Attention all monorail personnel!

[Zazu]

My doctor here in Celebration drove a monorail when he first moved down here. Now he was a monorail step-up around his office...very cool. I love having a monorail pilot for my doc...only in Celebration!

Celebration isn't the only place. I have a dentist in Orlando who's a former Jungle Cruise pilot, with his office decorated in a nautical theme.

No Junior Jungle Cruise Boats in a fish tank though...

... yet.

[felinefan]

Thank goodness nobody was killed or seriously hurt. Why couldn't the people in the burning car simply move forward to get away from the fire? Besiides the fact most people tend not to be able to think rationally when their lives are at stake. Was there a barrier between the cars? I haven't been on the monorails in at least 30 years, so I don't remember.

[mechurchlady]

you are thinking of a subway where cars allow guests to go from the front to the rear. All Disney monorails are individual cars that can are individual and there is no way to move from car to car. There is a cab in from and back plus the cars. Cabs can go in either direction from either end.

The cars are like a big bus with a couple sliding doors on one or both sides depending on the park. At the time of the Silver fire there was no ADA rules in place and no real safety plans in place either. The doors are kept locked shut by air pressure that a CM must release manually. The roof at that time was solid and had no escape hatches. There was no rope ladders either. Basically in the old days if the monorail stopped you waited for a CM to open the door and let you out or break the windows and drop to the ground below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disne ... ail_System
That basically explains the current design and how they can evac a monorail. Since the fire new models are designed so that the ends act as firewalls. Guests can climb out the hatch then down the side to go forward or backward away from the fire. There are now fire detection systems and practice drills.

[Shorty82]

Thank goodness nobody was killed or seriously hurt. Why couldn't the people in the burning car simply move forward to get away from the fire? Besiides the fact most people tend not to be able to think rationally when their lives are at stake. Was there a barrier between the cars? I haven't been on the monorails in at least 30 years, so I don't remember.

The cars are not connected on the inside. I don't know about the old Mark IVs but I'm thinking they were like the Mark VIs we use today in that the drive wheels, power inverters, and a bunch of other things are between the cars making it impossible to connect the interior of the cars. In the event of a fire in a car on the Mark VIs what the guests will do is exit the car via the roof hatches and enter the next car through it's roof hatches.

On the Mark VIs the barriers between the cars are fully fire rated and will stop a fire from spreading from one car to another or stop a fire that starts between the cars from spreading into the cars. What the big problem was with the Mark IV Silver fire is that the trains weren't designed with fire and other emergencies in mind like they should have been and didn't have emergency escape routes. The Mark VIs were designed with the lessons from that fire in mind. Fire proofing was put in everywhere, escape hatches were put in the ceilings, escape windows were put into the sides, there are ways of releasing the doors in an emergency if the automatic openers fail (in the event of an emergency occurring on a platform or if Reedy Creek FD is right there with a ladder), and temperature, fire, tire pressure, and bunch of other sensors were installed. All cars have an intercom phone that is connected to the cab and a fire extinguisher on both ends of the car so emergencies can be reported to the pilot and a fire that breaks out in a car itself (extremely unlikely) can contained before it has a chance to spread.

[mechurchlady]

All cars have an intercom phone that is connected to the cab and a fire extinguisher on both ends of the car so emergencies can be reported to the pilot and a fire that breaks out in a car itself (extremely unlikely) can contained before it has a chance to spread.

Oooh, bad boy, what you gonna do when the SGs come for you? Now you have triple dog dared SGs to burn up some monorails.

Here is what happens if there is a fire on a monorail.
:monotoss:

This will then be followed by a herd of newmen standing at the back of the monorail yelling JUMP, LOOK THIS WAY, and SMILE FOR THE CAMERA. That is of course our beloved driver being the last person off the monorail.

[Big Wallaby]

Ok, I want to make sure I am understanding you correctly. Are you saying it was Gold that burned? Because after reading THIS I decided to see if that person was correct, soI called myself and asked a CM in the shop and they said the same thing. It was Silver, not Gold that burned.

Silver burned, but they took the car from Gold because it hadn't been put on yet. Change the stripe, you have a new car for Silver.

Las Vegas = driverless??

They are. Sucks, huh?

I think that it's because Silver already had 6 cars (before Gold got its 6th?), and the extra car that would have gone to gold was used to replace one on Silver??

Yep.

Thank goodness nobody was killed or seriously hurt. Why couldn't the people in the burning car simply move forward to get away from the fire? Besiides the fact most people tend not to be able to think rationally when their lives are at stake. Was there a barrier between the cars? I haven't been on the monorails in at least 30 years, so I don't remember.

Back then, there were no hatches to move on the roof from car to car. Today, you could do that, and fire is probably the only reason you'd be able to get people to go through the roof hatches from car to car. Once in that other car, you would be very, very safe from the fire, as Shorty states below.

The doors are kept locked shut by air pressure that a CM must release manually.

Yes and no. Along with the air pressure, there is an actual locking mechanism. For that reason, if you lean against the doors on the Monorail it will show the pilot that the door you're leaning on is open, though it is locked shut. If you don't stop leaning on the door, then we have to follow some procedures that will slow down your getting from point to point. Very inconvenient.

Now, there is a way to open the doors from the inside, but I am not going to say where that is or how you do it. Suffice it to say you have to be a firefighter or rescue unit to access it. Once you are in the car, you are safely locked in. And with all the passive fire safety systems on board, you are completely safe in any car. It would take something much worse than a fire to make a fire bad enough to threaten your safety occur.

As I tell my guests in the front cab, there are very few places safer than on board a Disney Monorail. I would have to imagine you're statistically safer than standing on the ground.

[Monorail_Red]

Yes and no. Along with the air pressure, there is an actual locking mechanism. For that reason, if you lean against the doors on the Monorail it will show the pilot that the door you're leaning on is open, though it is locked shut. If you don't stop leaning on the door, then we have to follow some procedures that will slow down your getting from point to point. Very inconvenient.

Actually read about a few times when the doors on the Mark IV's would pop open out of the station. More specifically car 5 Mark IV Blue on Lagoon, all doors opening at 95. No guests on board tho. Then the train would have to go into the station slowly while each door was slammed shut since for closing, it was all done by hand.

[hobie16]

No Junior Jungle Cruise Boats in a fish tank though...

... yet.

You should sneak one in.

[Doctor McKey]

I would like a good straight on clear photo of the control screen please.
Thanks

Hope this helps...



as far as the track layouts.. here ya go!!

Ok, I want to make sure I am understanding you correctly. Are you saying it was Gold that burned? Because after reading… I decided to see if that person was correct, soI called myself and asked a CM in the shop and they said the same thing. It was Silver, not Gold that burned.

What concerns me that is a non CM was able to call the shop and get that information. Information like that is public knowledge but has to be issues via community information and relations peoples.... I wounder if I call shop if they will tell me something like how to turn the automated dispatch system... for those of you that do not know, one of the monorails is designed to be compleatly automated. It was put into test trials to automate the send to shop or bring from shop and also to operate under driverless conditions.... the only thing that comes to mind when i think of this is that really bad movie called stealth... IMDB it for more information.

4) Who is the gentlemen that does the new (current) spiels?
Dont know the name but he lives about 30 miles from the park in Davenport
5) Beacon light colors? Resort? Express? Epcot?
Green - Express
Red - EPCOT
Amber - Resort
7) How many volts does a train pick up from the Buss Bar?
No true answer, We use 600 vdc, but can pick up to 2000 vdc per the computers OBC
8) What is the "Deadman" and what will happen if a driver is unable to hold it in position for 3 seconds?
I test this one alot... by testing i mean.... hehehehe
9) A train can be driven from either end. From what cabs are trains driven out of based on the beam? Resort? Express & Epcot?
Depends on who is in the Central Tower.... they can have us come either way
10) 10-51[/QUOTE]

[Doctor McKey]

I just noticed something about the screen capture that I found via google images....... They have a red smart tire warning.....


BW... are we sure that this is black and not silver??


The Doctor