Monorail Spur

joel_maxwell

Permanent Resident of EPCOT
I would like to see where this spur line would be in regards to the existing lines. A nice aerial shot with a diagram would suffice. :D
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
That tidbit about the scuttled massive expansion plans grabbed me, too. I was also wondering where this new spur line would be placed. Very interesting stuff.

Oh! BTW, last week I was watching one of Martin's videos (think it was the tribute to transportation) and there were some pics of the original construction pics of the resort & express lines. One of the captions stated that the beams were constructed of a composite honeycomb core with a concrete encasement to keep the weight of each beam under a certain weight (50,000 lbs. or tons or something). I've never heard that! I immediately called my father-in-law to ask how using a composite core would affect the cost per beam. His response was: without knowing the cost of whatever the composite was it's hard to tell. It likely eliminates the need for rebar but how drastically it can change the cost per beam is impossible to judge without knowing what the composite was and how the cores were produced. Would it be enough difference to offset the cost of rebar & labor to configure it? Impossible to tell. FiL also found the fact that the beam cores are composite quite interesting. I just found that info about the beams fascinating. Not trying to stir up the great "monorail expansion" debate. Do I think they'll expand the monorail out as so many folks wish they would? I still say no. The cost is so high it'd be prohibitive. Just random interesting info.... :wave:
 

joel_maxwell

Permanent Resident of EPCOT
That tidbit about the scuttled massive expansion plans grabbed me, too. I was also wondering where this new spur line would be placed. Very interesting stuff.

Oh! BTW, last week I was watching one of Martin's videos (think it was the tribute to transportation) and there were some pics of the original construction pics of the resort & express lines. One of the captions stated that the beams were constructed of a composite honeycomb core with a concrete encasement to keep the weight of each beam under a certain weight (50,000 lbs. or tons or something). I've never heard that! I immediately called my father-in-law to ask how using a composite core would affect the cost per beam. His response was: without knowing the cost of whatever the composite was it's hard to tell. It likely eliminates the need for rebar but how drastically it can change the cost per beam is impossible to judge without knowing what the composite was and how the cores were produced. Would it be enough difference to offset the cost of rebar & labor to configure it? Impossible to tell. FiL also found the fact that the beam cores are composite quite interesting. I just found that info about the beams fascinating. Not trying to stir up the great "monorail expansion" debate. Do I think they'll expand the monorail out as so many folks wish they would? I still say no. The cost is so high it'd be prohibitive. Just random interesting info.... :wave:
Im sure that if it was a state of the art composite material, it would still cost a fortune. Not saying it would be more the rebar or visa versa, but you know how it is more expensive at times to build with "green" materials, might be the same situation here.

Not sure.
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Im sure that if it was a state of the art composite material, it would still cost a fortune. Not saying it would be more the rebar or visa versa, but you know how it is more expensive at times to build with "green" materials, might be the same situation here.

Not sure.

That's exactly what we were thinking. Even if the composite did reduce the cost per beam, you still have pylons, foundations, stations, additional trains, maintenance space, additional cast to operate. It all adds up and still makes the whole thing so astronomically expensive it's just not at all feasible. Knowing how TDO is with the purse-strings, I think we're more likely to see pixies fly out of Mickey's than see a full-on expansion of the monorails to DHS, AK, and/or the resorts. :animwink:
 

joel_maxwell

Permanent Resident of EPCOT
That's exactly what we were thinking. Even if the composite did reduce the cost per beam, you still have pylons, foundations, stations, additional trains, maintenance space, additional cast to operate. It all adds up and still makes the whole thing so astronomically expensive it's just not at all feasible. Knowing how TDO is with the purse-strings, I think we're more likely to see pixies fly out of Mickey's than see a full-on expansion of the monorails to DHS, AK, and/or the resorts. :animwink:
that is a great analogy. True.
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
That tidbit about the scuttled massive expansion plans grabbed me, too. I was also wondering where this new spur line would be placed. Very interesting stuff.

Oh! BTW, last week I was watching one of Martin's videos (think it was the tribute to transportation) and there were some pics of the original construction pics of the resort & express lines. One of the captions stated that the beams were constructed of a composite honeycomb core with a concrete encasement to keep the weight of each beam under a certain weight (50,000 lbs. or tons or something). I've never heard that! I immediately called my father-in-law to ask how using a composite core would affect the cost per beam. His response was: without knowing the cost of whatever the composite was it's hard to tell. It likely eliminates the need for rebar but how drastically it can change the cost per beam is impossible to judge without knowing what the composite was and how the cores were produced. Would it be enough difference to offset the cost of rebar & labor to configure it? Impossible to tell. FiL also found the fact that the beam cores are composite quite interesting. I just found that info about the beams fascinating. Not trying to stir up the great "monorail expansion" debate. Do I think they'll expand the monorail out as so many folks wish they would? I still say no. The cost is so high it'd be prohibitive. Just random interesting info.... :wave:
From my understanding the cores of the beams were made of polystyrene (Styrofoam). The styrofoam itself would not add any strength to the structure. What it would do is allow for a virtually weightless void or series of voids to exist inside a monorail thereby increasing the beams strength to material weight ratio much in the same way that a hollow pipe is stronger by weight than a solid one is.
 

s8film40

Well-Known Member
This is something that I have always thought they should do, since theoretically if a monorail got stuck on the existing spur switch they would have no way to switch the tow tractor on and tow the train. What's weird is they mention building a new switch. This seems completely unnecessary. If they just added this spur to the offset position of the Epcot switchbeam no additional switch would be necessary, it wouldn't impact operation while being built and they would only need a couple of beams.
 

GrumpyFan

Well-Known Member
This is an interesting rumor (about the spur). While it's obviously not the expansion we would like to see, it would certainly help improve the performance of the monorail. I have to wonder, though, if this doesn't highlight the fact that the current fleet of monorails, which went into service 21 years ago, are getting old. It just seems to me that the money spent on this spur, plus another tractor, might be better applied toward buying new trains.
 

joel_maxwell

Permanent Resident of EPCOT
From my understanding the cores of the beams were made of polystyrene (Styrofoam). The styrofoam itself would not add any strength to the structure. What it would do is allow for a virtually weightless void or series of voids to exist inside a monorail thereby increasing the beams strength to material weight ratio much in the same way that a hollow pipe is stronger by weight than a solid one is.
Is this because the energy of weight goes around the the outside shape (which would be a circle in this case, or a square/rectangle of the monorail beam) instead of through it? Kind of like how the energy goes down and then outward on an arch?
 

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