XG BC

today i added all the other modules (still empty and without any landscaping) the diorama is in order of year of construction so köln test track first then disney then turin then seattle and then we are in japan where hitachi essentially took over the alweg systm after the companys closure. japan isnt modelled after a specific one just generally as there are many of them operating there (for example tokio haneda osaka etc.) although the train is modelled after the first one they produced. had to do a bit of trickery as the monorail has issues with it getting stuck on an inclines on ramp (can handle the incline itself just fine but not the transition, not yet atleast...). the deviders are supposed to represent the sky and are there to smoothly devide the different parts.

it isnt powerfunctions.the drivetrain is using a tower pro servo modded for continous rotation

Hey guys, many of you know my monorail. i did a diorama a while back showing the japanese hitachi alweg innuyhama rhine Park monorail in a japanese setting. i now decided to plan to expand the diorama to cover all the major alweg monorails. expect things like seattle, turin, disneyland and ofcourse the original test site in köln-fühlingen. just thought this is better as its own topic. What was alweg? alweg was a company founded by Dr Werner Grenn to develop a new kind of railway, one without the traditional steel wheels and two rails. they built a test site in köln fühlingen (this area is now an artificial lake) in 1951, just a few years after ww2 ended, in a still war ravaged germany. the first smaller scale prototype was unveiled in 1952. this prototype ran on a narrow concrete beam through banked curves at incredible speeds. they even demonstrated stopping the train in the steeply banked curves and starting it again to wow the audience and demonstrate just how capable their system was. after that they shifted the concept from high speed long distance to urban, commuting stuff. the first full scale prototype was unveiled in 1957. it was this prototype that walt disney and his wife supposedly saw when they did a trip to germany. that was the inspiration for disney to want this exact system in disneyland. the next step in history is the expo italia 61 in turin where a short Demonstration line was built. it featured sleek, rounded trains (a Nightmare to get right in lego). next was the seattle system which some of you might know in 1962. to conclude these where the only 3 alweg systems ever built by alweg except the test track in köln fühlingen of course. Hitachi -Alweg the japanese company hitachi partnered with alweg to produce monorails of the alweg type. the first one they ever built was the innuyhama rhine Park monorail in 1962. in 1964 they built one of the biggest monorail systems ever: the tokio haneda line. in 1970 the osaka monorail was built. at this time the original alweg company was dead. they could never get the big projects for their system sadly. the hitachi engineers managed to eliminate one of the flaws of alwegs system: the protruding drive tires which didnt allow for a completely flat floor. Hitachi produces monorails with this system till today. The mocs (this will be updated as things are built) so the first one is older and exists irl: the hitachi innuyhama rhine Park monorail this is a 3-car monorail just like irl but my built version only has two cars to improve the way it drives as 3 are a traction issue especially through curves. also it is a little different due to changes in the design to facilitate auto reverse/stop and negotiating curves. this is what it currently looks like. next is the first module: japan here is the turin train (shape is a nightmare to get right) and here is seattle the diorama is planned to feature a single track running through japan at one end through seattle, turin, disneyland and ending at the test site in köln-fühlingen. thats the plan currently. hope you guys like this idea and will add more pics to the history tomorrow. today i added all the other modules (still empty and without any landscaping) the diorama is in order of year of construction so köln test track first then disney then turin then seattle and then we are in japan where hitachi essentially took over the alweg systme after the companys closure. japan isnt modelled after a specific one just generally as there are many of them operating there (for example tokio haneda osaka etc.) although the train is modelled after the first one they produced. had to do a bit of trickery as the monorail has issues with it getting stuck on an inclines on ramp (can handle the incline itself just fine but not the transition, not yet atleast...). the deviders are supposed to represent the sky and are there to smoothly devide the different parts. next progress: the original alweg test track in köln fühlingen. you can see the smaller beam of the scaled down test vehicle and the larger one of the full size prototype. this is around 1958 as walt disney and his wife are looking at the monorail beam. the control tower and shed has also been built as close as was possible because the pictures of it arent that great. did i say previously it was getting stuck on a ramp? well not anymore: now my monorail can climb slopes. it was getting stuck previously due to the switch car resting on the motor car and the motor car pushing the switch car down a bit when transitioning from flat to slope. now i have made the switches sides smaller (i use a 1x4 technic brick on either side now instead of the technic frame) and have moved the switch further towards the wheels of the switch car giving it more "ground clearance" so to speak. see for yourself: this is only a render but is built irl too. havent found the time yet to make a good irl picture. the other changes include a different structured roof to give back the rigidity i lost with the frame. essentially swapped the more rigid roof of the motor car to the switch car. changed the coupler of the switch car too as the newer style one is slightly less bulky giving more clearance. the buffers mounting has also been slightly altered and allows for more clearance now. i will change the other (currently digital only) models to this new undercarridge sooner or later. now its turins turn: i built the artificial lake the monorail beam ran through (the beam is still there on this part of the total system including the station). the building is the palavela or atleast part of it. it is rather difficult to recreate but you get the idea. and now there is a disneyland monorail. it is the mk1 monorail. i am currently not 100% happy with the canopy design and the transition to the passenger cabin. needs improvement for shure but everything else looks good. and here we have the köln fühlingen train that walt and his wife rode: now we go along to the disney layout: it contains the people mover and the submarine voyage incase anyone is wondering: yes the monorail track is supposed to be on the side of the submarine voyage with the platform for the subs being below the monorail station. i took some creative liberties. and now there is seattle atleast the current progress of that:  it is modelled after the old now demolished station at pine street: not complete yet still needs roof and floor of the model. ...aaand done. roof was a nightmare to make. pretty happy with it, maybe will do a bit more detailing eventually adding other things like benches on the other side.

my current layout: not very big but nice.

maybe use like a counterweight system like ski lifts use?

thats some tight fit. i have a bigger car (renault kangoo, similar to vw caddy) but much smaller monorail lol.

i was really into monorail in the last few weeks and watched a couple of videos of monorails in japan and got inspired to make this: it is the end of a monorail line inspired by the shonan monorail which goes into a tunnel right after starting off/ending. the shohan monorail also ends in a less modern looking part of the city. here is the other side: here you can see more of the monorail. it has a third rail powering it. what i really like about this model is the symbiosis of the modern (the train it is modelled after the one from the inuyhama monorail was built in 1962 but still) and old, peaceful nature type of style with the house and bridge and stuff it is also what i like about japan despite never having been there. @Masao Hidaka if you have any suggestions let me know. hope you guys like it.

i bet some of you are curious how i made a switch work in this tiny amount of space with next to no friction. either way here is the explanation. it is electrically a dual throw dual pole switch with one side having the ends crossconnected like youd find in a polarity reversing switch. the mechanical construction goes as follows: the switch consists of a movable part (the technic thing in the middle) and a static part which houses contacts made from aluminium foil on both sides for the movable part to hit.the switch is constructed with two layers ontop of each other. the contacts of the moveable carrige consist of pieces of wire. here you can see the two layers and where the wires connect more closely. it will become clearer in the real life pictures. top view of the monorail. here you can see the contacts and battery pack used to power the thing. the orange wires go to the motor. here you can see the contacts more clearly. it was a nightmare to get to this point with the switch working. the underside: rather unassuming considering the stuff going on above. if anyone wants more info feel free to comment and ask.

love it!

finally after a long and frustrating time of trying to make the reversing switch work first with capactiors then with added weight i finally have the solution: to reduce the amount of space the switch has to travel "dead" to hit the other side i.e. to reverse. it works just like the original monorail from lego themselves. heck it even looks like it when reversing: https://flic.kr/p/2oqGLWp I now have a fully working 4 wide monorail that uses no really special parts (switch is made with aluminium foil and pieces of wire). Hope you guys like this.

very nice! huge amount of track.

another update: i have now made it possible for the monorail to reverse by converting my single pole dual throw switch to a dual pole dual throw switch thus being able to make a polarity reversing switch. it is rather fragile inside but as long as the train stays assembled it is robust. i cannot yet make the train switch direction on its own as it doesnt have enough inertia to cross over the zero point of the switch. it would need a capacitor bank made of several ceramic unpolarized capacitors to achive that. i have also made a monorail reverse switch: it works just like the original switch from back in the day with the side bumpers being moveable by the wheel and that pushing the technic axle in the train. the other thing i did was to lower the coupling to improve the curve handling abilities as before the train was either doing a wheelie when going motor car forward or pushing the other carridge into the ground when the motor car was pushing as the battery/switch car rides on the motor car. this all adds up to the monorail being able to reverse, stop on its own and take curves going forward and backwards all the while being smaller than the one lego produced back in the 90s. https://www.flickr.com/photos/145736297@N05/52740826183/in/dateposted-public/

i now made a smaller radius curve: as you can see in this comparison the curve is smaller. it uses liftarm 3 as the bottom parts and a smaller top beam for each element thus creating this radius https://flic.kr/p/2okbXar

i have now made some instruction for you guys of my curves and monorail cars: here is the one for the curve: and here is the one for the train: monkey park monorail instructions_1.pdf and the switch end car: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvlCctBB9mbzh1N7AoC_dSfvl68l?e=EKERnT and the curve: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvlCctBB9mbzh0MbqJpQA_Tk3wHT?e=Tu1jQv

the amount of detail you put into this is very nice! great work!

couldnt you also use a 5l axle in theory? not shure if the stub is long enough.

looks so nice especially the bridges

red bull x2010 anyone?

a little update from my side concerning my monorail. i have made a stopping/reversing lever just like the original lego monorail. the reversing doesnt work right now as i have yet to find an efficient enough motor driver that is able to switch the direction of the motor without too much energy loss. the switch type is a single pole dual throw type switch so i need something that can switch the other pole thus creating the need for a motor driver. currently the monorail can only be stopped/ go forward with this mechanism. the second thing i did was improving my curve design. i made it a bit sturdier. it isnt as stable as masao hidakas original curve design but allows for more variations in the bricks used. https://www.flickr.com/photos/145736297@N05/52698200161/in/dateposted-public/

in terms of stress just look at masao hidakas and the monorails discussed in our CRS topic: the curves of that masao hidaka type monorail are entirely constructed using stressed bricks. lego has more tolerances than youd think.

apart from the track and motors there are no real differences. connections can even be made between the plastic and 9v track. ofcourse anything 9v wont work on the plastic track as they need power from the rails but gauge wise it will work.

this is amazing. nice tight curves

looking good! very well built. youd think such a high speed train is rather flat and doesnt have many details but it does! and you captured all of them nicely

bühler did produce the motors in the ones where you could replace the 4.5v motor for a 12v one but not shure about the later ones.

thanks!