May 1, 2009
C'MON A MY HOUSE (SELF-REFERENCE ALERT):
One Rail to Rule Them All: In the backyard of a suburban home in Fremont, California, is the Niles Monorail. It has one stop: the house of Kim Pedersen, lifelong monorail fanatic and founder of The Monorail Society. (Interview by Derek Powazek, Fray)
When did you see your first monorail?It was 1959 when Walt Disney first showcased his monorail on the Disneyland TV show. I never missed the show. I was seven years old. I just loved the futuristic rocket ship look of it that Bob Gurr had come up with, and at the same time I was mystified as to how that big train clung onto the narrow beam.
How did the Niles Monorail come to be?
I wanted to build a backyard monorail as far back as 1969. I still have a sketch I presented to my dad to run a hand-cranked monorail down the side of our Bakersfield home and into the backyard. He turned the project down, which is probably a good thing, because my design had some serious flaws. Flash forward to 1989, when I became even more enthusiastic over monorails and founded The Monorail Society, and the idea popped back into my head. This time it was my own house, and I only needed approval from my understanding wife.
What is it about monorails that inspires you?
The monorail is the most misunderstood and underutilized form of transportation on the planet. Disney didn’t intend to typecast monorails as theme park rides, but that’s how it turned out, at least in the USA. Thankfully other countries see the value of monorails and are building more of them. They are quick to build, use far less construction material than other grade-separate rail systems, they don’t block out the sky like elevated heavy or light rail, they are incredibly safe, and no other rail system can touch monorail when it comes to reliability and low cost to operate. Oh, and did I mention: they’re hecko cool and sexy!
Just violated the Tim Zone Rule for the first time in ten years and got to take the streetcar to a Diamondbacks game. But Las Vegas was so repulsive we didn't get out to try the monorail. Someone needs to invent a reverse neutron bomb to take care of that place.
 |
| From ojbryce |