Mark IV monorail
Encyclopedia
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...
trains. The design was developed by Bob Gurr
Bob Gurr
Robert Henry Gurr is an American amusement ride designer and Imagineer. His most famous work was for Walt Disney's Disneyland Park, and its subsequent sister parks...
. Ten were built by Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...
in 1969 at the cost of about six million USD each and they were used on the Walt Disney World Monorail System
Walt Disney World Monorail System
The Walt Disney World Monorail System is a public transit system in operation at the Walt Disney World Resort.The Walt Disney World Resort currently operates twelve Mark VI monorail trains on three lines of service. The monorail system opened in 1971 with two routes and with Mark IV monorail trains...
between 1971 and 1989 before they were replaced by the Mark VI monorail
Mark VI monorail
The Mark VI monorail is a monorail train used in the Walt Disney World Monorail System and the Las Vegas Monorail. The Mark VI started replacing the Mark IV monorails at Walt Disney World in 1989, replacing the final Mark IV by 1991...
, although a few lasted until 1990. The Coral and Lime trains were sold for $3.5 million each, refurbished, and operated on the Las Vegas Monorail
Las Vegas Monorail
The Las Vegas Monorail is a monorail mass transit system located on the Las Vegas Strip, in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It connects the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester, and does not actually enter the City of Las Vegas. It is owned and operated by the Las Vegas...
. They have since been replaced.
The trains originally consisted of five cars. (The Mark VI
Mark VI monorail
The Mark VI monorail is a monorail train used in the Walt Disney World Monorail System and the Las Vegas Monorail. The Mark VI started replacing the Mark IV monorails at Walt Disney World in 1989, replacing the final Mark IV by 1991...
trains added a sixth car.)
Scrap
Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable and other materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has significant monetary value...
ped. Monorail Red's first car was sold online to Chip Young of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
.. It was later sold again on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
.
Design
The Mark IV monorails were the first of the "Learjet" styled monorails used for Disney. The original trains in operation in 1971 were five-car trains, while the later models which came online in the mid-1970s were six-car. Eventually the original Mark IV monorail trains were converted to six cars, Monorail Gold remained a five car train. Each car featured numerous bench seats which stretched the entire width of the car. The cars were accessed by doors which were automatically opened (a loud clunk would be heard and the doors would swing open at the press of a control button on the outside of the monorail near the driver door) and manually closed by a cast member (who would walk from one end of the train to the other with his hand out, pushing the doors shut as he walked by). Unlike the current Mark VI trains in use at Disney, Mark IV's were shorter, somewhat narrower, and had no standing room capability. To help with ventilation, each window could be cracked open with a latch.1985 Fire
monorail train in transit from the Epcot station to the Transportation
and Ticket Center.
This fire predated onboard fire detection systems, emergency exits,
and evacuation planning. Passengers in the car kicked out side windows
and climbed around the side of the train to reach the roof, where they
were subsequently rescued by the Reedy Creek Fire Department.
Seven passengers were hospitalized for smoke inhalation or other minor
injuries.
The fire department later determined that the fire started when a flat
tire was dragged across the concrete beam, heated due to friction, and
ignited.