News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Robbiem said:
Interesting that the cars come right down to ground level in the stations rather than boarding at height like other systems I've been on.
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Movielover said:
Easier access, plus it's probably cheaper to build stations ground level.
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danlb_2000 said:
Exactly, if it's above grade then you need ramps or elevators to get up to it.
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Elevated stations are very expensive. You need elevators and/or escalators and a larger support structure. I read somewhere that the elevated stations are what makes an urban monorail system so much more expensive than ground level light rail.
 
J

JeffAndKaren

Member
danlb_2000 said:
There might be panels there that are removable. They may have closed it up now to protect the equipment until they are ready to pull the cables.
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You can see a stairway going up through the ceiling. There's your maintenance access. If you look at bioreconstruct's overheads from mid-May (before the roof is put on), you can see the maintenance catwalks, styles (steps over the cable way), and safety railings. There seem to be both inboard and outboard catwalks. They very well might not need to remove ceiling or roof panels to pull cable or do inspections and maintenance. I'd expect that to be the case.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
There might be panels there that are removable. They may have closed it up now to protect the equipment until they are ready to pull the cables.
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Stop it... Disney planned on using magic to get the cables to thread on their own (a lot like modern sewing machines do). Now you're saying that they might have to "manually" remove some panels and "manually" pull them through. Well, clutch my pearls.. I'm shocked. (Sarcasm)

Just as an unimportant side note for those that haven't thought of this yet... these guys know how to string the cable, they have machines and many little tricks to make it as simple as possible. They aren't going to recruit some office staff to get out there and roll up their sleeves and figure it out. BTW, danlb-2000... I know that you are aware of that, I just wanted those others to have a stress free life. :happy:
 
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Skibum1970

Skibum1970

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
Elevated stations are very expensive. You need elevators and/or escalators and a larger support structure. I read somewhere that the elevated stations are what makes an urban monorail system so much more expensive than ground level light rail.
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Agree completely. With this, they just have to bring the cable cars down to ground level and thus definitely less expensive. You only one additional support for the cable to down on and a little longer cable. Far easier and less materials than building a station 20 feet up.

This isn't the forum for it but I still don't understand why light rail costs so much. Seems like it is basically railroad track. Regarding monorails, they have only two bonuses. 1. They look cool. 2. You can elevate them above the streets and thus have less impact on surface streets and buildings. One of the most interesting monorails to me is the suspended monorail in Germany. That is a cool ride.
 
cosmicgirl

cosmicgirl

Well-Known Member
DisneyCane said:
Why would it? The cable is still exposed in the completed state. If you were under there you'd have clear access to the wheel and any guide rollers.
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As @GlacierGlacier mentioned the bullwheel is now covered, so the cable is as well. If these panels are not removed for cable installation then they'd have to go around and above the concrete pylon to put the cable on the bullwheel through the current opening. The alternative would be to pull in one end through the opening near one of the converging rails (blue scenario below).

The first pic shows you where the bullwheel is located w.r.t. to the pylons. I drew the bullwheel in red on the second pic, along with where the cable will end up (green), and the open access that's left now as far as I can tell (yellow). To get from yellow to green without removing the panels seems complicated because of all the components under the roof and the concrete pylon. The other option would be to pull one end of the cable in following the blue arrow, and then laying it in place from above.
To my untrained eye both the yellow and blue scenarios appear more complicated than laying the cable on the ground the way it's suppose to go in and then lifting it to where it needs to be, but the bottom covers are now preventing that.
gond1.jpg
bullwheel.jpg
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Skibum1970 said:
Agree completely. With this, they just have to bring the cable cars down to ground level and thus definitely less expensive. You only one additional support for the cable to down on and a little longer cable. Far easier and less materials than building a station 20 feet up.

This isn't the forum for it but I still don't understand why light rail costs so much. Seems like it is basically railroad track. Regarding monorails, they have only two bonuses. 1. They look cool. 2. You can elevate them above the streets and thus have less impact on surface streets and buildings. One of the most interesting monorails to me is the suspended monorail in Germany. That is a cool ride.
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The biggest benefit of an elevated monorail system is no tunnels or overpasses and less overall area for construction. Light rail would be dirt cheap if it just crossed open space. It becomes expensive when you put it in a city and have to dig up existing roads and/or build overpasses. Gondolas are a good mix since you can build over existing roads and parking lots with minimal disruption (similar to a monorail) but the flexible cables allow the stations to be ground level (similar to most light rail). I’m not sure if it would be possible to build a monorail where the track dips enough to have ground level stations, but it is easy with a gondola.
 
D

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
cosmicgirl said:
As @GlacierGlacier mentioned the bullwheel is now covered, so the cable is as well. If these panels are not removed for cable installation then they'd have to go around and above the concrete pylon to put the cable on the bullwheel through the current opening. The alternative would be to pull in one end through the opening near one of the converging rails (blue scenario below).

The first pic shows you where the bullwheel is located w.r.t. to the pylons. I drew the bullwheel in red on the second pic, along with where the cable will end up (green), and the open access that's left now as far as I can tell (yellow). To get from yellow to green without removing the panels seems complicated because of all the components under the roof and the concrete pylon. The other option would be to pull one end of the cable in following the blue arrow, and then laying it in place from above.
To my untrained eye both the yellow and blue scenarios appear more complicated than laying the cable on the ground the way it's suppose to go in and then lifting it to where it needs to be, but the bottom covers are now preventing that. View attachment 293327View attachment 293328
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First of all the cable is explosed through the slot. You can access it with a ladder that is tall enough. Second, notice the stairs in your photo. A worker climbs the stairs and can get to everything.

My question remains. Why is anything more complicated with the decorative panels on?
 

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