George Bennie Railplane
The Bennie Railplane was a rail-based transport , which the Scottish engineer and inventor George Bennie was developed (1891-1957). The vehicle moved while hanging on a mounting rail, the guidance was taken over by the mounting rail as well as by an additional guide rail underneath the vehicle. The drive was carried out by means of propellers at the front and rear of the vehicle.
The system is not a monorail because a separate guide rail is used in addition to the mounting rail.
With his invention, George Bennie wanted to offer safe, fast passenger transport that could not yet be achieved with the railway technology of the time:
- Separation of fast passenger traffic from slow freight traffic
- Drive and brake independent of the friction between wheel and rail
- Track guidance that is not influenced by the sinusoidal run.
In Milngavie near Glasgow, the inventor set up a 120-meter-long test track above an LNER industrial track to check the concept. The route was opened on July 8, 1930 and presented to the press. There were plans for railplane routes between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and between Southport and Blackpool . These projects could not be implemented because no funding was found. In 1937 George Bennie was bankrupt and the system was no longer pursued. The test route was canceled in 1956.
Web links
- Dewi's Trains, Trams & Trolleys: The George Bennie Railplane / Monorail
Individual evidence
- ^ Dewi's Trains, Trams & Trolleys: The George Bennie Railplane / Monorail , accessed April 6, 2012.
- ^ JK Gillon: The Bennie Railplane System , accessed April 6, 2012.
- ↑ NAHSTE Project: Bennie, George, 1892-1957, engineer and inventor ( Memento of 12 May 2012 at the Internet Archive retrieved), 6 April 2012