[WIP] Lego monorails. [Custom Rail Systems (CRS)]

[Masao Hidaka]

On 5/5/2021 at 11:41 PM, Rijkvv said:

My previous design was flawed and was likely unable to take inclines, but here I have a few designs that should be able to:

Monorail space train thingy v2 by Rijk van Voorst, on Flickr

Mostly an attempt for a Classic Space monorail. Due to the limited available pieces in trans yellow, and partly because I like it, I went with the 6931 scheme instead. I have the feeling this train is too heavy, but I'm not able to test it yet.

Vintage monorail design by Rijk van Voorst, on Flickr

An attempt to a vintage monorail. I think this should be not as heavy.

Both trains use the same setup as Masao Hidaka's original Airport Shuttle rebuild, except that I went with PF instead of Powered Up.

Thank you for adopting my idea.
Great Job!
Space monorail is especially goooood!

[XG BC]

Guys i now have developed a motor solution tnat i can make even smaller i will post pictures of it tomorrow. it involves a modded cheap chinese tower pro sg90 servo but sadly isnt the king of speed. now the only thing limiting getting smaller are those dang batteries! ;-)

[XG BC]

here are the pictures! the servo is mounted facing down and is screwed into the drive facing crossaxle hole of the technic liftarm thin 1x3 and is facing with its output shaft down on its output shaft there is a 12 tooth bevel gear screwed in ontop of a servohorn with the horn part removed to act as a spacer. I followed the method on how to mod one of these servos but i have removed the controll board entirely and soldered two of the three wires of the servo cable directly to the motor so it is a super compact dc motor with gearbox. I made multiple variants front wheel drive like the powerfunctions one, rearwheel drive which is better Imho and mid mounted just like the original monorail system. without further ado here are the pics:

rear wheel drive:

front wheel drive:

and finaly mid mounted:

 

sorry that all of these are just screenshots but i really dont have a good location to take pictures. if you need the files they are here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ve1we7dixzi8jal/Monorail motor car mitte.io?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/9k2eq126y3koiv2/Monorail motor car servoantrieb heckantrieb.io?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9k2eq126y3koiv2/Monorail motor car servoantrieb heckantrieb.io?dl=0

Edited August 23, 2021 by XG BC

[Masao Hidaka]

I tried to design mini Space Monorail.
Please check it out! :)

 

[Holodoc]

I assume it can go through curves as well, right!

Thank you for sharing - even with a look inside!

[XG BC]

i expected nothing less from the master of monorail! in all seriousness though awesome monorail that chain drive looks insane to come up with 

[sp1984]

Superb work presented here

My question regarding all LEGO monorail topic: is it any chance that TLG will reintroduce monorail series (either Lego City or Space) with all that parts like monorail rail parts and motor in modern version of course (drive as powered up, enhanced rails, etc.)?

Regards

[XG BC]

3 hours ago, sp1984 said:

Superb work presented here

My question regarding all LEGO monorail topic: is it any chance that TLG will reintroduce monorail series (either Lego City or Space) with all that parts like monorail rail parts and motor in modern version of course (drive as powered up, enhanced rails, etc.)?

Regards

First of all thanks for the kind words!

As for lego reintroducing the monorail that is higly unlikely as they a: have the rollercoaster track system to use for that purpouse and b: have no interest in monorail whatsoever it is a niche market for them even more than trains.

[Paperinik77pk]

I follow this thread from the early posts - it's amazing the level these monorails have reached, in terms of track and rolling stock! 

Great work, it's always amusing seeing new models and videos of these nice machines!

Ciao!

Davide

[XG BC]

i ve got another idea on how to make tracks for the monorail:

straights are basically just 2x2 bricks stacked on top of each other and layed on its side like this:

curves are made by sticking a 1x1 round or normal tile into a brick like this:

and then while connecting another 2x2 on the  bottom of the one you have just placed the tile into it prevents the studs from sinking in completely on one side thus making a curve

[zephyr1934]

40 minutes ago, XG BC said:

i ve got another idea on how to make tracks for the monorail:

straights are basically just 2x2 bricks stacked on top of each other and layed on its side like this:

...

curves are made by sticking a 1x1 round or normal tile into a brick like this:

...

and then while connecting another 2x2 on the  bottom of the one you have just placed the tile into it prevents the studs from sinking in completely on one side thus making a curve

 

Those are brilliant in their reliance on inexpensive parts. I suspect they would need some reinforcement to be practical though. Perhaps the 2x2 brick straights have periodic 1x2x5/6 bricks with studs on one side to lock them in to 2x plates for stiffness. As for the curves, with only a pair of studs holding them together that could be tricky. In this case, perhaps an old 4.5v curve rail could be used underneath for stiffening.

[XG BC]

1 hour ago, zephyr1934 said:

 

Those are brilliant in their reliance on inexpensive parts. I suspect they would need some reinforcement to be practical though. Perhaps the 2x2 brick straights have periodic 1x2x5/6 bricks with studs on one side to lock them in to 2x plates for stiffness. As for the curves, with only a pair of studs holding them together that could be tricky. In this case, perhaps an old 4.5v curve rail could be used underneath for stiffening.

for the curves i have tested them (atleast with my very light 4 wide train and they do hold up pretty well when you dont move them but i dont know how they would handle heavier and faster trains. to reinforce the straights/add pillars you can use a pair of 1x1 lamp bricks and a 1x2 brick ontop for the running surface and then add plates underneath the beam for added stability

Edited September 27, 2021 by XG BC

[Masao Hidaka]

I tried to design mini Space Monorail more.
Please check it out! :)

 

[XG BC]

looks pretty cool!

[XG BC]

I have build mini versions of your mini monorail using my 4 wide system:

this is the first one

and this is the second one cabs where a bit difficult to make but snot saved the day as usual

[XG BC]

My newest monorail creation: The Inuyama Rhine park monorail!

Before I get started on the model some quick history/facts about the prototype:

It was the first monorail made by HITACHI corporation using the german allweg standart. HITACHI licensed the technology from the german allweg company. The 1.2 km long line opened on the 21st of March 1962 to bring visitors of the japan monkey park to the park from the train station. There where two trains with 3 wagons each which could be coupled together. they operated at 1500V DC and could reach up to 35 km/h.

when the line closed in 2008 due to declining ridership numbers and the old equipment two monorail cars the end car 101 and the middle car 201 where preserved next to the former Dōbutsuen station in their original red and silver livery.

Enough with the prototype now onto the model:

I first started this project many years ago when i posted pictures and ideas of the first prototypes of the 4-wide system compatibe with @Masao Hidaka's track system. I liked the track system but the idea of 6-wide trains just felt too big for me.

 

so i set about creating my 4-wide system using a powerfunctions e-motor. the first prototype was insanely slow due to its use of a worm gear to transmit power to the wheels.

then another member @tkf tried my system and modified it using bevel gears.

 

I then took his idea and made a front wheel drive motor car out of it again using the powerfunctions e-motor. things ground to a halt when I couldnt find a power source small enough to fit into a wagon while also having a good looking train. then my e-motor burned out and I kind of lost interest in monorails and the project for a couple of years. This year, while the lockdown i found myself digging through a box of legos and found the e-motor lying around. At this moment i felt i should atleast recreate the og motor car as a reminder of what once was.

 

I did so and the dead motor car stood in my display case for a few months until i modified a servo motor with dead cable for continious rotation. i then thought what can i power with such a small motor? I glanced over to my display case and looked at the mocs. And what did I see? the monorail motor car! I immediatly went to work both digitally and physically to mod the gearing to work with the servo motor.

at first i tried front wheel drive and that worked but it didnt like curves due to the servo motor being wayyy lighter then the e-motor and it had no traction.

once i switched it to rear wheel drive it worked perfectly due to the next car adding its weight to improve traction. I then added a suitable power source consisting of 3 1.5V tripple a batterys housed in the battery case from a flashlight.

Last step was improving the rather crude original design to look more like the prototype using curved slopes and slopes for the lights/hood.

I guess you could also use curquit cubes to power the thing because those motor/battery box are pretty small aswell.

Hope you like my model and the story behind it.

[zephyr1934]

1 hour ago, XG BC said:

Hope you like my model and the story behind it.

Very nice!

[XG BC]

1 hour ago, zephyr1934 said:

Very nice!

thank you! when i finish my circle of track i will post a video so you guys can see it running

Edited December 12, 2021 by XG BC

[XG BC]

and here is the promised video (just one 90 deg turn though)

https://flic.kr/p/2mRkSVh

hope you like it!

Edited December 18, 2021 by XG BC

[Paperinik77pk]

Nice work, it runs fine 😍

[XG BC]

7 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

Nice work, it runs fine 😍

thank you! your next project? ;-)

Edited December 26, 2021 by XG BC

[Vilhelm22]

I think that this is something worth noting - would be good if we could get a project through to 10k to show support for the monorail (though this one is suspended).

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f013b46e-db4d-48f6-bf9f-e8e52ffbd747

852 supporters in a period of 11 days is impressive.

 

EDIT: It's now 1821 supporters

Edited January 7, 2022 by Vilhelm22

[Holodoc]

Supported of course - now at 2262 supporters.

Though it doesn't seem to be able to run curves properly.

[XG BC]

i think it is more for display maybe

[XG BC]

Another one: the sydney monorail!

the sydney monorail ran around a small loop connecting the central business district with the darling harbour and chinatown areas. due to low demand it closed in 2013 due to low demand and comparetively high maintenance costs. as far as i know there are some remnants of the stations and some signs still left in sydney. but without further talking here is the model:

it is based on the first version of my monkey park monorail with different windows because i noticed it has some similarities to the sydney monorail. i may also build a station