Saturday, May 2, 2009: The Proposed Motor Parkway Monorail

posted on Saturday, May 02 2009 by Howard Kroplick

The Proposed Long Island Motor Parkway Monorail (1935)

In the early 1930s, the crushing impact of the Depression coupled with the ever-expanding free New York State highly system effectively sealed the fate of the Long Island Motor Parkway. Several innovative proposals were made for the parkway's right-of-way, including a monorail rapid transit system proposed by the Queens Chamber of Commerce in 1935. The above image is from the files of Wiliam K. Vanderbilt Jr. and courtesy of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum.


Unfortunately, Willie K. never seriously considered the project due to the absense of funding. The most famous suspended monorail of this era was Schwebebahn, or floating railway, of Wuppertal, Germany, which began service in 1901 and is still in use today.

<--back to blog index
Comments
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) writes... May 04 2009 10:48am

Of course…this is extremely similar to the Monorail that was built and used at the 64/65 New York Worlds Fair. One of the few suspended monorails ever done as most sit On the track - ala the Seattle World’s fair Monorail that is still in service today

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) writes... May 05 2009 5:51pm

Hi Steve:

I was surprised that monorail technology was available in the early 1900s. The video of Schwebebahn in Germany is amazing.

Howard

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
<--back to blog index

Categories

Recent Entries

Feature

Book Cover Image

The 128-page book by Howard Kroplick, a researcher and lecturer on the races, contains rare images of the races from the archives of major museums, libraries and private collectors. The book Vanderbilt Cup Races of Long Island will be available from Arcadia Publishing in March 2008.

continue reading-->

Related Images