An Early Monorail in Uganda!

[rogerfarnworth]

I have been enjoying Adrian Garner's book "Monorails of the 19th Century." I discovered that the first rail link between what was at the time Port Kampala and Kampala itself was a monorail!

Rolling stock was propelled along the line by bullocks rather than any form of mechanical propulsion.

The line was less than 8 miles long and lasted no more than a few years.

These are the details:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/02/28/a-monorail-in-kampala

 

[Calthrop]

Very interesting -- thanks. I'd been aware of the Patiala State Monorail Trainway (mentioned in the link -- a steam loco from it preserved at India's National Rail Museum, New Delhi); but not that this monorail-construction variety was called the Ewing system -- or that as well as in Patiala, a number of other such lines had operated, including this one in Uganda.

Whimsically, the name conjures thoughts of the lengthy TV drama serial Dallas, highly popular a few decades back: involving the turbulent doings of the fabulously wealthy and not very principled Ewing family, who seemingly owned large swathes of Texas. The notion occurs, that if the makers of this drama had thought to have the family's estates served by Ewing monorail lines, managed by the family: they might have increased their viewing figures by a fair number of railway enthusiasts .

 

[rogerfarnworth]

Like the connection!!

Some links about the Ewing system ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewing_System

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patiala_State_Monorail_Trainways

http://www.nigeltout.com/html/delhi-museum-12.html

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/103045-the-patiala-state-monorail-trainways

 

[theageofthetra]

A similar system operated in Lisbon.

 

[Taunton]

Rolling stock was propelled along the line by bullocks rather than any form of mechanical propulsion.

This could have suited the Listowel & Ballybunion monorail, where if cattle (apparently a regular freight) were to be carried they had to be in pairs, one each side of the central rail. If their special wagons had the floors removed the cattle could then have propelled the train by being driven to walk along ...

 

[rogerfarnworth]

I like it!

 

[Calthrop]

This could have suited the Listowel & Ballybunion monorail, where if cattle (apparently a regular freight) were to be carried they had to be in pairs, one each side of the central rail. If their special wagons had the floors removed the cattle could then have propelled the train by being driven to walk along ...

There's only one wheel on the line,
And the cows are the power and the freight, too:
Sure there isn't a railway so fine,
Not even the Guayaquil & Quito.

(And if you think that's a forced rhyme, you should see some of the things which our Irish friends get up to in that area.)

 

[AndrewE]

I have been enjoying Adrian Garner's book "Monorails of the 19th Century." I discovered that the first rail link between what was at the time Port Kampala and Kampala itself was a monorail!

Rolling stock was propelled along the line by bullocks rather than any form of mechanical propulsion.

The line was less than 8 miles long and lasted no more than a few years.

These are the details:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/02/28/a-monorail-in-kampala

I think this is more-or-less how the Mestre to Venice trams work, but with rubber-tyred road wheels at the corner of each vehicle.

 

[dazzler]

I think this is more-or-less how the Mestre to Venice trams work, but with rubber-tyred road wheels at the corner of each vehicle.

With the Ewing system, the steel rail was used for propulsion, weight bearing and guidance. With the Translohr (and similar) systems, the steel rail is only for guidance - propulsion and weight bearing is done only through the rubber-tyred road wheels.