Daniel-Technic

Monorail, will it return?

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I always want a monorail set since I was little, now I have a little house on my own, and a small town plan and a small railway system. Before I start look on online sale. Went to Brickworld and saw huge monorail system.

Had a look on online and all look very expensive.

I wonder if Lego will release a monorail set soon?

Daniel.

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Short answer: No.

Long answer: Probably not, for a variety of reasons. Monorail sets were never actually successful even when they were new. They were very expensive to produce and failed to make up the difference in sales. Today, monorails no longer represent the "vehicle of the future" the way they did back in the '80s, so they would likely have even less appeal to kids today.

Also, even if a new monorail set were produced, the chances of the old monorail system returning are slim. Not only have the original molds most likely been destroyed by now, but technically the old tracks hardly qualified as a "true monorail" in the first place (since the train sat on a wide track instead of actually wrapping around a thinner one). If monorail did return, it'd most likely be in a completely different form with a new system of track (possibly one that relies less on specialized track sections that were hard to utilize in non-monorail sets).

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Will the monorail return?

Of course. Monorails are just like trains or busses. They always come back on a schedule.

Wait a bit, and then you can get on board.

I'm sure they have an app that will tell you exactly how long it will be before the next Monorail comes to your stop.

Good luck!

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If monorail would return it would be a new system.

Someone told me that TLG has destroyed the molds, same with the cypress trees and traffic signs.

It would be nice to have the monorail back. :classic:

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Monorail won't return.

Studded technic won't return.

4w city won't return.

And all this is fine, because it protects me from buying modern/current sets :thumbup:

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Someone told me that TLG has destroyed the molds, same with the cypress trees and traffic signs.

At a recent factory tour in Billund we were told that the monorail molds are now resting in peace in the concrete floor below some section of the factory.

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If monorail would return it would be a new system.

Someone told me that TLG has destroyed the molds, same with the cypress trees and traffic signs.

It would be nice to have the monorail back. :classic:

With enough time, money and skilled resources, molds can be recreated.

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Monorail won't return.

Studded technic won't return.

4w city won't return.

And all this is fine, because it protects me from buying modern/current sets :thumbup:

What do you mean? Studded Technic is still around now. It's been largely supplanted by studless beams for major structural elements in most full-blown Technic sets, but they do still offer studded bricks with Technic holes.

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With enough time, money and skilled resources, molds can be recreated.

Lego makes new molds all the time so the only thing to stop them from rebooting monorail is concern over profitability. That being said, Disney parks have monorails and there are a lot of Disney-based sets now so it could still happen.

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What do you mean? Studded Technic is still around now. It's been largely supplanted by studless beams for major structural elements in most full-blown Technic sets, but they do still offer studded bricks with Technic holes.

I know tat the studded technic bricks are still used in some (few) sets, but there are no complete studded technic sets.

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Lego makes new molds all the time so the only thing to stop them from rebooting monorail is concern over profitability. That being said, Disney parks have monorails and there are a lot of Disney-based sets now so it could still happen.

That's what i am hoping, i like to see a return of the monorail with disney theme :-)

We have too many trains and tracks, lego should bring back, maybe a redesign motor that will drive onto tram rail by rubber wheel instead of gear and rack.

Daniel.

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With enough time, money and skilled resources, molds can be recreated.

Molds can be recreated... but why would they do that for monorail track? The old track doesn't even represent a "true" monorail, since the entire train coasts on wheels resting on a wide track instead of being supported primarily by the central rail. The only thing there would be to gain from recreating that old track (which, keep in mind, was expensive, causing Lego to lose money on every single monorail set) would be to appeal to the small minority of Lego fans who actually already have that track themselves—and even if they did that, the color wouldn't match, since the old grays have been discontinued!

If Lego were to create a new monorail it'd almost assuredly be a new system, possibly one that used track that could be used for other things as well to justify the cost (since, realistically, Lego wouldn't have more than one monorail per year). Recently I had the idea that maybe Lego could create a new system based on the quarter-circle parts from the new Technic Bucket Wheel Excavator. Those might be large enough to provide an adequate curve, and even have gear teeth on the inside edge. All they'd need to introduce would be a "straight" section that corresponded with it, along with possible changes in elevation, to create a track system that was less bulky and much, much more versatile.

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During the last EB visit to Billund we were told that Lego experimented with a new monorail design with children but it proved to not be very popular with them at all. It's not going to come back.

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The recent Jurassic World line would have been a good opportunity to bring back (or create a new) monorail.

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The recent Jurassic World line would have been a good opportunity to bring back (or create a new) monorail.

True, but the lack of monorail sets hasn't been for lack of opportunities. LEGO could have easily put a monorail in City, Space Police III, The LEGO Movie or even Nexo Knights if they thought there was money in it. But LEGO monorails have never been successful, even back when monorails were still considered the future of transportation. With as obscure as they are nowadays, it's hard to imagine a real justification for a new monorail system.

Maybe we could get a monorail via LEGO Ideas if somebody could come up with a sturdy, inexpensive system that uses only parts that are still in circulation, but that's no easy task.

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With enough time, money and skilled resources, molds can be recreated.

Better bug Kevin ten times harder this year!! ;)

Stupid inside jokes aside, I would love for monorail to happen. So, if you see Kevin Hinkle at a convention, bug him silly about it.

I feel we're almost there!

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The old Monorail sets sold poorly. And for what did sell, Lego lost money on every set made. There is bad business history there. The Monorail sets stand as a crowning example for the business side of "see this! Don't do this ever again!" I would think at best we might see some system for elevating the existing Lego a Train tracks to be used with futuristic subjects.

The weird thing is that the problem wasn't unique to Lego. There was some sort of futuristic mass transport fad in the toy industry in the late 70's to early 80's. They all tried semi similar products. Does anybody remember Mego's Micronauts pneumatic tube transport system? Tycho put out some weird future train sets around then too. Every one of the products bombed and lost money. In some cases they killed their overall product line or the company themselves.

At this point the only way to get a new Lego Monorail would be to design one that would run on Technic lift arms as rails and use existing motors are parts.

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What about a simplified version of this?

That's one of the most promising fan-designed systems for monorails but would probably never be produced as an actual Lego product by sheer virtue of the fact that the rails themselves require a massive part count and an incredibly repetitive build to even form a full loop. That's kind of the paradox for monorail at this point—Lego isn't likely to spring for a new dedicated monorail system due to the cost, but most solutions without custom track pieces would also be expensive and a poor building experience. The way I see it, the only way new monorail sets will ever be produced is if a new system can be created that is versatile enough to be used for multiple things OTHER than monorails—in other words, large, pre-formed track sections in both straight and curved varieties that can also be used as structural elements for other types of builds across multiple themes.

Edited by Lyichir

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That's one of the most promising fan-designed systems for monorails but would probably never be produced as an actual Lego product by sheer virtue of the fact that the rails themselves require a massive part count and an incredibly repetitive build to even form a full loop. That's kind of the paradox for monorail at this point—Lego isn't likely to spring for a new dedicated monorail system due to the cost, but most solutions without custom track pieces would also be expensive and a poor building experience. The way I see it, the only way new monorail sets will ever be produced is if a new system can be created that is versatile enough to be used for multiple things OTHER than monorails—in other words, large, pre-formed track sections in both straight and curved varieties that can also be used as structural elements for other types of builds across multiple themes.

That's why I keep thinking the only way to pull it off would be some form of technic beam as the primary rail. Use a power functions motor and maybe have a small rubber drive wheel with nubs that catch the technic pin holes to allow for traction and climbing? But and parts would have to be extremely versatile and multi use.

And to the OP, at least one of the original Monorail mold sets failed many years ago. Lego determined that it was in no way cost effective to replace. So the molds were retired. I believe they were all eventually destroyed when they purged a ton of obsolete tooling back about 10 years or so ago. The added complication is the motors. Components that use electricity have to go through a ton of testing under European regulations. It makes developing specific motorized parts such as the old monorail motor much more complex and expensive. It is a large part of why they went to the more standardized Power Functions system. This way the only need to test once for universal parts. Put you are never going to get that narrow classic monorail out of PF stuff.

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At a recent factory tour in Billund we were told that the monorail molds are now resting in peace in the concrete floor below some section of the factory.

I just read in LEGO Life Magazine (internal TLG magazine) that they found some 60-80 molds when they demolished old packaging factory this year. Everybody forgot about thoss molds, so they were quite suprised when they dug them up. Most of those molds are from 60's, including some train parts, old style trees etc... LEGO Museum is now tasked with restoring some of this molds and putting them to exhibit somewhere. There was no mention of monorail molds, but it was said sad somewhere that there are also some modls under moulding factory, which is newer.

So I guess we just need to wait for LEGO to get rid of moulding factory and we weill see our beloved monorail moulds again. :)

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During the last EB visit to Billund we were told that Lego experimented with a new monorail design with children but it proved to not be very popular with them at all. It's not going to come back.

Aww that's sad... I still have some monorail track pieces.

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Yes as cool as Lego Monorail was; the original system didn't look like a Monorail. In my thoughts the Lego Monorail System looked more like a Peoplemover type system than a Monorail system. A true Monorail must rest around the beam; or be suspended from it.

I would love for Lego to try a new system for Monorails; but I worry they won't try again for a long time. :(

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