Monorail Red goes bang?

[steveb48]

We were waiting to board the next monorail as red was getting ready to pull out of the tomorrowland station. I believe they were just opening the throttle to leave the station when there was a loud bang followed by smoke appearing from the roof between the first and second cars. I don't believe anyone was in danger. There wasn't a lot of smoke and it cleared very quickly. I don't think most of the cast members even saw it. The power to the system was shut down and the mule came out to tow red back to the barn and then rescue blue which was stuck on approach to tomorrowland on a dead track. This was all about 2:45 on 12/22. Anyone know what the cause was? One cast member guessed it was the pickup paddles. What ever it was it was fixed the same day. Blue was back up in an hour or so and we got our cab ride in red about 6:45.


Steve

[Datameister]

Oh my...from the sound of it, no one was hurt, and I'm glad it got running again...but that's still worrisome.

[dizzneeland]

What's with this monorail? Did Lyle Lanley build it or something? Glad everybody's alright.

[OldSchoolMickey]

Add another "incident" to the troublesome Monorails.

Sad, very sad...

[Bruce Bergman]

Originally Posted by steveb48

We were waiting to board the next monorail as red was getting ready to pull out of the tomorrowland station. I believe they were just opening the throttle to leave the station when there was a loud bang followed by smoke appearing from the roof between the first and second cars. I don't believe anyone was in danger. There wasn't a lot of smoke and it cleared very quickly. I don't think most of the cast members even saw it. The power to the system was shut down and the mule came out to tow red back to the barn and then rescue blue which was stuck on approach to tomorrowland on a dead track. This was all about 2:45 on 12/22. Anyone know what the cause was? One cast member guessed it was the pickup paddles. What ever it was it was fixed the same day. Blue was back up in an hour or so and we got our cab ride in red about 6:45.


Steve

If I had to make a guess, I'd say one of the traction motors shorted out - you got to see the elusive "Magic Smoke" from the windings. The motors are mounted between the cars on the load tire axles, and would throw a short on the main power that would pop the breakers in the train and possibly in the power converter station.

And with people on the train they aren't going to chance it, they kill the power to the beam till they check out what happened.

--<< Bruce >>--

[wolfy]

I know but I can't tell.

[Wesley815]

Tires also blow out, which are between cars. No biggie, but can be loud and if it happens at full speed a little rough.

The "shoes" which are the little things that run along the track actually touching the beam to pick up energy can short out/fall off to causing a total loss of power to the beam for safety.

Originally Posted by wolfy

I know but I can't tell.

Who cares? I guess only your ego. Tell him I said hi!

[Alpine]

I hear those things are awfully loud.

[Eric5675]

Ah hell at this point we should have just gone for a total refurb of the Mark V's. I really don't like the new paintjobs on the Mark VII. They clash, and look stupid just about everywhere they are becasue nothing goes with them. They're too fancy and just don't make sense. Their seats hurt and they have horrible capacity even if they were running at that. They don't ride on the beam very well, and they're dead hot. The noase and tailcones look ugly when compared to a Mark V. The Mark V's were great, and with as refurb Purple still would be. Take off the YOMD wrap and let her show her true colors at the end of her reign of power.

/end rant.

[Bruce Bergman]

I can't figure out why they don't allow anyone to say exactly what happened, it's not like we can't figure it out on our own...

It's like a car - New or old, cheap or ultra-expensive, every so often things will break - Sometimes causing an annoying loss of accessories like the radio or air conditioning, and sometimes causing (to steal from the Rolls Royce obfuscatory vernacular) a "Failure to Proceed".

If you heard a loud "Bang!" (or a sharp whistle with descending pitch) and then dropped a few inches, either a load tire blew or a suspension airbag. There would also be a quieter bang if a guide tire blew, and it wouldn't affect ride height sitting in the station - but the ride would get sloppy and lumpy and noisy going around curves, as you put pressure on a rolling flat tire.

But seeing a little smoke leads me more to an electrical failure of some sort, and the location further refines that to either inside a traction motor (bad windings, carbon dust flashover around the brush holders, a little grease in the wrong place) or on the leads to it.

(You could get some "smoke" from dust kicked up as the tire pops since they are running high pressure {somewhere around 130 PSI Nitrogen}, but I'd rank it as rare and not that much.)

Or possibly the flexible power and control lines between the cars in the train got loose from their hangers, fell where they shouldn't be, got pinched and shorted out. (All the cables and hoses hang from springs like the brake hoses between a Semi Tractor and it's trailer. But they don't unplug.)

But since those who know won't say I guess we'll all just have to keep speculating...

--<< Bruce >>--

[FormerDiz]

Sounds to me like it just threw a shoe and it arced a little bit. It happens, it's happened fairly routinely since the Mark I monorail and it will continue to happen long into the future.

[twobluestripes]

Originally Posted by Eric5675

Ah hell at this point we should have just gone for a total refurb of the Mark V's. I really don't like the new paintjobs on the Mark VII. They clash, and look stupid just about everywhere they are becasue nothing goes with them. They're too fancy and just don't make sense. Their seats hurt and they have horrible capacity even if they were running at that. They don't ride on the beam very well, and they're dead hot. The noase and tailcones look ugly when compared to a Mark V. The Mark V's were great, and with as refurb Purple still would be. Take off the YOMD wrap and let her show her true colors at the end of her reign of power.

/end rant.

I think the aesthetics on the OUTSIDE of the new monorails are great. They really recall the much sleeker earlier monorails. The Vs just look extremely dated. Purple will probably have to get a "Celebrate!" wrap or something because rumor has it that she just looks awful cosmetically under there.

I agree that the interior should have been much better designed to be more comfortable, of course, and that the problem with the heat was sheer stupidity.

[Fortune Cookie]

Originally Posted by Eric5675

Ah hell at this point we should have just gone for a total refurb of the Mark V's. I really don't like the new paintjobs on the Mark VII. They clash, and look stupid just about everywhere they are becasue nothing goes with them. They're too fancy and just don't make sense. Their seats hurt and they have horrible capacity even if they were running at that. They don't ride on the beam very well, and they're dead hot. The noase and tailcones look ugly when compared to a Mark V. The Mark V's were great, and with as refurb Purple still would be. Take off the YOMD wrap and let her show her true colors at the end of her reign of power.

/end rant.

I partially agree with you. While I believe the Mark VII looks better than the Mark V, WDI went too far to reinvent a lot of things that worked perfectly on the Mark V's. It seems WDI placed more priority on form over function... Even sacrificing safety just to get the look they wanted.

The first of these problems happens to be with the new rearview "mirror" cameras for the pilot. These replaced the actual mirrors the pilot used to check the platform prior to leaving the station. Mirrors are more reliable than cameras, and if a camera goes out, that presents a safety issue.

WDI also decided to eliminate the window on the nosecone door for the pilot all because it apparently did not complement their design. The truth is, that window was the only way the driver could visually check a station before proceeding. Sure, the monorails are equipped with intrusion systems, but even the monorail pilots at WDW would agree that a clear visual of a station is safer than trusting a green light alone. To help counter this deficiency, pilots must now make additional radio calls to ensure that the station ahead is clear. Still, this is not as safe as having side windows in the nosecone.

Another thing that WDI decided to do for pilots is require them to wear a headset for their PA system and radio. I think this had something to do with preventing guests in the front from listening in on radio calls. But while WDI may have improved "show" a bit, they compromised on guest courtesy. The complaint I'm hearing from the pilots is that their headset blocks out so much noise that they have a hard time talking to the guests riding with them. Some pilots no longer interact with their own guests because of this.

Of course, the more obvious area of compromise by WDI was the windows. By changing a previously effective window configuration, guests now have to put up with reduced capacity and slower loading until they get this changed.

I also have a problems with the crummy new uniforms the pilots are wearing, but that's a whole different story I'd be glad to discuss another time.

Other than that, the new Mark VII's are pretty cool looking.

BTW Purple has been taken offline already.

[Datameister]

I couldn't disagree more about the Mark VII monorails looking worse than the Mark Vs - IMO, they're an extraordinary improvement as far as appearance goes. They bring a grin to my face when they swoop overhead. But it really is unfortunate that they've had so many technical issues.

[aashee]

Originally Posted by Datameister

I couldn't disagree more about the Mark VII monorails looking worse than the Mark Vs - IMO, they're an extraordinary improvement as far as appearance goes. They bring a grin to my face when they swoop overhead. But it really is unfortunate that they've had so many technical issues.

I totally agree Data. Visually they are the best we've seen IMO. Should we go back to the "Dream Monorails" in blue to realize how great they look now?