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Monorail Refurbishment

Josh said:
Fun fact, when the Monorail operated at Expo86 in Canada it was fully automated. They retrofitted it to require drivers when it moved to Towers.
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When it operates... it does drive 95% autonomously at Towers. The driver just selects the destination station (be it A, B or maintenance stop) and that is it. The driver always has an e-stop button available and does have to operate the doors (or just drivers cab door if stopping at maintenance). This is normal operation.

Obviously when taking trains on / off the system this is totally manual, as I am sure it would have been in Canada.
 
Using Disney as a benchmark, as has been done a few times in this thread, shouldn't be an excuse to undertake the single biggest resort-wide downgrade project the park has ever embarked on. It's a testament to how low expectations have sunk that we all (sadly, me included) have subscribed to the inevitable truth that they'll bin the monorail off one day. But I don't think we need to make the excuses that Disney operate dull land trains and buses to justify its removal (the same Disney that do still operate monorails, boats and cable car systems as transportation around their resorts by the way).

Disney's centerpieces are made of Fibreglass and they don't have B&M's roaring around big pits either. What's wrong with Alton Towers being Alton Towers? Although it's in a terrible state right now, the monorail has been an integral part of what makes the Alton Towers experience what it is since the 1980's. Even if the laughable operations mean you can't really access it to ride it anymore, you know it's there as it breezes above the main entrance, past Alton Manor and above Nemesis. It's so much more than just a way of getting from the car park to the main entrance.
 
Kraken27 said:
When it operates... it does drive 95% autonomously at Towers. The driver just selects the destination station (be it A, B or maintenance stop) and that is it. The driver always has an e-stop button available and does have to operate the doors (or just drivers cab door if stopping at maintenance). This is normal operation.
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Yes I understand it does run in automatic during normal operation, the drivers are only there just in case something happens. I was more meaning that in Canada it operated with no staff on the trains at all. Even the doors opened automatically on arrival in each station.

Also there is no way to stop at the maintenance area in automatic mode (aside from hitting the e-stop as you pass by), the trains are driven in manual to stop at maintenance, same as when adding or removing trains.
 
Have the park been working on the monorail trains, perhaps on a rolling basis? From this shot from YouTube video from 'The Vanlife Adventures' filmed earlier this month you can clearly see that some of the train roofs appear much newer/cleaner than others. The difference in colour looks more like they have had a new coating/replacement than just a wash, but I am no expert.

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Video link
 
I thought that. One thing I cannot understand is why on earth have they not built a lean-to style roof over those sidings to protect the trains over winter? Over the course of the life (so far) of the monorail, it really would've paid off and I bet if it was built within a few years of installing the monorail, the trains would be nowhere near as bad a condition as they are now. Just something like this would work (but obviously on a much, much larger and industrial scale, but you get the idea!)

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Steve74 said:
I thought that. One thing I cannot understand is why on earth have they not built a lean-to style roof over those sidings to protect the trains over winter? Over the course of the life (so far) of the monorail, it really would've paid off and I bet if it was built within a few years of installing the monorail, the trains would be nowhere near as bad a condition as they are now. Just something like this would work (but obviously on a much, much larger and industrial scale, but you get the idea!)

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Common sense
 
I think you are all making it way to complicated or big. They just need to install gates on the platforms to improve capacity and order new trains. Intamin or CWA (Doppelmayr company) or Svern Lamb (or other themepark monorail supplier) can deliver new trains. For sure they do not need order that many of them as they have now. I think that usually 4 of them are in operation, ordering 5 should be enough.

It won't be cheap for sure but it also won't be that ridiculously expensive as making whole new system (autonomous, concrete track and so on - lol). I'm not sure how well the track is, but I guess it can serve for more years now or just requires some minor renovation.
 
wojok040 said:
I think you are all making it way to complicated or big. They just need to install gates on the platforms to improve capacity and order new trains. Intamin or CWA (Doppelmayr company) or Svern Lamb (or other themepark monorail supplier) can deliver new trains. For sure they do not need order that many of them as they have now. I think that usually 4 of them are in operation, ordering 5 or 6 should be enough.

It won't be cheap for sure but it also won't be that ridiculously expensive as making whole new system (autonomous, concrete track and so on - lol). I'm not sure how well the track is, but I guess it can serve for more years now or just requires some minor renovation.
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Europa Park has the same monorail system as Alton Towers, when they opened their flying theatre about 7 years ago, they rerouted the monorail to test whether Mack could modify the monorail system. It's now planned that the monorail will get an expansion/new line down to Rulantica (the waterpark), so it's perfectly possible that it could be done by local contractors (ie Taziker and Garmendale) and Mack Rides overseeing the overhaul and potentially creating a new rolling stock.

But Towers will have to decide what they want to keep and what compromises will have to be made to achieve that. Do they want to extend the service life of the attraction on a smaller budget with a reduced capacity focused towards guests with limited mobility and then have a refurbished walkway into the park, or do they want an extensive overhaul of the ride with the monorail once again becoming the main way of getting to the entrance? Infrastructure projects like this require time, effort, money and compromise. This is way more extensive than something like replacing a major coaster...
 
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It’s hard to tell for certain as there’s very little white in the picture, and winter vegitation tends to be rather brown, but I’d say the white balance is off on those images.

A very quick attempt to correct it using only the abilities of my prehistoric iPad. (I hit the endstop on the white balance slider, if anything it’s gone a bit green now.)
 

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Speaking from a personal point for a brief second. When I first visited in '94. The first attraction I rode was the monorail. From that position I got a view of nemesis for the first time and the site of the towers Street™ and the house for the first time. How I wish I could regain that excitement as I viewed from those windows, the park for the first time. The biggest topic of conversation amongst my mates who went. "What was the video playing in the monorail like? Crows? Boss.

Which begs the question on why on earth they would cover the windows but, ya know, I ain't in charge of that.

Clearly, brass needs to be spent. All I think it needs is a good old fashioned clean and polish. The stations get a lick of paint once in a while, so. Do it on the trains. Bin off the individual livery. No need for that now you use a generic advertising schpeal in trains. Give us a standard look. Bring it into the 2020's. Retro looking trains are in, let's get back to that. Simple colour, go faster stripe and then park logo.

Oh and, give the resting trains a shelter.
 
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