Large Piece Falls off Monorail - Being Evacuated

[s8film40]

That would make sense but witnesses on the ground and inside the train said the vehicle was making noises (cracks and pops) and it was even smoking. Also the other trains on the same track were uneffected and operated just fine when it reopened later. For this reason I still believe it was a piece of the train. And the piece looks very much like the pick-up bar that drags along the bottom of the train to get electricity. Just my observation.

It is very likely that whatever the issue was it was related to the collector shoe's contact with the track. Wether the track caused it or the collector shoe we don't know but they are related. The electrical issues on the train are a result of this getting ripped off.

 

[larryz]

Yes they are. Due to all of the lightning that Central Florida receives, they are placed there to try and divert strikes away from guests.

I'm thinking the Suits are missing a h-u-g-e upsell opportunity here -- The Lightning McQueen Lightning Strike on Main Street USA Experience. $179.95 per guest (park admission required) buys you a metal umbrella, copper-soled shoes and 15 minutes of Reedy Creek Fire Department EMT treatment (extended treatment available at additional cost).

 

[Casper Gutman]

My concern with stuff like this (well, beside the selfish desire that WDW improve its experience so I can enjoy it more) is that it's going to take a death or serious injury before WDW changes its maintenance philosophy.

Folks who know more can correct me and I may have the timeline wrong, but it's my recollection that the death on the Columbia at DL is one of the major things that ended that park's neglect of maintenance that began with the Pressler regime. I'd rather that particular aspect of history not repeat.

This story is a footnote, but if that chunk had hit someone...

 

[trainplane3]

But who is stirring it up? None other that noted blogging ***** and general lowlife Robb 'I have no record either' Alvey who apparently felt the need to attack the guy and do damage control in a way Dr. Blondie can't. I guess the fact he has taken (taken being the key word) groups on trips to Disney parks in Asia, which he has touted on his site, and been rewarded with free trips for things like the Pandora opening means his quid pro quo kicked in and he needed to do the dirty work. The sleaze just drips off some of these people. He is at the top of the list. But at least he is doing his corporate shilling. When's the next junket? Oh wait, he must be a VIP for D23 next month.

Finally someone said it. It's hard to believe that someone so unprofessional can run a site/company like TPR where most of the members are nice (online at least!). Every time someone on Youtube says something stupid in the comments (jokingly or not), Robb swoops in and chews them out. Like, dude, it's the internet. Get over it. He's literally a whiny child in a mans body. They should have someone else manage their social media. If wanted to join them at a park/trip and saw that, I'd just avoid them. I'm glad someone else sees it too and that it isn't me.

Personal thoughts on this: The thing the guy is holding looks like it rusted and broke off. After being to Disney tons of times and just going over some pictures on the internet, this doesn't look like a track piece at all.

 

[WEDwaydatamover]

Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland as well Casper Gutman.

 

[larryz]

Personal thoughts on this: The thing the guy is holding looks like it rusted and broke off. After being to Disney tons of times and just going over some pictures on the internet, this doesn't look like a track piece at all.

Current speculation is that it's part of a train electricity pick-up shoe that transmits power from the bars on the side of the track to the chassis of the train, thence to the motors.

 

[peter11435]

It's not a piece from the track. It's the collector shoe from the train. The broken piece is not rusted metal but rather broken fiberglass. What caused it to break off is still the mystery. Could be deterioration of the shoe itself, could be a problem with the pads on the shoe, the bus bar on the track, or a foreign object (tree branch for example) on the bus bar. Or something else altogether.

 

[trainplane3]

Current speculation is that it's part of a train electricity pick-up shoe that transmits current from the bars on the side of the track to the chassis of the train, thence to the motors.

That'd make sense. It undergoes stress since it has to constantly apply pressure to the electrified rail.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

It's not a piece from the track. It's the collector shoe from the train. The broken piece is not rusted metal but rather broken fiberglass. What caused it to break off is still the mystery. Could be deterioration of the shoe itself, could be a problem with the pads on the shoe, the bus bar on the track, or a foreign object (tree branch for example) on the bus bar. Or something else altogether.

Looking at the pull pattern of the broken fiberglass, I'd wager a LeFou's Brew that the shoe itself had stress fractures that eventually gave way, resulting in this incident.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I too am speculating at this point but some imperfection that may have developed in the buss bar running alongside the beamway is extremely possible. That too has happened before and IMO it's more likely to be the case vs. old trains.

I have no way of knowing but, that does make more sense.

 

[raven]

It's not a piece from the track. It's the collector shoe from the train. The broken piece is not rusted metal but rather broken fiberglass. What caused it to break off is still the mystery. Could be deterioration of the shoe itself, could be a problem with the pads on the shoe, the bus bar on the track, or a foreign object (tree branch for example) on the bus bar. Or something else altogether.

I've been saying this since page 2 of this thread.

Photo looks like the pick-up piece that touches the electricity bar.

It's one of the only mechanical pieces of the train that is visible when a monorail passes (unless you are directly under it). So this piece looked familiar as soon as Insaw the photo.

 

[solidyne]

Just to give some perspective, these are some pretty old vehicles and it's a wonder they run as well as they do. These trains were designed in a style way ahead of its time and we often forget just how old they are. The ad below highlights what modern vehicles looked like at the time these things were manufactured. Also if these were street vehicles in FL in two years they would qualify for "antique" license plates.View attachment 210565

Wow, Reatta!

 

[MisterPenguin]

Now ...here we are with this incident. I'm posting because of something I'm pleasantly surprised no one has focused on (unless I missed it in skimming ... not reading nine pages while I bask in these golden rays) and that is the guy who could have been killed had the piece hit him was attacked on Twitter for talking to the media AFTER he alerted Disney officials and after they grabbed the piece and rode off (apparently on bike) with it. You don't ever leave evidence behind, right?

But who is stirring it up? None other that noted blogging ***** and general lowlife Robb 'I have no record either' Alvey who apparently felt the need to attack the guy and do damage control in a way Dr. Blondie can't. I guess the fact he has taken (taken being the key word) groups on trips to Disney parks in Asia, which he has touted on his site, and been rewarded with free trips for things like the Pandora opening means his quid pro quo kicked in and he needed to do the dirty work. The sleaze just drips off some of these people. He is at the top of the list. But at least he is doing his corporate shilling. When's the next junket? Oh wait, he must be a VIP for D23 next month.

Nice of you to take a break to use WDWMagic as your personal blogging site to go off on a rant on a fellow blogger. Meanwhile, you miss that it was some other blogger, our own @lentesta who told the guy in question to report it to Disney. But, you ignore the blogger doing the right thing to go off on one of your usual rants. Nice.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

It's good to contact both a news source (non ABC owned as the person did) AND Disney, and i'd say it's probably best to do it in that order. This is the sort of thing Disney would try hard to suppress. I'm for Disney knowing about it so they can do something to repair the monorail. But ensuring a news source has that info first will make the general public aware of these kinds of issues (yes plural), and hopefully makes it difficult for Disney to hush it up. Ideally I would like a public fire lit under Disney's butts so they improve their maintenance (though I don't expect this).

Lentesta didn't attack the guy like TPR did either, he just told him to contact Disney about it. There's a massive difference between saying "you should contact Disney" and "you're what's wrong with the world".

Speaking of the plural I mentioned above, there have been other instances of falling things over the past 5 or so years. Splash Mountain and the Tree of Life both had cases of rockwork breaking off and falling in guest areas. Splash was prior to its last major refurb, it was in VERY poor condition overall including the rockwork. Didn't hit anyone thankfully, but someone easily could have died if they had been hit. It took people dying at Disneyland due to poor upkeep for them to clean their management up. I don't want the same to happen at WDW.

 

[lentesta]

our own @lentesta who told the guy in question to report it to Disney.

Lentesta didn't attack the guy like TPR did either, he just told him to contact Disney about it.

Thanks. I was worried about the safety of the people on the monorail. It wasn't obvious that Disney had been notified. Better to make sure.

 

[TP2000]

Seriously, something like this is truly terrifying and should light several fires under several butts in Burbank or Orlando. Any of us who were around Disneyland during the dark Pressler/Harriss years can tell you that maintenance is a matter of life and death. @TP2000 and others who were there know the consequences of poor maintenance, training and operations. This piece could have been a repeat of the horrific Columbia accident at Disneyland if a guest had been in that flying piece's way.

Yup. Exactly.

Countdown until Disney Legal requires the parks to erect barriers preventing anyone from walking under the rails...

What I don't understand is why the WDW monorail doesn't have beam guards up over every place a person can walk beneath the beam. Disneyland does that, and has done that since Walt had the monorail extended to the Disneyland Hotel in 1961.

Here's the protective shields underneath the beamway in August, 1961 (the summer the monorail was extended to the hotel), which was just cheap plastic panels clipped to metal brackets to protect from falling wheels or parts...

And here's the exact same section of Disneyland beamway in the 21st century, where the protective shielding has been replaced with sturdier and more attractive custom-cut metal panels with a catch tray underneath you can't see from below...

While similar structures appear on some stretches of the WDW monorail system, they are not consistent and there are long stretches where the beamway passes over common areas without any protective shielding. Here's the WDW passing over the Epcot parking lot without any protective shielding at all. Why?!?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Thanks. I was worried about the safety of the people on the monorail. It wasn't obvious that Disney had been notified. Better to make sure.

If I wasn't in close proximity to a cast member, i'd probably try calling 911 not knowing who else to contact. I wouldn't know a Disney specific number to call. 911 would probably get the Reedy Creek fire department out there pretty fast anyways.

But I am also glad the news is aware, regardless of the reason he called it in (his intentions may or may not be good). Disney needs to learn a lesson about the obvious poor condition the monorails are in, this makes it more difficult to ignore and bury, and historically it has taken some seriously bad PR to light a fire under them. Still don't think this will change anything (and god forbid they actually use it as an excuse to get rid of the monorails outright, or worse someone actually eventually dies from another incident). At the very least I hope someone responsible for the monorail condition loses sleep and money over this.

 

[davis_unoxx]

I would have gone to cast members till I found someone who would listen, not just got to facebook or twitter, I would have been more concerned with peoples safety than social media fame.

I really don't think it's his fault that the monorails are falling apart, it's Disney. But, hey maybe it's just me!

 

[davis_unoxx]

Busch has a Gondola. How many times does it get struck? The MK skyway was in operation for what? 28 or 29 years? Was it ever struck that we know of?

Lmao I've been on a smaller boat that's gotten struck by lightening and a plane, which is very scary btw especially boat. But there's only like one video of something getting hit with lightning at Disney! You'd think with 200 foot tall buildings in flat land it would happene every day! Maybe they need me there more often do things can get struck!

 

[EricsBiscuit]

I wonder how long it is till the Department of Transportation fines Disney! Maybe that'll force 'em to upgrade those monorails.