Monorail system to close during non peak times for maintenance in early 2014

[WDWFan_Boston]

OK, got some rock solid info from a Monorail Mechanic at the TTC yesterday morning around 1130 AM. On Monday afternoon Monorail Red was towed from the EPCOT station to the EPCOT Spurline for quick fix work due to the power inverters that control the doors and brakes to Monorail Red having failed. Power was out on the monorail, everyone on board were let down to safety and bussed to epcot for their troubles at the spurline.

Maybe an Imagineer should go to Tosche Station to pick some more?

Oh, those were power CONverters? Too bad

 

[JimboJones123]

Ok so day 2 at BLT and walking back in a light rain after 5 hours in the park was kind of annoying. Do I regret staying here? Not at all. But yeah, monorail would have been nice then.

I did see them working on the beam. 2-3 workers on a tracker type machine stopped over the Contemporary path. A CM standing there making sure guests were ok. The one worker looked to be unscrewing bolts along the bottom of the beam. If I wasn't pushing a stroller in the rain I would have grabbed a picture.

It's only a 4 minute walk. It rains in Florida.

Hahahah!

 

[rudyjr13]

It's only a 4 minute walk. It rains in Florida.

Hahahah!

I wasn't complaining really. It is was it is. I was just saying I would have rather taken the monorail in that instance. The walk is nice. Only place you can do that.

 

[MonorailLover]

Based on my recent experience and what im seeing you guys are experiencing, I still think it is worth it that they are refurbing the system!!!!! I hope when it is all said and done, these problems wont continue, but im sure they wont because it would have made the refurb redundant.

 

[Figment2005]

Based on my recent experience and what im seeing you guys are experiencing, I still think it is worth it that they are refurbing the system!!!!! I hope when it is all said and done, these problems wont continue, but im sure they wont because it would have made the refurb redundant.

It's not a refurbishment exactly, more of a completely new control scheme that just happens to use the same concrete beams as the old one. The MAPO system will be non-existent once the overhaul is complete.

 

[MonorailLover]

It's not a refurbishment exactly, more of a completely new control scheme that just happens to use the same concrete beams as the old one. The MAPO system will be non-existent once the overhaul is complete.

I know, I just hope they do some improvements to the door system so they actually close

 

[Figment2005]

I know, I just hope they do some improvements to the door system so they actually close

Right now Teal is in many many pieces because she is the guinea pig for the project. I am not expecting anything along the lines of train changes, but that doesn't mean they aren't in the plan. I will be as stoked as you if I find out there are changes like that coming in.

 

[MonorailLover]

Right now Teal is in many many pieces because she is the guinea pig for the project. I am not expecting anything along the lines of train changes, but that doesn't mean they aren't in the plan. I will be as stoked as you if I find out there are changes like that coming in.

Lol ok

 

[Brian Noble]

Any word on an end date yet?

 

[JohnD]

Assuming the refurb schedule is correct, March 31: http://www.wdwmagic.com/refurbishments.htm

 

[ford91exploder]

Okay, so here are some photos from Monday of the work being done:

Tractor 2, on the switch between the Express and Resort Loop

Workers working on the platform under the switch

Another view of the tractor

The center of the Spur appears to be new (Well, the metal part).

New Conduit (Circled in red).

More new Conduit. Above a can of WD-40, lol... (Workers on the other side of the beam, otherwise the location of that can of WD-40 scared me, so close to the beam).

Clip appears to be new. Not sure if it as new as our current work, others may know better, but I remember this being a flat piece of metal and not a sliver clip...

New Conduit on the track near the Contemporary

Conduit on platform outside of Contemporary running to the Express beam, but not to the Resort beam yet

Tractor #1 inside the Contemporary, the Tractor is on the Express Beam, workers are working on the Resort Beam

You can see the conduit on the Chef Mickey's side platform, not running to either track completely yet.

Worker down in the track, installing conduit. They were drilling with a hammer drill (by the sound, not sure exactly what kind of drill). When I was directly above them you could feel the drilling.... Obviously why they could not do this work during the night (not speaking for the work outside of the actual resort stations)...

Monorail Black on the Resort Beam.

Workers with Conduit

Conduit on the platform outside the Contemporary from above

@FigmentsFangirl : photo of them working on Monorail red after being pushed/towed through Epcot.

Another picture of Monorail Red with Tractor #3

Another look, later when I came back from Epcot the truck had the lift up to the side of Monorail Red, I could not get a good angle for a photo from TTC.

Conduit in Epcot, I am assuming this was completed at night, prior to the Magic Kingdom Monorail closures.

One more picture, the conduit going around a bus bar connection.

Great pictures - BTW that 'clip' you referred to is called Unistrut It's a lot easier to work with than manually drilling bits of metal to hang conduit and when things change you can simply add/move the conduit without having to replace the bracket as system uses clips in a u-shaped channel

Also liked the reference to one of the key items in redneck took kit WD40 (for things that dont move and should) Duct tape is the other for things that move and should not...

 

[Figment2005]

The last "scheduled" day was yesterday.

 

[rob0519]

I guess what I'd like to see next is a refurbishment of the INSIDE of the monorail cars, once the maintenance and safety issues are completed. Those interiors have been used by millions of guests and are just beyond the point of cleaning.

 

[unkadug]

I guess what I'd like to see next is a refurbishment of the INSIDE of the monorail cars, once the maintenance and safety issues are completed. Those interiors have been used by millions of guests and are just beyond the point of cleaning.

Cleaning would help.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Cleaning would help.

Cleaning would be a blessing.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Cleaning would be a blessing.

It would be a good start. But it's kinda like slamming the gate shut after the horses ran out of it.

At this point the insides of the monorails need replaced, repainted, reupholstered, and THEN let's worry about keeping them clean by actually, ya know, cleaning them.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

It would be a good start. But it's kinda like slamming the gate shut after the horses ran out of it.

At this point the insides of the monorails need replaced, repainted, reupholstered, and THEN let's worry about keeping them clean by actually, ya know, cleaning them.

I know! The last time I rode I put my arm up along the seat back so my daughter could nap and put my hand on gum. Thank gosh I carry sanitizer.

 

[rob0519]

It would be a good start. But it's kinda like slamming the gate shut after the horses ran out of it.

At this point the insides of the monorails need replaced, repainted, reupholstered, and THEN let's worry about keeping them clean by actually, ya know, cleaning them.

That was my original point. Every product has a useful life expectancy. After millions of visitors the interior of those cars is well past that point. You can clean them all you want, but you can't clean away wear and tear. At some point it just needs to be replaced.

 

[DManRightHere]

I guess what I'd like to see next is a refurbishment of the INSIDE of the monorail cars, once the maintenance and safety issues are completed. Those interiors have been used by millions of guests and are just beyond the point of cleaning.

With all of the infrastructure work going on I wouldn't be surprised if new monorails were already ordered, or at least in very serious talks. Would people be aware if this had already happened?

 

[StageFrenzy]

With all of the infrastructure work going on I wouldn't be surprised if new monorails were already ordered, or at least in very serious talks. Would people be aware if this had already happened?

If new trains were even a distant thought, I feel like we would know about it.