unknown location") is here: http://tinyurl.com/cvprku . The neighborhood in Tokyo is called Sangenjaya, and the building is owned by a ramen shop.
The reason old amsterdam houses are so thin is not because of a lack of space like you write. In fact the correct reason is in the 16th and 17th century the ammount of tax you pay was measured by the width of your house on streetside. So people tried to build the houses as thin as possible to avoid paying large amounts of money.
Pittsburgh has a skinny building, 5 feet 2 inches wide.
In 1903, the City of Pittsburgh confiscated 30 feet of throughway to widen Diamond Way into what is now Forbes Avenue. Given that the standard parcel was 36 feet wide, there wasn't much left and most property owners sold off the remaining fragments to the city to become wider sidewalks.
In 1907, banking magnate Andrew Mellon purchased the 6 foot wide parcel of land, hoping the city would widen the street further and offer him a profit on his investment. In any case, the City wasn't buying and in 1918 he sold the parcel to Louis Hendel who built a three story building on the parcel. He may have been trying to take advantage of a quirk in the tax structure that assessed undeveloped property at a higher rate but most people think he built to spite the city.
Nearly a century later, the city changed its mind. Wanting to redevelop the Fifth-Forbes corridor, Mayor Tom Murphy threatened to seize the property using eminent domain and hand it over to developers. That plan collapsed (as did the one after that) so the building lives on.
I agree with Atty Finch; 23 Wall Street is essential to any such survey. An old joke cites it as the tallest buikding in the world because it has the most "stories".
There is another one in Valencia, Spain. Just 1m wide. They say is one of the marrowest of europe. It is the red one: http://www.vhfdx.net/photos/foto.php?File=valencia4.jpg&Lan=S
World War One, France: a radiographer wearing protective clothing and headpiece. Photograph by H. J. Hickman, ca. 1918. Credit: Wellcome Library, London
Paul: the "radiofrigo" is a keeper. Gorgeous; merci.
I always forget, somehow, that you younger guys missed out on so much cool stuff. The '60s and early '70s were amazing in terms of sound equipment. In the '50s the hippest thing going were tiny "portable hi-fi's" that only played 45 rpm discs, which had a 2-inch hole in the center. There were competing ideas about whether it was better to have an enormous spindle or just little plastic (or much hipper, metal) inserts that snapped in and had a standard spindle-sized hole in the center.
In the '60s you could get STEREO!! players that had 45, 33, and 78 rpm speed choices, and some even had 16 rpm gearing as an option. This meant you could play standard 33 1/3 rpm albums at 78 and produce chipmunk noises, or play them at 16 for the Quaalude effect. Hours of fun.
And I well remember discovering "massagers" in about '68 or so, to my wife's delight.
I think part of our modern problems stem from the unfulfilled promises of mid-century design. The World's Fair imagery was so wonderful, yet so far from what could really be engineered for consumers, that the gap between marketing and product grew too wide for trust.
The zoomy 60's "telecom room" -- what was with the "Time Tunnel" aesthetic? (groovy rounded control panels set in a cavernous darkness)
The Soviet phones -- Yum! "Da, tovarich! - The Party will reach out and touch you!"
Soviet stuff is so cool because of the USSR's Russian heritage and closed system - giantism and science joined to weird copycat and original engineering.
I wonder if you have ever come across a radial layout on an instrument panel? It seems that grid layout rules even in times when other geometric or unusual layouts would fit the style. I would love to see some examples of radial or other exotic layouts. got any?
|
SFSite
12 Comments:
Great roundup and pix, but here's one you missed: Morgantown, West Virginia's Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) at University of West Virginia. But it doesn't have a rail so technically doesn't qualify. But so cool! http://admissions.wvu.edu/undergraduate/discover/prt.asp
Monorails! Fantastic, thanks. I'm still waiting, and won't believe that the future has arrived till I ride one.
The last image is almost identical to one of Chris Foss's concept drawings for Superman!
This reminded me of Blaine the mono in Stephen King's Dark Tower epic.
Here's some more you've missed:
http://peeron.com/inv/sets/6990-1?showpic=6467
http://peeron.com/inv/sets/6991-1?showpic=3077
http://peeron.com/inv/sets/6399-1?showpic=6487
And I have 6399.
ha ha, had to do it.
Give it a Splat!
Bertin's Aerotrain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A9rotrain) was tested in the late 60s on a test track constructed near Orléans France. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VvsxaaFNAs
Don't forget the early-1900's Brennan gyro-monorail (linky)
Don't forget about the Las Vegas monorail, designed and built by Bombardier, the world's largest rail company.
great tips, all - the full story is not told yet, will go into part two.
I used to know a bloke who'd ridden on the Bennie Railplane as a young man. Sadly, he died last year, and I wish I'd talked to him more about it. Although, frankly, I don't think there was much to tell: as you say, it was a test track, and didn't actually go anywhere. He did say that it sounded - as you would expect - exactly like a plane. And at 20-30 feet from the ground, that must have been quite a racket. Not to mention the wash from the propellers (one at the front, one at the rear).
By all accounts, Bennie wasn't much of a businessman, but I can't help thinking that the technical issues doomed it as much as the economics.
There is a monorail very similar to the one at Disney located at the Miami Metrozoo in South Florida.
You forgot the best one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_vs._the_Monorail
The Senate subway wasn't (and still isn't) a monorail. Notice the motors on the trucks beneath the cars. The upper track is just the power source, like pangraph, but more durable.
Post a Comment
<< Home