OK, I haven't logged in it a few weeks so I'll try to play catch-up to the thread.
Applying Monorail Red's numbers, the approx mileage on the monorails since put in service would be 1,754,190.
Again, those numbers are just very rough estimates.
Is that each... of for the whole fleet?
It would be each.
That's per monorail, so combined they've put out over 21,000,000 miles. And I realize they're designed for fairly heavy usage, but really, around the 20M mile mark (which would have been sometime around June or July of last year, at the latest), noises should have started about ordering a new set of monorails all around - even if it just amounted to "we'll put in the order when the economy picks up".
Yes... remember that they are TRAINS and they are built for lots of mileage.
The only definitive timeline I have ever heard was from the company that made the composite bodies of the monorails, they claimed in an interview that they would last up to 15 years. As far as parts no longer being available they have already crossed this point. Many of the recent modifications to the trains have resulted from parts that were used being discontinued.
Right, and as a result of replacing the parts no longer available with a different variation of parts, it adds a few years onto the trains' life spans as far as ease of maintenance goes.
I guess we passed the point of 15 years also. They must be holding up pretty well since some of them are 22 years old at this point. I wonder how much longer they plan on running these? Since it has only been 5 - 6 years since the investment into the new pilot controls I wonder if they will hold off longer.
There were more modifications other than the new interface, more on that below.
I wonder if the last monorail (insert new color) will ever be back in service?
It will be, remember Teal came out so fast because they just had to swap the tail cars of the trains. All Teal is is Monorail Pink with Purple's tail car. So they just had to switch it, repaint, and program the computers accordingly.
Oh, I just wanted to add that the total lifetime miles number that I wrote earlier was using 1993 as a commisioning date. Since some were on line as early as 1989 there mileage could be as much as 2,144,010 miles.
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So just out of curiousity..since the topic was mentioned....
...any Mono Fans here know the lineup of colors from the oldest to the newest? Anyone recall how the newer trains came online, in what order, replacing what color, until the old fleet was finally completely replaced?
'Teal' may be the newest color, but the original train underneath surely had a start date. Ditto for the 'TRONorail'...which we know is actually Coral in disquise.
Is Red and Black the two oldest, and Lime and Coral the newest?
Thought this would make a interesting list, and a interesting discussion.
As far as I know, as each Mark VI was added a Mark IV was removed. Blue was the first delivered in 1989 and Coral was the last in 1993. Other than that, I can't recall the complete delivery sequence off the top of my head. Blue and Gold are the oldest. Gold was the 2nd Mark VI train delivered. Yes, Lime and Coral are the newest of the fleet.
I have also wondered the exact same thing. We are now coming up on two years since the incident. I know they had to totally rebuild the two cabs and that something like that takes time, but does it really take that long? It just seems to be taking awhile. I also thought I read somewhere that the 12th train was going to be back in service by the end of 2010.
Have they just thrown in the towel on the 12th train, similar to what they did with Mark IV Gold? I believe Gold never got it's 6th car added because by the time they got to that train they had already decided to order the Mark VIs. I remember seeing a pic of the Mark IVs in the boneyard after they were retired. Sitting right with Gold's 5 cars was a 6th unpainted car.
Also, is the new maintenance spur by the TTC totally finished now? If so, has anyone heard how it is working out and if they've had an opportunity yet to tow a train on the Epcot beam with the new set up?
As far as Train 12 goes, remember that with such a rebuild you're dealing with structural integrity. You can't rush something like that. And again with Teal, they just swapped the tail cars and repainted the train.
Actually Mark IV Gold's 6th car was used to replace the car body on Mark IV Silver that was ruined in that fire, since Silver already had the 6th car. But Mark IV Gold got the extra motor so it was a favorable train to drive.
No idea about the new spur, I have been out of the department since August. A train can't be parked on it, just makes response time by the work tractor much quicker.
So is this yet another area (maintenance & new trains) where WDW management decided to go cheap? I have been down 3 times in the last 2 months and have gotten stuck on a monorail (resort line) all three times.
Nowadays when they do maintenance checks (could have been something different, but this will cause delays) while standing under the beam, they have to do a power lock-out which takes time to do. After that electrician at ESPN WWoS was lost, all across property they want an extra layer of protection. A monorail's voltage is DC, so if you grab one side of the buss bar you will be fine (but I still wouldn't recommend it). Only if you touch both sides at the same time. But again, they don't ever want to loose another CM due to an electrical accident so they want to eliminate the possibility as much as possible.
They do not need to be made by Bombardier, but it would seem to make sense. Disney could do an "Exteme Makeover" on the current train sets like they did for Disneyland and not involve Bombardier at all.
They are in the process of doing that. Blue and Silver received a re-wire with a top-of-the-line harness (if there's a short, they can replace a certain section of it instead of having to cut into it like they had to do in the past). Train 12 also had this done while it was sitting in shop. Not sure if there's any more scheduled or in the process of getting the re-wire. They also recently replaced the motors. They want to get another 10 years out of the trains. I'm sure many will disagree with me but I think another 10 years is totally within reason to do with what they're doing behind the scenes (and as long as they don't cheap out halfway through).
Two items I would like to bring up.
1. Even if they could be ported over to WDW specs. the DL monos have terrible air conditioning, presumably due to track/space constraints. Not sure I like the outline either...
2. I would assume replacement of the monorail equipment would include automation of the system. Think Las Vegas. Even with the initial capital outlay to retrofit the wayside equipment I bet that would still be cheaper over time than paying cast members.
Alas I doubt we need to discuss it. Any outlay of money not required to keep the system running is presumably not going to be allocated. As someone has mentioned they just finished updating the control system, so new trains in the near term seems unlikely.
DL Monorails only have A/C in the cab, the rest of the train is just ventilated by the train's momentum. The power grid they have can't support A/C for the entire train.
The WDW Monorails will never be automated IMO. It is impossible to replace a live person with all the safety measures currently in place.
Happy Mono-Railing!
-Monorail_Red
