Invisible Themepark

Category: Bizarre Transport

  • Cars Will Travel in Tubes by Year 2000

    Cars Will Travel in Tubes by Year 2000

    The Year 2000–as it was called before 2000–is looking awfully distant with each passing year. Will it ever happen? And what I mean by this is the chasm between what was promised and what we’ve got: the old “Where’s my jetpack?” meme. Or, “I wanted cars in tubes but all I’ve got is Twitter.”

    Yes, cars that travel in tubes. This one comes from the engineers at Honeywell, in the 1950s a cutting-edge company sprouting all sorts of innovations. This photo, from Popular Mechanics, December 1957, comes with no context other than the caption, “Honeywell engineer predicts that by A.D. 2000 cars will zip through network of crashproof pneumatic tunnels.”

    Cars in tubes by year 2000

  • The Grandeur and Faded Glory of Elvis’ Private Jet Rotting in the Desert

    The Grandeur and Faded Glory of Elvis’ Private Jet Rotting in the Desert

    It’s not the Lisa Marie and it’s not the Hound Dog II, both of which were in top condition and on auction in 2015.  It’s a third Elvis jet that had been sitting on an airport tarmac for the last 35 years in Roswell, NM.  Sold recently for $430,000.

  • The William Boyes Wooden Monorail

    The William Boyes Wooden Monorail

    I saw this picture yesterday at Seattle’s MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry).  The caption said that the monorail was constructed in 1911 of wood and ran through the “tidal flats” of Seattle.  Not much is known of it, though Lyle Zapato dredges up a bit in “Carpetbagging Monorailists: A Cascadian Tradition.”

    boyes-wooden-monorail

  • Cutaway of Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic Snow Cruiser, 1939

    Cutaway of Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic Snow Cruiser, 1939

    byrd-snow-cruiser-feature-image

    Click Here For Large (1353 x 1200 Pixels)

     

    In an issue of LIFE magazine from October 30, 1939 that I have is a great cutaway drawing of Admiral Byrd’s snow cruiser.  Admiral Byrd was a naval officer who was the first person to reach the North and South Poles by air.

    At 55 feet 8 inches long and 16 feet high, Byrd’s Snow Cruiser was intended to ply the snowy wastes of Antarctica at 30 mph max.  Snow crevasses would be surmounted by retracting the massive Goodyear front tires, sliding the front over the crevasse as if the cruiser were a sled (back wheels pushing).  Once the front was fully across, the back tires would retract and the front tires would pull the cruiser ahead.

     

    byrd-snow-cruiser-cabin-detail

    Above, detail of cutaway of Byrd’s Snow Cruiser, showing operating room, engine room, and chart room.

    Byrd-snow-cruiser-tire-chains

    Above, mounting snow chains to the approximately 10 foot diameter Goodyear tires.

    Sources

     

     

  • Aerial Trolley: Burbank’s Monorail From 1910 is 100% Real

    Aerial Trolley: Burbank’s Monorail From 1910 is 100% Real

    In 1906, a farmers J.W. and E.C. Fawkes formed the Aerial Trolley Company Co., Inc. and put a monorail-like trolley in their Burbank farm.

    Is this real-life steampunk?  I believe so.  I’m still trying to wrap my head around the utter coolness of even the company name, Aerial Trolley Company Co., Inc.  It’s like something from a Jules Verne novel.

    Aerial Monorail
    Aerial Monorail

    Excellent information and photos USC Digital Library tell us that the Fawkes patented and built this aerial trolley as an experimental transport system that never quite materialized.  It later was called “Fawkes’ Folly.”

    Aerial Trolley Drawings and Patent

    Fawkes patented the trolley, and these drawings give us some of the crispest views of how the trolley worked:

    Close-Ups

    First, the driver of the trolley:

    What I find fascination is the trolley’s propeller.  It looks like the propeller is really made of wires, with only the leading edge solid:

    You can’t have an aerial trolley opening celebration without a band.  And when you have a band, you’ve got to have a upright bass-player in the open-air cars:

    How does this trolley move?

    Article References