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Monorail beam cleaning?
- Thread starter cwoms197
- Start date
Lensman
Well-Known Member
What they need to do is find a retrofit self-cleaning concrete coating. You know, something that uses photocatalytic titanium oxide to self-clean the surface. I wonder if it would work against the mold and mildew and how it would stand up to the rubber tires?
Either that or I wonder how cheap "Spray and Forget" is at commercial quantity? It's eco-friendly but I worry that it might cost them $1 million a mile to clean the beam using it.
Either that or I wonder how cheap "Spray and Forget" is at commercial quantity? It's eco-friendly but I worry that it might cost them $1 million a mile to clean the beam using it.
WEDwaydatamover
Well-Known Member
From every photo of the Contemporary Resort from the early days, the hotels beams looked painted. Sort of a dark grey or black.
I can still see it somewhat even today.
Am I alone on this one?
I can still see it somewhat even today.
Am I alone on this one?
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
So they only cleaned over the road? Maybe they are shooting a promo along the road?\
Maybe they only clean the "onstage" portion now?
Disone
Well-Known Member
Thread bump time.....
100% they are taking advantage of the Epcot Monorail down time and are cleaning the entire beamway. Iitterally havr seen the mini-tractor pulling a cart and going down the beamway very slowly with a clear before and after result. Wish I had pics to share but driving and taking pics not a good combination.
100% they are taking advantage of the Epcot Monorail down time and are cleaning the entire beamway. Iitterally havr seen the mini-tractor pulling a cart and going down the beamway very slowly with a clear before and after result. Wish I had pics to share but driving and taking pics not a good combination.
I was surprised to see it cleaned since I had been down last. But upon closer examination, so far only the beam facing World Drive (Epcot to TTC) has been cleaned. The inner beam (TTC to Epcot) remains filthy.Thread bump time.....
100% they are taking advantage of the Epcot Monorail down time and are cleaning the entire beamway. Iitterally havr seen the mini-tractor pulling a cart and going down the beamway very slowly with a clear before and after result. Wish I had pics to share but driving and taking pics not a good combination.
rreading
Well-Known Member
I was surprised by how dirty it looked when we were there in August. My guess would have been that it would not have been bad since no one had been using it...but is the dirtiness from the environment or from usage?
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Black mold and tire dust. If it has friction brakes in addition to the motor brakes it may have dust from that.
eta: yes, they have friction brakes as well
It is actually a kind of algae in most cases especially in areas that are exposed to direct sunlight.
The big difference is other than ease of cleaning, in this case, is black algae is largely harmless to humans while black mold might not be.
Disone
Well-Known Member
Hopefully they will work all the way around. Today they were working on the beam that goes through the MK lot and where almost at the point where the beam was already clean as it approaches TTC epcot station.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I'm not convinced about the "black mold" because the constant activity on those rails does not promote that development of mold, especially out in the open air on a non-porous surface. Rubber wearing off the tires and brake dust for sure. Check out what the wheels front wheels on your cars accumulate in the line of brake dust if you don't clean them off. Those tires on all those trains run in the same spot every single time a train runs on that rail. Imagine how many tires and how many times that single line of friction has happened.
Roads get about a bazillion times more usage and that is not conducive to it growing. If you look at the K-rails next to the road you will see it everywhere.
While the rails do see a lot of traffic, only a small part of that rail actually sees any contact with the train. It is also not all mold. Some of it is just good old fashioned dirt. Concrete is also not nonporous.
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Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
It better not have to much porousness of they would be getting weaker by the day. I know they are dirty, but I just have trouble with open air mold. I suppose it can happen, it just seems counter intuitive to me. Mold usually needs wet, dark and no air circulation to grow. I know it is humid in Florida, which may be why it is happening, if it is, but I have seen so many times when people have mistaken dirt for black mold.
The link below will tell you more than you ever want to know about the porosity of concrete.
It is also most likely not black mold. It is a mix of black algae and dirt. Algae is essentially a plant. All it really needs is a small amount of water and sunlight. Florida's climate provides more than enough of both. The concrete is essentially just a growing medium. Nearly all of the black stains you see on highway overpasses, roofs, sidewalks, etc. is black algae.
Bender123
Well-Known Member
Growth on concrete can cause some level of degradation, but Im guessing that after 40 years on one line and 50 on the other that its not really something to worry about beyond appearances.
Yes, you can seal them (something that was done during the last cleaning) but only delays the inevitable.