Monorail trains: why were they better than ordinary trains and why didn’t they gain popularity? (4 photos)

The first idea to create a railway with one rail came to head to Ivan Elmanov. It was he who in the 19th century created the project “the road to pillars."





Brennan Monorail

For a long time, Ivan tried to get funding, but all his attempts were unsuccessful. After Elmanov for the idea of monorail trains were taken by designers from other countries, some of them even it turned out to create a train that traveled along one rail. But why needed such a train? And how did he work?

First single rail train

The first monorail railway was built in England. It was used only for military purposes, for the transport of goods. Later, almost simultaneously in 1907, their train prototypes provided two designers from different countries. One was August Sherl from Germany. The other was Louis Brennan from the UK. The latter managed not only to create a prototype, but also to design a full-fledged wagon that could carry up to 50 people at the same time.



Brennan Monorail with passengers

How did the monolane train work?

In order for the train to keep its balance and not fall on its side, it was invented to use gyroscopes. They were placed in a special branch, and were constantly on the move. Two gyroscopes were spinning in different sides, and thus ensured the stable position of the train. Due to their incessant movement, the car could not only roll along railroad, but also to stand still without falling down.





The interior of the locomotive

Why monorail trains?

The designers who worked on the development of the monorail trains were sure that he would replace the old ones, which were with two rails. The new train had to be almost unlimited in speed due to less friction force. Also, such transport was profitable financially and in practical terms: less material was spent on the train itself, it weighed less, and it required 2 times less rails. Besides he was very agile.



Locomotive on a winding road

Louis Brennan for the demonstration of the train, specially made winding road with sharp turns. And the transport coped with it on hooray. Unlike a regular train, the monorail could go through curves. smaller radius.

What was the disadvantage

Despite all the positive aspects of the single-rail train, He had one huge downside. On a regular train during a stop it was possible to turn off the engine, and on a single-rail gyroscopes had to spin constantly. Of course he had safety stops on case of breakage, but it was completely inconvenient to use them. Besides, it took too much to start the stalled gyroscopes time.