Tuesday, July 01, 2008

A Different Monorail, 1962

Amongst our crowd, Alweg will always be known as the name on the Disneyland Monorail system (that and Santa Fe). But in 1962 Alweg built another monorail for the Seattle "Century 21" Expo. The Seattle Fair, while not exactly a "forgotten fair" (thanks in large part to the iconic Space Needle), does not resonate in most people's memories the way the 1964 New York World's Fair does. But it was still pretty cool! Supposedly one of the goals of this particular fair was to show the commies that the U.S. was kicking some technological butt (since the Russians seemed to be ahead of us in the Space Race), and so all things futuristic were the order of the day.

Check out this great vintage view of their turquoise station. No fancy ornament to be seen! And in those days, the men wore hats, and the women wrapped a kerchief around their noggins. Silly hu-mans! I have friends who say "I wish men still wore hats!". You know why they don't? Because it's just one more thing to deal with. So there.


I don't know why you keep bringing up hats when I am trying to talk about the Seattle Monorail! I love this great shot showing the futuristic train with lots of old cars passing beneath it. This Monorail is still operating, and has even been extended and improved over the years. In 2003 it was given "historical landmark" status.


11 comments:

Katella Gate said...

Love the original Dieter-esque Eurostyling. It's interesting to see the mechanical starting point for Gurr's improvements on the body form.

By the way, I've been waiting for 40 years now. When does my city get its own monorail? I am also waiting for my production model of Bill Cushenbery's Silhouette (everybody's favorite bubble-top car) and the slinky Japanese model wife I thought I'd have by now.

I was promised a "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow". I think I want my money back.

Matt said...

Man I wish this was in Cincinnati!

Another great post - thanks!

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Well, Katellagate, there's nothing on earth Like a genuine, Bona fide, Electrified, Six-car Monorail! Why it glides as softly as a cloud!

Neat that this monorail is still there, although I did hear two of them "bumped" together in a minor crash a few years ago..

Great post, thanks!

The Viewliner Limited said...

Fantastic pictures Major.

outsidetheberm said...

Incredible shot of the station! Have only seen black and white previously. Thanks!

Unknown said...

I rode this pre 2001 and it was nothing compared to the Disney monorails.

But it was still pretty cool...

gerG said...

Hey

Bob Gurr told me that the Alweg system in Germany and the Seattle monorail had all the styling of a speeding loaf of bread. But it's still cool.

gerG

Major Pepperidge said...

I am surprised at the positive reaction to these photos, thanks for your nice comments everyone!

gerG, nice to hear from you! The Seattle monorail does kind of look like a loaf of bread (in the wrapper), but how often do you get to see a loaf of bread go fast?

mr wiggins said...

Great post major!

> I was promised a "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow". I think I want my money back. <

You and me both, KG. Sorry, take a number and get in the refund line -- they're now serving No.458,073,211 (only a few billion more to go). ;)

Anonymous said...

The Seattle monorail is ugly...UGLY!!!

walterworld said...

I rode the Seattle monorail last Summer from the Space Needle to downtown...

Very cool to experience the difference between this and the Disneyland model. One thing I can tell you, the Disneyland version feels like 5/8 scale compared to this one, which was truly devised for mass transit. I'm sure the capacity is at least twice as much as its Anaheim cousin.

I enjoyed the former grounds of the Fair immensely. Quite a bit of the historical infrastructure remains intact.