Train instead of Monorail

Gorjus

Gorjus

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Would it be possible to connect the hotels to the parks via railway rather than a monorail? I understand the vast cost per mile of a monorail but I imagine laying down tracks in the ground would be cheaper. Would it be cheaper to have a train ( it could be amtrak style or WDW style ) connect the remaining hotels not attached to the monorail to 1 or 2 hubs (TTC and a second one for MGM & Animal Kingdom) or directly to the parks?
 
C

cloudboy

Well-Known Member
You would be talking light rail, although perhaps somethig a little heavier. But the cost difference really isn't that much. It's more complicated than just lying rail down - you have to stabilize the ground, build up a rail bed, in rails case deal with briges over roadways, keep the rails aligned, provide power in a safe manner. Monorails really are not that complicated - they are at heart a rubber tired bus that simply travels on a thin beam instead of a road.

Keep in mind a new road requires all that ground work as well.
 
Slowjack

Slowjack

Well-Known Member
At one point early in its history, there were rumors that the Wilderness Lodge would be connected to the MK via a steam train. I don't know how serious that was.
 
CoffeeJedi

CoffeeJedi

Active Member
I've heard that about the steam train too. There actually used to be a narrow-guage steam railroad at Ft. Wilderness, i'm not entirely sure where it actually went though, i don't believe that it went as far as the MK.
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Possible yes ,but as with anything it comes with its own set of problems. If you lay the track on the ground ,which would be the most cost effective solution, you run into the issue of railroad crossings and/or building overpasses. A light rail system still has one of the same problems that the monorail has which in it is frailly inflexible. If a train breaks down the whole line has the potential of breaking down.

What I would love to see is a more advanced version of the TTA. Make covered pods that hold 4-6 people with a push button control panel. Press the Epcot button and your pod goes to Epcot. Each stop has a loading dock that holds "X" amount of cars. When a pod arrives it goes to the loading dock guests unload and it stands ready for the next guest to get on and be whisked away.
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
CoffeeJedi said:
I've heard that about the steam train too. There actually used to be a narrow-guage steam railroad at Ft. Wilderness, i'm not entirely sure where it actually went though, i don't believe that it went as far as the MK.
Click to expand...
The Ft Wilderness train ran from 1973 to 1977 and basically transported guests around the camp ground. The total track length was about only about 3-1/2 miles. Some of the old cars were converted into the ticket booths at PI. There are a couple of short sections of track left and several section of just railroad ties still in the ground. Rumor has it that a Florida zoo was given permission to remove the track to use for their own train system.

The reason I have heard for its demise was a number of structural problems with the track. Due to the very soft soil it was built on the tracks began to move and eventually the trains were no longer to pass over it without a pretty high risk of derailing.
 
landauh

landauh

Active Member
Master Yoda said:
The reason I have heard for its demise was a number of structural problems with the track. Due to the very soft soil it was built on the tracks began to move and eventually the trains were no longer to pass over it without a pretty high risk of derailing.
Click to expand...

This is correct as well as the issue that the tenders had a very small capacity and needed filling, with water, often causing riders to wait for long periods of time. The track problems mentioned caused many derailments, shutting the rail line down often.
 
Gorjus

Gorjus

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Darn!!! :confused:

I thought perhaps a choo choo would be a less expensive and quaint way to solve the "expand the monorail" issue. :brick:

seriously (sp?) ... really, I thought it was an option. Since it isn't, let's have some fun:

I can see we will have to go to a more drastic measure.

OK: Stargates at each hotel resort and at each park. A cast member, every 15 minutes, dials a different park from each resort. All guests heading to that park, line up in the queue and are transported to their destination. The process is reversed in the evening, ... and adjusted through the day. :lookaroun :lookaroun :lookaroun

Can I just say no emissions of whatever environmentalists don't like.:D

Severely reduced wait times!:D

I'm just sayin':drevil:

Gorjus
ok, no more tequila during the day
 
Hakunamatata

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
They could use Monsters Inc. door technology. Have a control panel on the wall next to the door in your resort room. Punch where you want to go, open the door, and BAMO, you are at the entrance to the park you wanted to go to.

:D
 
MeTa

MeTa

Member
Gorjus said:
Would it be possible to connect the hotels to the parks via railway rather than a monorail? I understand the vast cost per mile of a monorail but I imagine laying down tracks in the ground would be cheaper. Would it be cheaper to have a train ( it could be amtrak style or WDW style ) connect the remaining hotels not attached to the monorail to 1 or 2 hubs (TTC and a second one for MGM & Animal Kingdom) or directly to the parks?
Click to expand...

Cool idea, it would be nice to have another alternative way of travel to and from the parks to your hotel. A change of scenery. I like it.:wave:
 
NASAMan

NASAMan

Member
Master Yoda said:
The Ft Wilderness train ran from 1973 to 1977 and basically transported guests around the camp ground. The total track length was about only about 3-1/2 miles. Some of the old cars were converted into the ticket booths at PI. There are a couple of short sections of track left and several section of just railroad ties still in the ground. Rumor has it that a Florida zoo was given permission to remove the track to use for their own train system.
Click to expand...

The track, and IIRC the engine and other rolling stock are at the Brevard Zoo on Florida's beautiful Space Coast! Anybody have a confirmation?

Yoda, I've long thought that the People Mover technology should be enhanced, run between the new hotels and parks, and then offered to cities as a rapid transit system - the sale of this system could pay for the 'prototype' at the park. I cringe everytime somebody tries to speak for Walt, but if you look at his plans for EPCOT (acronym), the plan was to link homes to the central hub with a PM system. Develop a way of laying a route quickly and cheaply, perhaps even on an existing roadbed, and then have cabs (as mentioned above) that are on demand and elevator easy (get in - 5 or 6 people max, and press a button for your destination) and they could have a winner.
 
Timothy Q Mouse

Timothy Q Mouse

Member
Maybe each resort hotel should have it's own themed transportation...

Contemporary.... Peoplemover
Polynesian.... Catamaran
Pop Century.... a fleet of Duesenbergs
Animal Kingdom Lodge.... Elephants
Wilderness Lodge.... Stagecoach

:lookaroun
 

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