Rumor New Monorails Coming Soon?

[jbolen2]

Yeah, it was probably nice having those extra trains although parking them all was probably an issue at some points.

I could imagine sitting at hold points a bit more.

Which monorail is this from?

 

[monothingie]

I could imagine sitting at hold points a bit more.

Which monorail is this from?

Mark vi monorail mock up.

 

[Stripes]

Both Red and Silver were stored in a warehouse in Kissimmee up until the time Disney sold Car 1 of Red on eBay. At that time the remainder of Red and all of Silver were removed from the warehouse and scrapped.

I seem to remember hearing that Coral was the last train on the system, but I could be remembering that incorrectly. I have a bunch of photos of Coral's last day and a index sheet that has a note "Coral IV Last Day 4-22-93". There seemed to be a lot of significance to this so maybe I just assumed that was the last one. Now the interesting thing is from my understanding the last of the Mark IV were rarely used due to lack of trained CM's. However when they were used it was on holidays when they needed the extra trains and usually only on Epcot. So your recollection makes a lot of sense. I can't say for certain maybe someone else can. I do have these dates though.
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Looks like that was one of my posts. I was very fortunate to get to go visit those trains in the warehouse a couple times.

Last I heard of Lime and Coral one of them had been destroyed in the monster truck show and the other had the fiberglass bodies removed so the metal could be scrapped. Someone was selling half of those bodies on eBay and claimed they were going to restore the other half. So other than Car 1 of Red and a cab from Blue that Disney still owns that's it.

It bothers me that they used the wrong form of "they're".

 

[nace888]

I wonder if given the opportunity, what are the chances that Lockheed Martin would make new monorail trains? After all, Martin Marietta has since become Lockheed Martin...

 

[GCTales]

OK, sure... I know about preventive maintenance so I ask you. Are you confident that what has gone wrong was on the list? Are you confident that PM has not been done? Are you confident that the parts that may have broken were not unanticipated things that will on occasion happen. Are you confident that they could have kept them this dependable over the past 30 years without exercising some serious PM? I don't know or remember what it was, but, I remember seeing something a while back they had some pretty high up time. I am indeed skeptical about a 99% up time. That is more like divine intervention.

The medical equipment that I dealt with was required to have a minimum uptime of over 99%. They used the MTBF times to plan monthly maintenance and proactively replaced parts before they were scheduled to fail. It was life critical equipment, so having it fail is not an option.

Going by memory (and this was 10+ years ago), the Disney rides we built (different department) had a required up-time of somewhere over 90%. I know some of the Disney maintenance guys were on-site at the factory during construction to have a better idea of how things went together and nuances of the equipment from the guys who built them.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The medical equipment that I dealt with was required to have a minimum uptime of over 99%. They used the MTBF times to plan monthly maintenance and proactively replaced parts before they were scheduled to fail. It was life critical equipment, so having it fail is not an option.

Going by memory (and this was 10+ years ago), the Disney rides we built (different department) had a required up-time of somewhere over 90%. I know some of the Disney maintenance guys were on-site at the factory during construction to have a better idea of how things went together and nuances of the equipment from the guys who built them.

I can understand that, however, comparing medical equipment to a monorail is quite a stretch. I remember reading someplace that the transportation department at Disney was maintaining a 80% to 85% up time. That was a while ago, that I read that, but, I don't think it is very far off.

 

[Jonathan Wang]

I agree, however, there is a certain element of mechanical things that prevents any ability to always be perfect in every way. They are moving parts, governed by usage, sensors and general wear. There is no sign that comes up and says this or that is about to break, they just randomly break. I have been around brand new things that break with more frequency then the old, established machines. In most situations there is no human that can look at a part and say... that looks like it is going to break any minute.

That stuff just happens and the idea that now, as you said, social media will report things 10 seconds after they happened does not in any universe mean that it didn't happen before. So, bottom line, in my mind is that keeping them running is indeed keeping up with things. It doesn't mean throwing money down the drain guessing what is going to break next. I have said before and I will say it again... after all these years it would be impossible to think that every drive train part on those trains hasn't been replaced at some point. So the only part of the trains that are that old would actually be the cabins. There is an old saying... if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That is tried and true. And based on my experience those years ago were experiencing the same problems that currently exist except now unreasonable demands coupled with social media make it sound disastrous. To me it's like saying "they had a flat tire" Why didn't they change it before it went flat? Why? Because before it went flat it didn't need to be changed. Unpredictable things happen every day of our lives.

There is actually a science to preventative maintenance. There is a whole study of QC that focuses on it.

Whenever the company I worked for did work for the government (and, relevant to this, built several rides for Disney), part of the contract was a complete preventative maintenance plan that included MTBF (mean time between failure) and MTTR (mean time to repair) figures for every single part. Proactive preventative maintenance plans were designed so that you replaced a part before the MTBF says it should fail.

You won't catch every single part, very rarely a part will fail before the MTBF says it should, but a properly designed PM plan should catch the vast majority of them (we averaged an uptime of over 99%).

unfortunately I have to disagree with the if it aint broke don't fix it, that's why you see people broken down on the side of the road with their cars, I replace my parts when the manual states to replace, that includes sensors/waterpumps/belts/balljoints/bushings/spark plugs etc.

honestly its the same with the monorails especially when you're using it for mass transit, things are going to get worn out, just replace when the manual states to (even tho now its too late since they are way past service life), at this point it would mean replacing all sensors joints etc.

also a human can look at something and determine that its going to break, thats how they repair most planes that you fly on, they are carefully scoping the plane for stress fractures, dents, overextended wires/metal lines. thats how they keep you safe while flying. when a plane goes into maintenance it goes for at least a month to do a full checkup on the motors the wings the computers and the body.

gctales i would assume that the monorails got the same QC guidelines but now that they are so old its not within the scope, and i bet no upper management cared enough.

 

[TOCPE82]

Where are those Monorail trains in Vegas? I would LOVE to go see those....

 

[Goofyernmost]

unfortunately I have to disagree with the if it aint broke don't fix it, that's why you see people broken down on the side of the road with their cars, I replace my parts when the manual states to replace, that includes sensors/waterpumps/belts/balljoints/bushings/spark plugs etc.

honestly its the same with the monorails especially when you're using it for mass transit, things are going to get worn out, just replace when the manual states to (even tho now its too late since they are way past service life), at this point it would mean replacing all sensors joints etc.

also a human can look at something and determine that its going to break, thats how they repair most planes that you fly on, they are carefully scoping the plane for stress fractures, dents, overextended wires/metal lines. thats how they keep you safe while flying. when a plane goes into maintenance it goes for at least a month to do a full checkup on the motors the wings the computers and the body.

gctales i would assume that the monorails got the same QC guidelines but now that they are so old its not within the scope, and i bet no upper management cared enough.

I agree, but, I also feel very strongly that whatever needs to be done along that line is being done. I cannot image those things still smoothly running on that rail all these years if it hadn't been done. The idea that maintenance is lacking is a fan prediction based on the idea that budget cuts instantly mean that the let that part go. That is what I am saying. I completely agree that others don't see it that way, but, my sense of logic tells me that belief is incorrect. We will never know, but, I guess it is soothing to think the now that we are hearing about more problems that the scape goat will end up being Disney cut the budget. They may have, but, that doesn't mean that things aren't being done the way they are supposed to be. Large numbers of humans in and of itself does not guarantee that things are being let go.

 

[Jonathan Wang]

I agree, but, I also feel very strongly that whatever needs to be done along that line is being done. I cannot image those things still smoothly running on that rail all these years if it hadn't been done. The idea that maintenance is lacking is a fan prediction based on the idea that budget cuts instantly mean that the let that part go. That is what I am saying. I completely agree that others don't see it that way, but, my sense of logic tells me that belief is incorrect. We will never know, but, I guess it is soothing to think the now that we are hearing about more problems that the scape goat will end up being Disney cut the budget. They may have, but, that doesn't mean that things aren't being done the way they are supposed to be. Large numbers of humans in and of itself does not guarantee that things are being let go.

I mean it was proven they were cut budget, just from lack of hours given to the employees, when shanghai disney went up, it was very common for many cast members to say they were shanghaied.

lets put it this way, less hours per shifts = less people there / less time to work on monorails. Just because they didnt cut the budget on parts on the monorails wouldnt mean they were still able to finish things up like they should. These extended park hours im sure are putting another toll on repairs and maintenance.

I think I remember originally as a kid the MK rarely went past 11pm, now I see MK regularly going to 12-1am during peak season. Those 2 hours can affect alot of repair time. and now to take them off the lines they have to use the diesel tow rig, im sure that slows the process down even more

 

[nace888]

Speaking on the other systems, does anyone know what kind of signaling Disneyland uses on their system, and what kind of automation is used on the Tokyo DL system?

 

[monothingie]

I mean it was proven they were cut budget, just from lack of hours given to the employees, when shanghai disney went up, it was very common for many cast members to say they were shanghaied.

lets put it this way, less hours per shifts = less people there / less time to work on monorails. Just because they didnt cut the budget on parts on the monorails wouldnt mean they were still able to finish things up like they should. These extended park hours im sure are putting another toll on repairs and maintenance.

I think I remember originally as a kid the MK rarely went past 11pm, now I see MK regularly going to 12-1am during peak season. Those 2 hours can affect alot of repair time. and now to take them off the lines they have to use the diesel tow rig, im sure that slows the process down even more

Disney cut monorail hours substantially in the late 2000’s to very limited hours because they had been running the trains ragged.
In their defense, since those service rollbacks they’ve been able to expand service to the point where they can get trains into cleanup but still maintain limited service for guests.

 

[Lightster]

Be sure to check out their new carpet replacement method. After all why replace the whole thing when only one tiny part was damaged.
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They couldn’t even get the pattern correct.

 

[Goofyernmost]

They couldn’t even get the pattern correct.

That looks a whole lot more like photo shopped then actual. What are all those lines around the patch and I don't remember those carpets as ever being that dark a blue.

 

[WEDwaydatamover]

That looks a whole lot more like photo shopped then actual. What are all those lines around the patch and I don't remember those carpets as ever being that dark a blue.

I don't think it's photoshopped and I agree its darker. I don't think it's actual carpet, it's more like a strong felt material that can be printed on demand.

 

[Jonathan Wang]

Speaking on the other systems, does anyone know what kind of signaling Disneyland uses on their system, and what kind of automation is used on the Tokyo DL system?

if i remember correctly Tokyo monorail is run by the city and not from the company that runs disney. but their monorail is using the same automation as what they do on their normal lines i believe. I didnt ride the monorail there when i was there in 2017 but i saw it, not that impressive.

plus you had to pay for it

 

[s8film40]

That looks a whole lot more like photo shopped then actual. What are all those lines around the patch and I don't remember those carpets as ever being that dark a blue.

If I were going to photoshop something I could’ve done something far more interesting and extreme than a patch of carpet. I only took the photo because I noticed it and thought it was funny they only replaced the small patch rather than the whole thing. If I had looked at the carpet I would’ve like you thought it hadn’t faded that much. It’s only with a direct comparison that the difference is so visible.

 

[Figment2005]

That looks a whole lot more like photo shopped then actual. What are all those lines around the patch and I don't remember those carpets as ever being that dark a blue.

Sadly it isn't photoshopped, but I'm not sure why they didn't just replace the whole thing. Do we know the train color?

 

[lazyboy97o]

if i remember correctly Tokyo monorail is run by the city and not from the company that runs disney. but their monorail is using the same automation as what they do on their normal lines i believe. I didnt ride the monorail there when i was there in 2017 but i saw it, not that impressive.

plus you had to pay for it

It’s not operated by the city but is considered public transportation.

 

[jaxonp]

if i remember correctly Tokyo monorail is run by the city and not from the company that runs disney. but their monorail is using the same automation as what they do on their normal lines i believe. I didnt ride the monorail there when i was there in 2017 but i saw it, not that impressive.

plus you had to pay for it

It's far more impressive. It's fast, it holds way more people, doesn't routinely breakdown and it doesn't smell. It costs about 2 bucks to ride around but you can get an even cheap 2 or 3 day pass. Let's just say that the monorail should be free at WDW who is charging over $115 bucks to walk through the gate. Tokyo Disney tickets are about $65 bucks for a better product. Yep I'll gladly pay that $2 bucks.