Seventies Monorail Project

[duffman]

Underground pub does sound a good idea, i'm not sure of the location of the river.

[alchresearch]

Originally posted by march

Are there any cities that actually have a monorail? Nearly everywhere has considered one but I cant think of one that actually got built.

 

Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook. And, by golly, it put them on the map!

[ptigga]

Originally posted by pberry

Re: Going underground?

 

Wouldn't it be difficult to stop the Porter Brook infiltrating the tunnel?

 

(The river not the pub!)

 

Sod the tram. Lets have underground canal barges!

[dinp]

There's a process what's known as 'box-jacking' ( i think that's the correct name) which could work for an underground system.

 

they used it on the M1 at Northampton to bore a new tunnel under the motorway and it basically starts digging underneath the road, but at the same time, creates a safe frame to stop the road above from collapsing into the new tunnel.

 

(don't think i've explained that very well)

 

At no time during this boring process was the M1 closed. Maybe it could work here.

[Strix]

Originally posted by ptigga

I'm not a structural engineer so I can't claim any technical knowledge of tunnel building, but I have a feeling that boring a tunnel (as opposed to cut-and-cover) would be unfeasable because of the size of the tunnel and the closeness to the surface. Can any engineers add any insight?

Out trams run on a pantograph(?) system (overhead wires). That's what makes tunnelling non-viable. The tunnels would need to be huge to accomodate this. The london underground is 'third rail'.

 

Edit: that's also why we can't 'just buy new trains' to dispense with the diesel soot in Midland Station. All of the tunnels and bridges on each route would need to be altered. How long is Totley tunnel?

[Strix]

A monorail seems like a good idea in theory, but the structures that would need to be built to carry it would be an eyesore.

 

And everybody who lives along the route would object to the planning application on the grounds of loss of privacy. I don't fancy a train load of people staring through my bedroom window thanks!

[Ousetunes]

From what I recall, the whole project was based entirely in the city centre. As I said in my opening post, the pictures in the book showed the monorail running alongside buildings up and down Fargate, thus negating the need for pillars. The rail itself was attached at a second floor level to the buildings. I presume it was envisaged that the monorail would travel down the Moor in similar fashion, 'clipped' to the second floor of the buildings.

 

But we're talking over 30 years ago here, and the last time I saw that book was in Nether Green Middle school which I left in 1981, so it's difficult to remember! The drawings, made to look like photographs were in black and white.

 

I suppose a trip to the Library archives is the only chance I'll have of looking at those pictures again.

[jonnf]

One city that has a monorail is Seattle. Check out the link.

 

http://www.seattlemonorail.com/

[Strix]

Originally posted by Ousetunes

From what I recall, the whole project was based entirely in the city centre.

I was responding to the 'Ecclesall Rd' direction that the thread had gone in.

[nick2]

Another advantage of the tram is that it removes pot holes, all the roads that the tram currently goes along are nice and smooth as they never need to be dug-up, so the tram makes the road better for the car drivers too.