The Ewing System was a system for balancing monorail

Monorail

A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...

s developed by British inventor W. J. Ewing in the last part of the 19th century. The Ewing System places wheels of the train on that a single steel rail. The system had been proposed in 1868 by William Thorold

William Thorold

William Thorold was an eminent 19th-century millwright, architect and civil engineer in Norwich, Norfolk.He was born in 1798 in Methwold, Norfolk, the son of a farmer...

, a civil engineer from Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

.

The major benefit of trains is that they run on steel tracks. Steel rail can carry more load with less rolling friction than any other mode of ground transport. However the major problem with laying steel tracks is that both rails have to rise and fall and bank together. Further, laying two tracks also requires more space and more maintenance. Also the turning radius of the train is restricted by the difference in length or distance traveled between the inside and outside rails is a factor in curve resistance

Curve resistance

Curve resistance is a measurement used in railroad engineering to represent the resistance a train must overcome when traveling on a curved section of track.- External links :*...

. Curve resistance means that the wheels on the inside rail travel a shorter distance than the wheels on the outside rail to get the vehicle around a curve. The trains can only turn to the limit where its outer wheels can cope with additional required speed. In case, the outer wheels fail to maintain or reach the required speed, the train may derail.

W.J. Ewing implemented a monorail system, with only one rail and double flanged rail wheels, that had been proposed by William Thorold in a lecture to the British Association in 1868. This system avoided all those problems, since it was laid out along the side of a road, it took up very little land. Further, the road or balance wheel's main purpose was balance the train and to keep it upright. The balancing wheel on the road carried only 4% or 5% of the load, it did not subtract much from the steel wheel-steel rail efficiency. As the track was on side of the road, it was no obstacle to vehicles crossing it. Further, since it was a monorail with a supporting wheel on the ground, the issue of curve resistance did not arise in Ewing System, since the wheels were placed on a single track only.

Ewing System was used in Patiala State Monorail Trainways

Patiala State Monorail Trainways

Patiala State Monorail Trainways was a unique rail guided, partially road-borne railways system running in Patiala in the State of Punjab from 1907 to 1927.Unusual railways by Mr. J. R. Day and Mr. B. G...

. The Patiala monorail is preserved in National Rail Museum

National Rail Museum, New Delhi

The National Rail Museum is a museum in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi which focuses on the rail heritage of India it opened on the 1 February, 1977. It is located in over of land with both indoor and outdoor exhibits. A toy train offers rides around its site on regular days...

 at New Delhi. It is still in running condition. It was also used in Kundala Valley Railway

Kundala Valley Railway

Kundala Valley Railway was a privately owned monorail, later converted to narrow gauge railway that operated between 1902 till 1924 in Kundala Valley, near Munnar, Kerala when it was destroyed completely by floods.-As Monorail from 1902 - 1908:...

between 1902 to 1908.