Monorail Refurbishment

[HalfwayCorrected]

Monorail has 4 out of 9 (8 if you don't count daisy) left that work so it'll struggle to get 1000pph through, unless they've managed to bodge some more back into life over winter. It's impossible to get parts for anymore so it's either walk or wait and I don't think they know what to do with it at the moment.

 

[rob666]

Parts can be re engineered by local light commercial companies.
Parts can be made, engines can be rewound or replaced.
What is lacking is the desire to actually do it, it can all be done at reasonable cost.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Parts can be re engineered by local light commercial companies.
Parts can be made, engines can be rewound or replaced.
What is lacking is the desire to actually do it, it can all be done at reasonable cost.

A very British way of doing things of so call amateurs inside garage sheds making better things than that of so called major companies. An example of this from the railway preservation movement was the restoration of the Duke of Gloucester locomotive in which in British Rail days they couldn't seem to find out what was wrong with it and yet these volunteers who had none of the last financial backing of BR actually not only found the problem but did a far better job with than what BR ever did was is honestly embarrassing the more you think about it.

If there was a real desire by determined souls who want the Monorail to be brought back to its former glory, could ask Merlin to take the trains for them and restore them in someone's garage outside Stoke! Then again if this happened and those guys working in a garage did far more for the Monorail than what Merlin has done for it for all these years it would make them look like utter buffoons, not that they already were depending on who you ask.

Moral of the story is that sometimes you can't rely on others and have to do things yourself. As a railway volunteer myself I know this all too well.

 

[Poisson]

Doppelmayr bought Von Roll. I wouldn't be so sure they can't get parts

 

[Josh]

Monorail has 4 out of 9 (8 if you don't count daisy) left that work so it'll struggle to get 1000pph through, unless they've managed to bodge some more back into life over winter. It's impossible to get parts for anymore so it's either walk or wait and I don't think they know what to do with it at the moment.

Even on 3 trains it can get over 1000 an hour. I think a lot of people don't realise that you can fit about 100 people on each train. Takes around 12 mins for one train to complete a lap so every 12 mins 3 trains will pass through the station.

60 mins ÷ 12 = 5
5 × 3 trains = 15 dispatches an hour
15 × 100 riders = 1,500 pph on 3 trains.

That is assuming that the trains are filled to capacity though.

 

[Matt N]

Even on 3 trains it can get over 1000 an hour. I think a lot of people don't realise that you can fit about 100 people on each train. Takes around 12 mins for one train to complete a lap so every 12 mins 3 trains will pass through the station.

60 mins ÷ 12 = 5
5 × 3 trains = 15 dispatches an hour
15 × 100 riders = 1,500 pph on 3 trains.

That is assuming that the trains are filled to capacity though.

If you extrapolate that formula for the ride’s full theoretical throughput of 4,100pph, that assumes that it had 8 or 9 trains when it first opened… has the capacity really fallen that much on the Monorail?

Also, is it 12 minutes for the train to go from one station back to the same station (so for instance, if the train went from the car park station all the way back to the car park station)? Or is it 12 minutes for the train to go from one station to the other station (so for instance, if the train went from the car park station to the Towers Street station)?

If it’s the former, does that time take into account the park time in the other station, or does it just assume a continuous run through there without parking?

 

[AT86]

If you extrapolate that formula for the ride’s full theoretical throughput of 4,100pph, that assumes that it had 8 or 9 trains when it first opened… has the capacity really fallen that much on the Monorail?

The monorail had 9 trains when it opened, they lost one (the Daisy train) and still have 8, but as per other posts in this thread apparently they don’t all work.

 

[rob666]

Has the capacity dropped that much...oh yes it has.
It used to have a ten minute queue on a busy day...that meant all the way down to the bottom of the ramp...and the slow constant shuffle to the top took ten minutes.
Train came in, quickly filled up, go out, next train pulls right in behind.

 

[John]

I'd wondered for a while how many of the non-crashed trains are actually still in service. I use the monorail so rarely that I've never really paid much attention to which trains are on it and though I have noticed some trains seem to be used regularly I couldn't say for certain there are any I haven't seen used at all.

However you look at it, the whole thing is a complete mess these days. It's been nearly dead for years but it seems they neither want to kill it off completely nor spend the money required to properly fix it

 

[Josh]

If you extrapolate that formula for the ride’s full theoretical throughput of 4,100pph, that assumes that it had 8 or 9 trains when it first opened… has the capacity really fallen that much on the Monorail?

Also, is it 12 minutes for the train to go from one station back to the same station (so for instance, if the train went from the car park station all the way back to the car park station)? Or is it 12 minutes for the train to go from one station to the other station (so for instance, if the train went from the car park station to the Towers Street station)?

If it’s the former, does that time take into account the park time in the other station, or does it just assume a continuous run through there without parking?

It's 12 mins from one station to the same station, so a full lap of the system, including stationary time whilst they faff with loading/offloading the platform.

The old way of pre-loading the platform before the train arrived meant a train could complete a full circuit in less than 10 mins, which is why back in the day running 7 trains it could easily achieve 4,100 pph without breaking a sweat. As others have said this is why in the 90's/early 00's it never had a queue longer than 5-10 mins, even if it started outside the station.

There's no way it could run 7 trains now with the faffy loading procedure, even on 5 trains you end up with 1 or 2 trains stacking outside the stations for a good while

It actually had 8 trains when it first opened, and two more were purchased a couple of years later to bring the total to 10. Over the years through crashes and poor maintenance though there really aren't many left.

 

[rob666]

If there was a hold up in the station you could end up two more trains queueing to get in!

 

[Matt N]

How long do we reckon the peak monorail queues tend to be these days?

I don’t take the monorail much at all nowadays (the main occasion would be to leave the park relatively early in the afternoon, which we often do on the 2nd day of a 2 day break), so I don’t really have much of an idea of the present queue times.

 

[Zeock]

How long do we reckon the peak monorail queues tend to be these days?

I don’t take the monorail much at all nowadays (the main occasion would be to leave the park relatively early in the afternoon, which we often do on the 2nd day of a 2 day break), so I don’t really have much of an idea of the present queue times.

I've experienced over a half an hour wait for the monorail.

 

[Skyscraper]

I've experienced over a half an hour wait for the monorail.

Crikey, in that time you could walk there and back 6 times (15 mins each way)!

 

[Matt N]

Crikey, in that time you could walk there and back 6 times (15 mins each way)!

If the wait was half an hour, wouldn’t it be only once if each direction took 15 minutes?

Or am I misinterpreting you here?

 

[Skyscraper]

If the wait was half an hour, wouldn’t it be only once if each direction took 15 minutes?

Or am I misinterpreting you here?

Ah wait, I misinterpreted what @zeock said. I had an hour and a half in my head for some reason. My bad lol.

 

[djtruefitt]

I’m sure most of the trains are used, but of course you’ll only see 3 or 4 running at once. But again it’s not something I pay too much attention to as I often just walk. Although I’m not sure I’ve seen the celebration or strawberry run in while?

Anyway here’s an update from today, seems they might need to find a ladder to finish the monorail station off.

 

[AT86]

I’m sure most of the trains are used, but of course you’ll only see 3 or 4 running at once. But again it’s not something I pay too much attention to as I often just walk. Although I’m not sure I’ve seen the celebration or strawberry run in while?

Anyway here’s an update from today, seems they might need to find a ladder to finish the monorail station off.

Maybe they were waiting for the B&Q January sale to purchase the next lot of paint.

 

[Skyscraper]

From the TS Facebook page, more of the car park monorail station has been painted;


From: https://twitter.com/TowersStreet/status/1619340657558011905?t=LUfh4_7Vz9V6fL4LyUO0aA&s=19

 

[AT86]

From the TS Facebook page, more of the car park monorail station has been painted;


From: https://twitter.com/TowersStreet/status/1619340657558011905?t=LUfh4_7Vz9V6fL4LyUO0aA&s=19

I actually don’t mind the colour and think once the leaves come on the trees it will look quite good next to the green.

However, I take it they are going to just slop paint over the wood at the top that is clearly knackered and should be replaced?