This monorail was operated on a four-mile line between Bradford and Gilmore, Pennsylvania, USA. It was intended to transport oil drilling equipment and its workforce, but before long was tranporting local passengers as well. The original Bradford locomotive appears to have had a rotary steam engine, but no details are known. However, it was clearly short of power, because...
The Bradford-Gilmore line was the scene of the worst disaster in monorail history, in 1879. A new and larger piston-driven engine was being demonstrated, pulling a flatcar full of officials. The train was being run at high speed to demonstrate its capabilities; the boiler exploded and the train crashed into a creek, killing the driver, fireman and three passengers. The surviving passengers were seriously injured. The line closed shortly afterwards.
This disaster is in contrast to the resilience of the Lartigue monorail, which proved highly resistant to deliberate sabotage in Ireland.
This design clearly solves The Monorail Problem (ie how to avoid falling off the rail) by means of the guide rails visible at the level of the front steps. The square structure at the rear is the driver's cab, with a short funnel protruding, and smoke and steam visible.
Some drawings of this monorail locomotive have now been discovered, in Edward Knight's Mechanical Dictionary. (Supplementary Volume 1884) For some unknown reason Knight makes no reference to General Stone or the Centennial Exposition, but simply describes it as a "single rail railway", without naming the inventor. However, there can't have been that many rococo-style monorails running around America at the time, so I am pretty sure it is the same machine.
This monorail was operated on a four-mile line between Bradford and Gilmore, Pennsylvania, USA. It was intended to transport oil drilling equipment and its workforce, but before long was tranporting local passengers as well. The original Bradford locomotive appears to have had a rotary steam engine, but no details are known. However, it was clearly short of power, because...
The Bradford-Gilmore line was the scene of the worst disaster in monorail history, in 1879. A new and larger piston-driven engine was being demonstrated, pulling a flatcar full of officials. The train was being run at high speed to demonstrate its capabilities; the boiler exploded and the train crashed into a creek, killing the driver, fireman and three passengers. The surviving passengers were seriously injured. The line closed shortly afterwards.
This disaster is in contrast to the resilience of the Lartigue monorail, which proved highly resistant to deliberate sabotage in Ireland.
This design clearly solves The Monorail Problem (ie how to avoid falling off the rail) by means of the guide rails visible at the level of the front steps. The square structure at the rear is the driver's cab, with a short funnel protruding, and smoke and steam visible.
Some drawings of this monorail locomotive have now been discovered, in Edward Knight's Mechanical Dictionary. (Supplementary Volume 1884) For some unknown reason Knight makes no reference to General Stone or the Centennial Exposition, but simply describes it as a "single rail railway", without naming the inventor. However, there can't have been that many rococo-style monorails running around America at the time, so I am pretty sure it is the same machine.
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This monorail was operated on a four-mile line between Bradford and Gilmore, Pennsylvania, USA. It was intended to transport oil drilling equipment and its workforce, but before long was tranporting local passengers as well. The original Bradford locomotive appears to have had a rotary steam engine, but no details are known. However, it was clearly short of power, because...
The Bradford-Gilmore line was the scene of the worst disaster in monorail history, in 1879. A new and larger piston-driven engine was being demonstrated, pulling a flatcar full of officials. The train was being run at high speed to demonstrate its capabilities; the boiler exploded and the train crashed into a creek, killing the driver, fireman and three passengers. The surviving passengers were seriously injured. The line closed shortly afterwards.
This disaster is in contrast to the resilience of the Lartigue monorail, which proved highly resistant to deliberate sabotage in Ireland.
This design clearly solves The Monorail Problem (ie how to avoid falling off the rail) by means of the guide rails visible at the level of the front steps. The square structure at the rear is the driver's cab, with a short funnel protruding, and smoke and steam visible.
Some drawings of this monorail locomotive have now been discovered, in Edward Knight's Mechanical Dictionary. (Supplementary Volume 1884) For some unknown reason Knight makes no reference to General Stone or the Centennial Exposition, but simply describes it as a "single rail railway", without naming the inventor. However, there can't have been that many rococo-style monorails running around America at the time, so I am pretty sure it is the same machine.
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