No self-respecting city of the future would be caught dead without a thoroughly modern method of mass transportation. This was the thinking of Walt Disney Productions when they were creating Walt Disney World, and part of Disney’s vision for future cities was the sleek and efficient monorail. We’ve already discussed Community Transportation Services, the division of Walt Disney Productions set up to develop transportation systems for Disney’s Florida property and to then market them to cities and communities around the country. And what better way to market yourself than a colorful brochure?
Below are the scanned pages from a 1979 brochure intended to market the Mark IV monorail which was then in service at Walt Disney World. Sadly, they didn’t succeed in flooding our nation with monorails, but they’re a nice reminder of an era when big ideas were still in fashion.
[…] Services, the division of Walt Disney Productions founded in 1974 to develop and market the monorail and WEDway PeopleMover to outside businesses and municipalities. By 1982, CTS had been rechristened […]
I have often stated that here in LA we need Monorails going down the center of the Freeways instead of more carpool lanes. This could majorly fix the public transportation problem here. I also have always said with Disney right here it would be so easy to have them oversee the project.
What an incredible find! Wow. I want a copy. Back in the 1960s, Alweg offered to build more than 60 miles of monorail tracks for free if the LA transit agency would operate the system. The Board of Supervisors turned them down stating that the auto was the way of the future and we needed more freeways. Time and time again the idea for a monorail has surfaced only to fail. I worked with the woman doing the study for the 101 freeway median and they found a plausible way to complete the project. But once again it failed. Now the folks who build transit have rail backgrounds and they don’t even bother to look at monorail technology. Its greatest strength is the ability to run up and down grades which a conventional train cannot do (they are limited to a 2% grade or less). We have hills here you know. The image of the monorail running past LA City Hall in Magic Highways USA always gets to me.
Terrific post. Thanks.