Monorail Lime finally out of shop — Blue deltas are back!

[monothingie]

Obviously I don't want them to skip mandatory maintenance, but I feel like any other investments in the current monorails would be a poor investment. I know the new monorails haven't been confirmed, but I do believe they will be coming within five years max.

When they transistioned to MK6 they pulled MK4 blue out of service in 1986 several years prior to delivery for testing purposes. And this probably was preceded by a couple years of proposals and legal review.

If they go with Bombardier they and they signed today they are looking at least 5-8 years before they even started producing trains with all their back log. (Assuming they are still in business....)

If they go with another vendor it would probably be just as long to make it work with what they have.

It just doesn’t seem like the requisite pre-order work or proposals have not leaked out yet. Insiders here are usually aware of projects years before they are commenced, for this we have not gotten a clear sense of any progress.

 

[GCTales]

Saw and road monorail black and lime during our trip last week.. looked very nice.

Monorail Blue (teal?, maybe) looked really worn.. paint on the exterior chipped and cracks everywhere..

 

[peter11435]

Saw and road monorail black and lime during our trip last week.. looked very nice.

Monorail Blue (teal?, maybe) looked really worn.. paint on the exterior chipped and cracks everywhere..View attachment 334333View attachment 334333

I don’t believe teal has been painted yet.

 

[montyz81]

View attachment 333388

Maybe I’m biased but I felt this deserves its own thread.

It's too bad the square D didn't return.

 

[peter11435]

It's too bad the square D didn't return.

It’s in the picture

 

[marni1971]

Not to be a downer, but why bother? The monorails will hopefully all be replaced in the near future..

IF they’re replaced it would be an incremental replacement over a few years, like last time. Not all at once.

IF it happened I wouldn’t expect the first to arrive for two or three years.

 

[Figment2005]

This makes me feel good. The blue deltas and the WDW “D” adorning a newly painted monorail - simple yet spectacular.

The D has been added back to all the trains as they have received paint. Only Silver, Teal, and Green are left, but won't be happening until after the holidays.

 

[Gabe1]

View attachment 333388

Maybe I’m biased but I felt this deserves its own thread.

We were on the load platform last weekend for Epcot at TTC when LIME pulled up to the MK platform. We too immediately noticed. She looked so nice

 

[Rteetz]

IF it happened I wouldn’t expect the first to arrive for two or three years.

I second this IF it happens...

 

[jbolen2]

I second this IF it happens...

I take you and marni recent post as something in the negotions has hit a road block?

 

[MisterPenguin]

I take you and marni recent post as something in the negotions has hit a road block?

Others have been reporting that Bombardier is backlogged and may be having cash flow issues. That would explain the delay and the slow implementation.

 

[marni1971]

I take you and marni recent post as something in the negotions has hit a road block?

Not that I know of.

 

[jbolen2]

Others have been reporting that Bombardier is backlogged and may be having cash flow issues. That would explain the delay and the slow implementation.

Not that I know of.

I know these things take multiple years to come to reality. We have ridden the monorails multiple times in the last week and i have noticed a few things. It seems like the ones that have recently came out of paint look really good inside and out. The ones that haven’t been washed recently looked like they haven’t been washed since they were painted whenever that was. Not sure how many on this recent cycle are left to be painted.

 

[Monorail_Red]

Saw and road monorail black and lime during our trip last week.. looked very nice.

Monorail Blue (teal?, maybe) looked really worn.. paint on the exterior chipped and cracks everywhere..View attachment 334333View attachment 334333

Not surprising, Teal was sort of a rushed paint job when they were trying to get it in service fall of '09.

 

[Obobru]

I guess the paintwork was all they did and they are still as shabby inside? I did notice they didn't have the damp dog smell inside that they used to have when I was there last month. Inside notice a number of plastic covers over door mechanisms cracked or damaged and wondered why Disney don't buy the workshops a large scale 3D printer to create replacement parts when needed as some airline maintenance companies now do this to replace parts at short notice inside planes. It would have a lot of uses for items inside the parks not just the monorails.

 

[ThatDisneyGuy]

Personally never liked the blue deltas. I know the point is so they stand out more, but IMO, they look awful.

Great photos though.

I also honestly believe we will see a new monorail installed by the 50th. Maybe not a whole fleet but at least one or two new trains like how they did when they changed from the IV's to the VI's.

 

[asianway]

When they transistioned to MK6 they pulled MK4 blue out of service in 1986 several years prior to delivery for testing purposes. And this probably was preceded by a couple years of proposals and legal review.

If they go with Bombardier they and they signed today they are looking at least 5-8 years before they even started producing trains with all their back log. (Assuming they are still in business....)

If they go with another vendor it would probably be just as long to make it work with what they have.

It just doesn’t seem like the requisite pre-order work or proposals have not leaked out yet. Insiders here are usually aware of projects years before they are commenced, for this we have not gotten a clear sense of any progress.

Tell me more about this testing on mark IV blue...

 

[monothingie]

Tell me more about this testing on mark IV blue...

Blue was removed from service in 1986 to be used for prototype testing of systems for the MK VI. It was shortened by having two center cars removed. I have a picture of it (on my desktop) showing it next to a MK VI and MK IV and also affixed with a cardboard mock-up of the larger form factor of the MK VI. Prior to delivery they used it for all sorts of systems testing with upgraded propulsion systems and other control systems. IIRC some of the stories that I heard about was that it was a real speed demon. I’m think @s8film40 given his knowledge can probably tell you more.

 

[asianway]

Blue was removed from service in 1986 to be used for prototype testing of systems for the MK VI. It was shortened by having two center cars removed. I have a picture of it (on my desktop) showing it next to a MK VI and MK IV and also affixed with a cardboard mock-up of the larger form factor of the MK VI. Prior to delivery they used it for all sorts of systems testing with upgraded propulsion systems and other control systems. IIRC some of the stories that I heard about was that it was a real speed demon. I’m think @s8film40 given his knowledge can probably tell you more.

Interesting, so down to 3 cars?

 

[DisneyGentlemanV2.0]

I'm just curious why we call trapezoids deltas?