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118-597: The Sydney Monorail (originally TNT Harbourlink and later Metro Monorail ) was a single-loop monorail in Sydney , that connected Darling Harbour , Chinatown and the Sydney central business and shopping districts . It opened in July 1988 and closed in June 2013. There were eight stations on the 3.6-kilometre (2.237 mi) loop, with up to six trains operating simultaneously. It served major attractions and facilities such as

236-706: A light rail line, however in November 1985 Transport Minister Laurie Brereton announced a monorail would be built. Initially operated by TNT Harbourlink, the monorail opened on 21 July 1988 after a construction period of 26 months. The first test services ran in October 1987 on a 500-metre section at Darling Harbour. TNT Harbourlink was awarded a 50-year concession until 2038. The original operation hours were to be 06:00 to midnight, but after two years of operation patronage counts were half those expected, and planned stations at Market Street (to be named Casino, as part of

354-423: A railroad double-crossover . Vehicle specifications are generally not open to the public, as is standard for rolling stock built for public services. An alternative to using a wye or other form of switch, is to use a turntable , where a car sits upon a section of track that can be reoriented to several different tracks. For example, this can be used to switch a car from being in a storage location, to being on

472-493: A traverser moved trains in and out of service. Each station stop took 40 seconds, including the time to decelerate, board passengers, and accelerate again. A complete circuit of the route took 12 minutes. It was originally intended for the system to operate automatically, but after a number of breakdowns soon after opening, it was decided to retain drivers, who occupied the first car of each train. Delivered in 1987, six trains of seven carriages were built by Von Roll Holding to

590-410: A 7 1⁄2-inch Merz Telescope that was manufactured in 1860–1861. The EcoLogic exhibition focuses on the challenges facing the environment, human impact, and ways and technologies to stop this effect. There is a house setup called Ecohouse where people toggle light variables to see the outcome as well as other energy use simulators and a 'ecological footprint' game. The exhibition includes a section of

708-643: A Ransom and Jeffries agricultural engine and the Broken Hill Fire Brigade's horse-drawn pump-engine. The museum owns a collection of mechanical musical instruments, of which the fairground barrel organ is located in the steam exhibition, where it is powered by a small fairground engine. The most popular exhibit is arguably the museum's model of the Strasbourg astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral (which at that time

826-556: A building of such fragile materials would be an expensive and "catastrophic" failure. Powerhouse Parramatta is due to open in 2025. In December 2023, Arts Minister John Graham announced that the Ultimo site would be closed from early February for up to three years, to allow for significant upgrades and redevelopment. A new public square is planned, and the entrance will be moved so that it faces The Goods Line walkway from Central Station . On 5 February 2024, Powerhouse Ultimo began

944-416: A cafeteria, as well as some offices. Workshops, library, storage and additional office space is located in the annexed tram sheds (still known in-house as "Stage One"). The size and continually expanding nature of the museum's collection means that offsite storage facilities are also maintained. The new Powerhouse made it possible to rehabilitate hundreds of treasures stored at Alexandria and "exhibit them for

1062-483: A celebration included items from the collection at her ancestral home, Althorp , including her wedding gown, family jewellery and film of Diana as a child. Harry Potter: The Exhibition in 2011–2012 was another popular exhibition, showcasing real costumes and sets from the eight Harry Potter films including the golden snitch, Nimbus 2000 and the Firebolt broomsticks, and various artefacts associated with all of

1180-562: A faulty monorail from a confidence trickster at a wildly inflated price. The Monorail Society, an organization with 14,000 members worldwide, has blamed the episode for sullying the reputation of monorails, to which Simpsons creator Matt Groening responded "That's a by-product of our viciousness...Monorails are great, so it makes me sad, but at the same time if something's going to happen in The Simpsons , it's going to go wrong, right?" The 2005 feature film Batman Begins features

1298-653: A load-bearing single rail and an external wheel for balance. A highspeed monorail using the Lartigue system was proposed in 1901 between Liverpool and Manchester. In 1910, the Brennan gyroscopic monorail was considered for use to a coal mine in Alaska. In June 1920, the French Patent Office published FR 503782, by Henri Coanda, on a 'Transporteur Aérien' -Air Carrier. One of the first monorails planned in

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1416-457: A major industrial location to a cultural, educational and tourism precinct". In January 2019, Lisa Havilah , former director of Carriageworks , took up the position of CEO of MAAS. She became the fourth head of MAAS in 5 1 ⁄ 2 years. As of December 2023 she is still in the role. The museum hosts a number of permanent exhibitions, including many concerning different modes of transport and communication. The Powerhouse Museum houses

1534-557: A manually operated monorail of limited but sufficient capacity for the transport of small timber and firewood in the Northern Surabaya forest district. In later years, this idea was further developed by L. A. van de Ven, who was a forester in the Grobogan forest district around 1908–1910. Monorails were built by plantation operators and wood processing companies throughout the mountains of Central Java. In 1919/1920, however,

1652-829: A monorail, constructed by Bruce Wayne's father through Gotham City, that is part of the climax of the film. The monorail is also included in the spin-off video game . Blaine the Mono is a train featured in Stephen King 's The Dark Tower series of books and first appears in The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands . Monorails have also appeared in a number of other video games including Transport Tycoon (since 1999), Japanese Rail Sim 3D: Monorail Trip to Okinawa by Sonic Powered , SimCity 4: Rush Hour , Cities in Motion 2 , Cities: Skylines in

1770-907: A narrow guide way. Monorail vehicles are wider than the guideway that supports them." Monorails are often elevated, sometimes leading to confusion with other elevated systems such as the Docklands Light Railway , Vancouver SkyTrain , the AirTrain JFK and cable propelled systems like the Cable Liner people mover which run on two rails. Monorail vehicles often appear similar to light rail vehicles, and can be staffed or unstaffed. They can be individual rigid vehicles, articulated single units, or multiple units coupled into trains. Like other advanced rapid transit systems, monorails can be driven by linear induction motors ; like conventional railways, vehicle bodies can be connected to

1888-637: A number of large temporary exhibitions, including ones based on popular cinema franchises such as Star Trek , The Lord of the Rings , and the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibition, showing models, props and costumes from all six Star Wars films, together with recent advances in technology that are turning fantasy into reality. About 95 percent of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences collection

2006-563: A number of unique exhibits including the oldest operational rotative steam engine in the world, the Whitbread Engine . Dating from 1785, it is one of only a handful remaining that was built by Boulton and Watt and was acquired from Whitbread 's London Brewery in 1888. This engine was named a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1986. Another important exhibit

2124-779: A period of temporary closure until 2027 for major redevelopment. Community consultations were due to run until 25 February 2024. The statement of significance for the Federation building says the Powerhouse played a "major part in the 20th-century development of the Ultimo/Pyrmont area and in the wider heritage conservation movement in NSW." and it was part of the Darling Harbour Bicentennial citywide adaptation project, incorporated into "the transition of

2242-481: A single anticlockwise loop with stops at the following stations (in order): The six monorail units were maintained in a purpose-built facility in Pyrmont . A traverser allowed monorail cars to be removed from the main track for maintenance or stabling. Maintenance of track and stations was conducted at night with two special vehicles, named "Buggy" and "Mule". The facility also housed the control room (located above

2360-560: A tree with a time line marked on its rings, dating back to the 17th century. The 'Interface: people, machines, design' explores how humans have been impacted by technology. A gallery of computing technology from the typewriter to the Tamagotchi. It explores successful and not-so successful design approaches made in the computing technology world. "Experimentations" is a science exhibition and contains interactive displays demonstrating aspects of magnetism, light, electricity, motion and

2478-457: A wooden platform (in the full-scale project the trestle would have been concrete). A model train, built to 1/5 scale to test the vehicle concept, was capable of reaching speeds of up to 70 km/h. The full-scale project was expected to reach speeds of up to 300 km/h. In the latter half of the 20th century, monorails had settled on using larger beam- or girder-based track, with vehicles supported by one set of wheels and guided by another. In

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2596-466: Is Locomotive No. 1 , the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger train in New South Wales , built by Robert Stephenson & Company in 1854. The most popular exhibit is arguably "The Strasburg Clock Model", built in 1887 by a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Smith. It is a working model of the famous Strasbourg astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral (which at that time

2714-592: Is a collection of museums in Sydney , and owned by the Government of New South Wales . Its main centre is in Ultimo, New South Wales (Powerhouse Ultimo), the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill , and the newer Powerhouse Castle Hill (previously known as the Museums Discovery Centre) at Castle Hill . Powerhouse Parramatta is due to open in 2025. The Ultimo site

2832-634: Is a well-known and popular Sydney tourist destination. The Federation-style building is listed on the New South Wales Government's State Heritage Register. The Ultimo building, designed by Lionel Glendenning for the Australian Bicentenary in 1988, won the Sir John Sulman Medal for architecture. It includes a specially installed reticulated steam system, run from the old boiler house, to drive

2950-438: Is because Chongqing is criss-crossed by numerous hills, mountains and rivers, therefore tunneling is not feasible except in some cases (for example, lines 1 and 6 ) due to the extreme depth involved. Today it is the largest and busiest monorail system in the world. In July 2009, two Walt Disney World monorails collided , killing one of the drivers and injuring seven passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board found

3068-636: Is featured in the songs "Riding My Train" from the Muppets video Muppets on Wheels and Jaane Kyon from the 2001 Bollywood movie Dil Chahta Hai . Clive James , in his 1991 Postcard from Sydney television special said, "Feted to break even the day hell freezes over, the monorail runs from the middle of downtown Sydney, to the middle of downtown Sydney, after circumnavigating the middle of downtown Sydney". Monorail The term possibly originated in 1897 from German engineer Eugen Langen , who called an elevated railway system with wagons suspended

3186-409: Is maintained in storage at any one time. From late 2004, 60 percent of this was moved to a new 3 hectares (7.4 acres) site in the northwestern Sydney suburb of Castle Hill . Built at a cost of A$ 12 million , this facility consists of seven huge sheds, including one the size of an aircraft hangar , within which are housed artefacts as a section of the mast of HMS  Victory , Nelson 's flagship at

3304-470: Is not integrated with Sydney's wider public transport network and has never been truly embraced by the community. While it has been a controversial part of Sydney's history for more than 20 years, the monorail is reaching the end of its economic life and the NSW Government cannot justify costly upgrades like the purchase of new vehicles required to keep it running. [...] This decision paves the way for

3422-460: Is remarkable in that nearly all of the engines on display are fully operational and are regularly demonstrated working on steam power. Together with the Boulton and Watt engine, and the museum's locomotives, steam truck and traction engines, they are a unique working collection tracing the development of steam power from the 1770s to the 1930s. Engines on display include an 1830s Maudslay engine,

3540-477: Is speeding towards a stricken bridge. The James Bond film franchise features monorails in three movies, all belonging to the villain. In You Only Live Twice (1967) there is a working ground level monorail inside the SPECTRE volcano base. During Live and Let Die (1973), a prop monorail is shown in the villain's lair on the fictional Caribbean island of San Monique. In the 1977 The Spy Who Loved Me there

3658-643: Is the largest suspended plane in any museum in the world, and an example of the most successful flying boat ever introduced and one that was important in connecting Australia by air with the rest of the world after World War II . After involvement in the air-sea rescue squadron, the museum's specimen flew from the Rose Bay flying boat base across the Pacific Ocean on the first uncharted air route between Sydney and Valparaiso , Chile. The use of Catalina flying boats by Qantas Empire Airways after World War II

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3776-481: Is the straddle-beam, in which the train straddles a steel or reinforced concrete beam 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 m) wide. A rubber - tired carriage contacts the beam on the top and both sides for traction and to stabilize the vehicle. The style was popularized by the German company ALWEG . There is also a historical type of suspension monorail developed by German inventors Nicolaus Otto and Eugen Langen in

3894-465: Is to place a moving apparatus on top of a sturdy platform capable of bearing the weight of vehicles, beams and its own mechanism. Multiple-segmented beams move into place on rollers to smoothly align one beam with another to send the train in its desired direction, with the design originally developed by ALWEG capable of completing a switch in 12 seconds. Some of these beam turnouts are quite elaborate, capable of switching between several beams or simulating

4012-567: Is under construction in Wuhu and several "Cloudrail" systems developed by BYD under construction a number of cities such as Guang'an , Liuzhou , Bengbu and Guilin . Monorails have seen continuing use in niche shuttle markets and amusement parks. Modern mass transit monorail systems use developments of the ALWEG beam and tyre approach, with only two suspended types in large use. Monorail configurations have also been adopted by maglev trains . Since

4130-709: Is using the BYD SkyRail design. Other significant monorail systems are under construction such as two lines for the Cairo Monorail , two lines for the MRT (Bangkok) and the SkyRail Bahia in Brazil . Modern monorails depend on a large solid beam as the vehicles' running surface. There are a number of competing designs divided into two broad classes, straddle-beam and suspended monorails. The most common type

4248-555: Is working monorail on the villain's supertanker (submarine dock). In 1987, Lego released a monorail among the Futuron Space line. Despite being the most expensive Lego set of its time (due to being massive and including electrical elements), it was very popular, with Lego releasing a Town themed monorail in 1990 and another Space monorail in 1994 among the Unitron line, as well as additional track. The monorail system

4366-671: The Eugen Langen One-railed Suspension Tramway (Einschieniges Hängebahnsystem Eugen Langen). Monorails have found applications in airport transfers and medium capacity metros. To differentiate monorails from other transport modes, the Monorail Society defines a monorail as a "single rail serving as a track for passenger or freight vehicles. In most cases, rail is elevated, but monorails can also run at grade , below grade, or in subway tunnels. Vehicles either are suspended from or straddle

4484-597: The 1964–1965 World's Fair . This high-cost perception was challenged most notably in 1963 when the ALWEG consortium proposed to finance the construction of a major system in Los Angeles County, California , in return for the right of operation. This was turned down by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors under pressure from Standard Oil of California and General Motors (which were strong advocates for automobile dependency ), and

4602-454: The Bradford and Foster Brook Railway was built in 1877 and ran for one year from January 1878 until January 1879. Around 1879 a "one-rail" system was proposed independently by Haddon and by Stringfellow, which used an inverted "V" rail (and thus shaped like "Λ" in cross-section). It was intended for military use, but was also seen to have civilian use as a "cheap railway." Similarly, one of

4720-537: The Centennial Monorail demonstrated in 1876, in 1877 the Bradford and Foster Brook Railway began construction of a 5 mi (8.0 km) line connecting Bradford and Foster Township, McKean County in Pennsylvania . The line operated from 1878 until 1879 delivering machinery and oil supplies. The first twin-boiler locomotive wore out quickly. It was replaced by a single boiler locomotive which

4838-518: The Changsha Maglev Express ). However, it is argued that the larger width of the guideway for the maglevs makes it not legitimate to be called monorails. Some early monorails (notably the suspended monorail at Wuppertal , Germany) have a design that makes it difficult to switch from one line to another. Some other monorails avoid switching as much as possible by operating in a continuous loop or between two fixed stations, as in

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4956-553: The Interstate Highway System . Monorails in particular may have suffered from the reluctance of public transit authorities to invest in the perceived high cost of un-proven technology when faced with cheaper mature alternatives. There were also many competing monorail technologies, splitting their case further. One notable example of a public monorail is the AMF Monorail that was used as transportation around

5074-609: The Lartigue Monorail , used steam locomotives. Magnetic levitation train (maglev) systems such as the German Transrapid were built as straddle-type monorails. The Shanghai Maglev Train runs in commercial operation at 430 km/h (270 mph), and there are also slower maglev monorails intended for urban transport in Japan ( Linimo ), Korea ( Incheon Airport Maglev ) and China ( Beijing Subway Line S1 and

5192-802: The Lausanne Metro has grades of up to 12% and the Montreal Metro up to 6.5%, while VAL systems can handle 7% grades. Manufacturers of monorail rolling stock with operating systems include Hitachi Monorail , BYD , Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom ), Scomi , PBTS (a joint venture of CRRC Nanjing Puzhen & Bombardier), Intamin and EMTC. Other developers include CRRC Qingdao Sifang , China Railway Science and Industry Group , Zhongtang Air Rail Technology, Woojin and SkyWay Group . François Truffaut 's 1966 film adaptation of Ray Bradbury 's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 contains suspended monorail exterior scenes filmed at

5310-541: The Mass transit expansion pack of 2017, Planet Zoo and a rideable elevated monorail system in the 2020 video game Cyberpunk 2077 . From 1950 to 1980, the monorail concept may have suffered, as with all public transport systems, from competition with the automobile . At the time, the post–World War II optimism in America was riding high and people were buying automobiles in large numbers due to suburbanization and

5428-526: The Powerhouse Museum , Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre . The system was operated by Veolia Transport Sydney , a former subsidiary of Veolia Transport and a subsidiary of Veolia Transdev at the time of cessation. As part of the redevelopment of 50 ha (123.553 acres) of land at Darling Harbour , it was proposed to build a transport link to the Sydney central business district . Sydney City Council preferred

5546-500: The Powerhouse Museum . Two carriages are being used as meeting rooms at Google 's Pyrmont offices. Payment for single journeys was made by tokens inserted into the turnstile. For multiple journeys, customers could purchase pre-paid cards. TNT launched the Harbourlink card shortly after the monorail opened. The next card type was introduced when CGEA Transport (later Metro Transport Sydney) took over monorail operations. This card

5664-484: The Seattle Center Monorail . Current monorails are capable of more efficient switching than in the past. With suspended monorails, switching may be accomplished by moving flanges inside the beamway to shift trains to one line or another. Straddle-beam monorails require that the beam moves for switching, which was an almost prohibitively ponderous procedure. Now the most common way of achieving this

5782-651: The Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum of New South Wales (1879–1882) and the Technological Museum (August 1893 – March 1988). As of 2022, the collection contains over 500,000 objects collected over the last 135 years, many of which are displayed or housed at the site it has occupied since 1988, and for which it is named – a converted electric tram power station in the Inner West suburb of Ultimo , originally constructed in 1902 and

5900-695: The Transrapid and Linimo . Maglevs differ from other monorails in that they do not physically contact the beam while moving. The first monorail prototype was made in Russia in 1820 by Ivan Elmanov . Attempts at creating monorail alternatives to conventional railways have been made since the early part of the 19th century. The Centennial Monorail was featured at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. Based on its design

6018-494: The elevated train systems of New York, Chicago, and elsewhere, a monorail beamway casts a narrow shadow. Conversely, monorails can be more expensive than light-rail systems that do not include tunnels. In addition, monorails must either remain above ground or use larger tunnels than conventional rail systems, and they require complex track-switching equipment. Under the Monorail Society's beam-width criterion, some, but not all, maglev systems are considered monorails, such as

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6136-434: The old Transdev to form Veolia Transdev , and Veolia Transport Sydney became a subsidiary of Veolia Transdev (now Transdev ). The Government of New South Wales bought both the monorail and the light rail service from Metro Transport Sydney on 23 March 2012 to enable it to extend the light rail system without having to negotiate with the private owners, and to remove the monorail from the area near Haymarket required for

6254-519: The 1880s. It was built in the twin cities of Barmen and Elberfeld in Wuppertal, Germany, opened in 1901, and is still in operation. The Chiba Urban Monorail is the world's largest suspended network. Almost all modern monorails are powered by electric motors fed by dual third rails , contact wires or electrified channels attached to or enclosed in their guidance beams, but diesel-powered monorail systems also exist. Historically some systems, such as

6372-579: The 1950s, a 40% scale prototype of a system designed for speed of 200 mph (320 km/h) on straight stretches and 90 mph (140 km/h) on curves was built in Germany. There were designs with vehicles supported, suspended or cantilevered from the beams. In the 1950s the ALWEG straddle design emerged, followed by an updated suspended type, the SAFEGE system. Versions of ALWEG's technology are used by

6490-536: The 1980s, most monorail mass transit systems are in Japan , with a few exceptions. Tokyo Monorail , is one of the world's busiest, averages 127,000 passengers per day and has served over 1.5 billion passengers since 1964. China recently started development of monorails in the late 2000s, already home to the world's largest and busiest monorail system and has a number of mass transit monorails under construction in several of cities. A Bombardier Innovia Monorail -based system

6608-738: The 1980s. Arts oriented temporary exhibitions have included the Fabergé exhibition, the Treasures of Palestine exhibition, the Strictly Mardi Gras exhibition, the Christian Dior exhibition, the Audrey Hepburn exhibition, Kylie: an exhibition – a tribute to Kylie Minogue and her contribution to music, stage and screen, featuring many of her costumes. An exhibition about Diana, Princess of Wales , called Diana:

6726-515: The 2000s, with the rise of traffic congestion and urbanization, there has been a resurgence of interest in the technology for public transport with a number of cities, such as Malta and Istanbul , today investigating monorails as a possible mass transit solution. In 2004, Chongqing Rail Transit in China adopted a unique ALWEG-based design with rolling stock that is much wider than most monorails, with capacity comparable to heavy rail . This

6844-509: The Darling Park station resulting in hospitalisation of four people. On 24 September 2012, just before 14:00, an Ausgrid failure in a local underground cable led to a complete shutdown of the system resulting in the need for cherry-pickers to come to rescue approximately 100 stranded passengers, a process which took several hours. It was the first time since 2000 that Fire & Rescue New South Wales had to be called to help people from

6962-609: The French SAFEGE test track in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire near Orléans , France (since dismantled). The Thunderbirds February 1966 episode " Brink of Disaster " is about the financing and building of a high speed driverless cross-country monorail project. Two of the Thunderbirds-crew find themselves trapped on board the a monorail train, and with no possibility of escape, when it is discovered it

7080-426: The NSW government announced it had abandoned plans to relocate three of the Powerhouse Museum's biggest exhibits – the Boulton and Watt steam engine, the Locomotive No. 1, and the Catalina flying boat. The planned three centres of Sydney's Powerhouse Museum were the existing building at Ultimo, the Parramatta riverside, Museum Discovery Centre at Castle Hill and the Sydney Observatory. The decision to keep Ultimo site

7198-479: The Type III specification. Each seated 48 passengers, with the driver occupying the leading carriage. (They were designed to seat 56, using all seven carriages.) The first was displayed at the Trans Public Show in Geneva , Switzerland in May 1987. The monorail trains ran on rubber wheels, and each seven-car train had six 37-kilowatt (50 hp) traction motors , permitting a normal operating speed of 33 km/h (21 mph). The doors of each car were automatic, and

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7316-493: The United States was in New York City in the early 1930s, scrubbed for an elevated train system. The first half of the 20th century saw many further proposed designs that either never left the drawing board or remained short-lived prototypes. One of the most interesting projects created on the layout was the ball-bearing train by Nikolai Grigorievich Yarmolchuk. This train moved on spherical wheels with electric motors embedded in them, which were located in semi-circular chutes under

7434-439: The areas of technology, science, engineering and design at two major locations", and that like other large collections such as the Smithsonian museums in the United States, multiple centres would display the institution's collections. While Government Ministers argued the decision would be a "win-win" for Sydney and Parramatta, critics argued it would be a "lose-lose", with both cities losing important heritage. On 29 July 2020,

7552-445: The beam via bogies , allowing curves to be negotiated. Monorails are sometimes used in urban areas alongside conventional parallel railed metro systems. Mumbai Monorail serves alongside Mumbai Metro , while monorail lines are integrated with conventional rail rapid transit lines in Bangkok's MRT network. Unlike some trams and light rail systems, modern monorails are always separated from other traffic and pedestrians due to

7670-418: The blaze despite a 5-storey plunge. Maiden commenced rebuilding the collection, but for the subsequent decade the new museum found itself housed in a large tin shed in The Domain , a facility it shared with the Sydney Hospital morgue . The ever-present stench of decaying corpses was not the best advertisement for an institution dedicated to the promotion of sanitation. Eventually – after intense lobbying –

7788-489: The cause of the accident to be human error by both the driver and controller, contributed to by a lack of standard operating procedures. São Paulo , Brazil, is building two high-capacity monorail lines as part of its public transportation network. Line 15 was partially opened in 2014, will be 27 km (17 mi) long when completed in 2022 and has a capacity of 40,000 pphpd using Bombardier Innovia Monorail trains. Line 17 will be 17.7 km (11.0 mi) long and

7906-420: The clock displays the position of the planets, the days of the month, solar time , lunar phases and analog time . The Space exhibition looks at space and discoveries relating to it. It includes a life size model space-shuttle cockpit. It has a feature on Australian satellites and joins the Transport exhibit through an underground temporary exhibit walkway and two side entrances. The Powerhouse Museum has

8024-442: The conclusion of the exhibition, the Australian Museum (Sydney's museum of natural history) appointed a committee to select the best exhibits with the intention of exhibiting them permanently in a new museum to be sited within the Garden Palace. The new museum was to be called The Technological, Industrial, and Sanitary Museum of New South Wales; its purpose was to exhibit the latest industrial, construction and design innovations with

8142-456: The decrepit Ultimo Power Station , several hundred metres north of the Harris Street site had been earmarked as the museum's new permanent home along with the adjoining former Ultimo Tram Depot . The museum spent an interim period exhibiting as the Powerhouse Museum – Stage One in the nearby tram sheds before re-opening as the Powerhouse Museum at the new site on 10 March 1988. The main museum building contains five levels, three courtyards and

8260-475: The development of a world class Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct as the NSW Government gets on with the job of making NSW number one again. Deputy Mayor of Hobart , Alderman , Ron Christie unsuccessfully asked the NSW government to donate the monorail to Hobart to allow it to be used on a route from the CBD to the northern suburbs. Google purchased two carriages for use as meeting rooms at its Pyrmont office. The monorail

8378-528: The electric current through the glowing gas inside it, and changes when touched. The museum holds an extensive and significant collection of Doulton ware and other ceramics, as well as industrial equipment and industrial design, such as furniture. Various exhibitions have paid tribute to Australian popular culture. Some of these have included On the box: great moments in Australian television 1956–2006 tribute to 50 years of Australian television and The 80s are back which looks back at life in Australia in

8496-422: The expanded Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre . Veolia Transport Sydney continued to operate the light rail and monorail after the government takeover. The monorail ceased operating on 30 June 2013 and all sections of track and some of the stations have been dismantled. Around 70 million passenger journeys were made on the line during its lifetime. Two carriages and 10 metres of track have been preserved at

8614-490: The final station structure was being built. In January 2015, 22 carriages were put up for sale on Gumtree at $ 3,000 per carriage. Many of these carriages were subsequently sold to an Australian expatriate now living in Taiwan . One was sold to a pair of radio hosts. Four, which comprise the only set of carriages preserved with all running gear that includes both a front and a rear carriage as well as middle carriages, other than

8732-584: The first monorail locomotive was a 0-3-0 steam locomotive on this line. A high-speed monorail using the Lartigue system was proposed in 1901 between Liverpool and Manchester. The Boynton Bicycle Railroad was a steam-powered monorail in Brooklyn on Long Island , New York . It ran on a single load-bearing rail at ground level, but with a wooden overhead stabilising rail engaged by a pair of horizontally opposed wheels. The railway operated for only two years beginning in 1890. The Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad

8850-483: The first systems put into practical use was that of French engineer Charles Lartigue, who built a line between Ballybunion and Listowel in Ireland, opened in 1888 and lasting 36 years, being closed in 1924 (due to damage from Ireland's Civil War). It used a load-bearing single rail and two lower, external rails for balance, the three carried on triangular supports. It was cheap to construct but tricky to operate. Possibly

8968-524: The first time in almost a century". In 1982, the museum incorporated the Sydney Observatory . The museum moved to 500 Harris Street in March 1988, and took its new name from the new location. Following its closure as a working observatory in 1982, Sydney Observatory was incorporated into the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, as the museum was still formally known, though from 1988 this name

9086-543: The floor level was self-adjusting via an automatic suspension system. Each train was 32.12 metres (105.4 ft) long, 2.06 metres (6 ft 9 in) wide, and 2.6 metres (8 ft 6 in) high. Set 1 was stored following a significant collision between it and Set 4 in early 2010. The last carriage in Set 1 was removed from the set, and used to replace the damaged last carriage in Set 4. When operations ceased in June 2013, sets 2 – 6 were operational. The monorail operated in

9204-515: The full train preserved by the Sydney Electric Train Society , were sold to a Sydney resident who plans to restore them to running condition. As of November 2024, 3 Monorail Stations remain. These being Darling Park, Chinatown and World Square. The Convention and Galleries Victoria stations were demolished just after the monorail closed, Paddys Market was demolished in 2015, City Circle was demolished in 2019 and Harbourside

9322-518: The gaming venue planned to be built on the site) and Harbour Street (to be named Gardenside) were not built for some time. After TNT was purchased by PTT in January 1997 and merged to form TNT Post Group in 1998, TNT decided to dispose of its businesses not centred on mail and logistics services, including the Sydney monorail. On 10 August 1998, TNT sold the monorail to CGEA Transport Sydney, which

9440-574: The geometry of the rail. They are both guided and supported via interaction with the same single beam, in contrast to other guided systems like rubber-tyred metros , such as the Sapporo Municipal Subway ; or guided buses or trams, such as Translohr . Monorails can also use pantographs . As with other grade-separated transit systems, monorails avoid red lights, intersection turns, and traffic jams. Surface-level trains, buses, automobiles, and pedestrians can collide each one with

9558-538: The hand-operated monorails gradually disappeared and were replaced by narrow-gauge railways with steam locomotives as forest utilization changed. In the 1920s the Port of Hamburg used a petrol powered, suspended monorail to transport luggage and freight from ocean-going vessels to a passenger depot. Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum , formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences ( MAAS ),

9676-510: The intention of showing how improvements in the living standards and health of the population might be brought about. In September 1882, before the new museum could be opened a fire completely destroyed the Garden Palace, leaving the museum's first curator, Joseph Henry Maiden with a collection consisting of only the most durable artefacts including a Ceylonese statue of an elephant carved in graphite that had miraculously survived

9794-714: The large, rare steam machines in its collection. The Powerhouse Museum has its origins in a recommendation of the trustees of the Australian Museum in 1878 and the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879 and Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880 . The Sydney International Exhibition was held in the Garden Palace , a purpose-built exhibition building located in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens . At

9912-534: The later proposed subway system faced criticism by famed author Ray Bradbury as it had yet to reach the scale of the proposed monorail. Several monorails initially conceived as transport systems survive on revenues generated from tourism , benefiting from the unique views offered from the largely elevated installations. Monorails have been used for number of applications other than passenger transportation. Small suspended monorail are also widely used in factories either as part of moveable assembly lines. Inspired by

10030-497: The legacy systems in use today. However, monorails gained little foothold compared to conventional transport systems. In March 1972, Alejandro Goicoechea-Omar had patent DE1755198 published, on a 'Vertebrate Train', build as experimental track in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Niche private enterprise uses for monorails emerged, with the emergence of air travel and shopping malls , with shuttle-type systems being built. From

10148-472: The line. Transport for New South Wales released a document called "Monorail Removal Project Interpretation Strategy" in July 2013. Premier Barry O'Farrell said on 23 March 2012 regarding its removal: This is good news for Sydney – it delivers certainty for business wanting to invest in the Darling Harbour precinct and allows the efficient development of the light rail network. [...] The monorail

10266-408: The main characters. In 2011, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Wiggles , the Powerhouse mounted The Wiggles Exhibition , which exhibited memorabilia from the group as well as from The Cockroaches , since two of the group were previously members of The Cockroaches . Due to its popularity, the exhibition was kept as one of the museum's permanent exhibitions. Since 1988, the Powerhouse hosted

10384-409: The main line. The now-closed Sydney Monorail had a traverser at the depot, which allowed a train on the main line to be exchanged with another from the depot. There were about six lines in the depot, including one for maintenance. Rubber-tired monorails are typically designed to cope with a 6% grade . Rubber-tired light rail or metro lines can cope with similar or greater grades – for example,

10502-486: The maintenance area), as well as administration and staff amenities. The decision to build the monorail over other forms of public transport such as light rail was seen as a political decision. There were protests against the monorail's construction during its construction and before its construction. On 28 July 1988, an electrical fault caused the system to cease operating. Fifty passengers were stranded in carriages for two hours between 3:50 and 5:50 pm. TNT Harbourlink

10620-404: The maximum gradient 4.4% uphill and 6.5% downhill. Power was supplied at 500 V AC to power the train, via a sheathed conductor below the running plate of the track. A control rail was also provided for train control, and a generator provided to clear trains from the track in emergencies. The train control and maintenance facility was located between Convention and Paddy's Market stations, where

10738-596: The monorail car. A surviving suspended version is the oldest still in service system: the Wuppertal monorail in Germany. Also in the early 1900s, Gyro monorails with cars gyroscopically balanced on top of a single rail were tested, but never developed beyond the prototype stage. The Ewing System , used in the Patiala State Monorail Trainways in Punjab, India , relies on a hybrid model with

10856-455: The monorail in early 2001 to the SLRC, but remained as the operator of the monorail. As a result, SLRC owned both the monorail and light rail and combined with CGEA Transport to form Metro Transport Sydney . The monorail operator was renamed to Veolia Transport Sydney in 2005 as part of the global Veolia rebranding from Connex to Veolia Transport . In 2011, Veolia Transport globally merged with

10974-664: The museum was relocated to a three-storey building; a temporary home at the Agricultural Hall in the Domain, a new, purpose-built premises in Harris Street , Ultimo and was given a new name: the "Technological Museum". The new location placed the museum adjacent to the Sydney Technical College , and as such it was intended to provide material inspiration to the students. As time passed, its name

11092-482: The old Powerhouse site in Ultimo, containing of 30,000 square metres, with about half (18,000 square metres) slated for exhibition and public space. The NSW Government promised to develop the new facility to international standards and engineered to present larger objects from the collection including the Catalina flying boat and Locomotive No.1 but proposals for lending the large items to different organisations across

11210-481: The other side of which is the Governor of New South Wales 's railway carriage, of the 1880s. Also in this exhibition is the original Central railway station destination board , relocated to the museum in the 1980s when the station was refurbished. Powerhouse Museum restored the locomotives 3830 , restored to operational order in 1997 and 3265 , restored in 2009 after 40 years off the rails. Sydney's last Hansom Cab

11328-488: The other, while vehicles on dedicated, grade-separated rights-of-way such as monorails can collide only with other vehicles on the same system, with much fewer opportunities for collision. As with other elevated transit systems, monorail passengers receive sunlight and views. Monorails can be quieter than diesel buses and trains. They obtain electricity from the track structure, whereas other modes of transit may use either third rail or overhead power lines and poles. Compared to

11446-456: The plan was revisited and the move was confirmed with a decision made to close the Ultimo site between June 2020, and early 2021. The final design for a new venue was unveiled in December 2019. The former site was to become a Broadway style theatre and fashion museum. In July 2020, the decision to close the site and relocate the collections was reversed. The proposed new venue was larger than

11564-488: The proposed area flooded for the second time in two years, and even with increased setback from the river, experts were concerned about irreparable damage from increased humidity to items in the collection, especially delicate ones made of paper, textile and wood. In November 2020, revised plans to move Willow Grove "brick by brick" also created further controversy, with the National Trust advising that dismantling

11682-472: The public on a number of grounds, including loss of cultural heritage, risk and cost. The main concerns expressed about the proposed move included: On 4 July 2020, it was decided to keep and renovate the Ultimo building instead of demolishing it and relocating its collections, and build an additional venue in Parramatta. The NSW Premier said this would allow for "an outstanding visitor experience in

11800-401: The senses. These include a machine that explains how chocolate is made and lets one taste four 'stages' of chocolate. There is a full-sized model of the front of a firetruck that measures the pedal-power used to sound its horn and lights, and a hand-powered model railway using a magnetic system to provide electric current to the track. One of the most popular features is a plasma ball that shows

11918-513: The state were in train since 2019, and concern persisted about risks, logistics and decontextualisation of exhibits. The insecurity, the "deluge of controversy" and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage sector made planning extremely difficult. The proposed closure and move attracted wide-ranging criticism from museum experts, architectural heritage and urban design experts, cultural and business leaders, and

12036-806: The two largest monorail manufacturers, Hitachi Monorail and Bombardier . In 1956, the first monorail to operate in the US began test operations in Houston, Texas. Disneyland in Anaheim, California , opened the United States' first daily operating monorail system in 1959. Later during this period, additional monorails were installed at Walt Disney World in Florida , Seattle , and in Japan . Monorails were promoted as futuristic technology with exhibition installations and amusement park purchases, as seen by

12154-482: Was a monorail on which a matching pedal bicycle could be ridden. The first example was built between Smithville and Mount Holly , New Jersey, in 1892. It closed in 1897. Other examples were built in Norfolk from 1895 to 1909, Great Yarmouth , and Blackpool , UK from 1896. Early designs used a double- flanged single metal rail alternative to the double rail of conventional railways, both guiding and supporting

12272-544: Was also prominent in the unreleased Seatron Space line and prototype Wild West sets. Its popularity has still endured over thirty years later, where Lego has paid homage in promotional sets and fans have manufactured compatible components. The fourth season of the American animated television show The Simpsons features the episode " Marge vs. the Monorail ", in which the town of Springfield impulsively purchases

12390-484: Was based on magnetic stripe technology and called the METROCard. Shortly before the closure of the Monorail, a new contactless card was introduced called smart. The track was a steel box girder of 94 centimetres (37 in) width, raised at a minimum height of 5.5 metres (18 ft) from ground level on steel columns 20 to 40 metres (66 to 131 ft) apart. The minimum curve radius was 20 metres (66 ft), and

12508-423: Was called Strassburg or Strasburg). Smith had never actually seen the original when he built it but worked from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions. The Catalina Flying Boat Frigate Bird II on display in the museum is the one that Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor flew on the first flight from Australia to South America, in which he brought home 29 soldiers from New Guinea in 1945. It

12626-409: Was called Strassburg or Strasburg). The reproduction is a working model built between 1887 and 1889 by a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Bartholomew Smith, who had never actually seen the original when he built it but worked from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions. The museum acquired it in 1890. Made from carved and painted wood with gold painted detailing,

12744-523: Was changed to The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences and it also established branches in some of New South Wales' main industrial and mining centres, including Broken Hill , Albury , Newcastle and Maitland . It also quickly outgrew the main Harris Street site and by 1978 the situation had become dire, with many exhibits literally stuffed into its attic, and left unexhibited for decades. On 23 August 1978, Premier Neville Wran announced that

12862-441: Was criticised for failing to call emergency services until 5:40; by the time the fire brigade arrived at the scene, the passengers were en route to disembarking at a station. In July 1992, monorail services were suspended due to a fire in a wool store building which caused a wall to collapse 'within metres' of TNT Harbourlink's central control room offices. On 27 February 2010, at approximately 16:00, two monorail trains collided at

12980-399: Was demolished in 2013. Sixty steel beams were recycled to build a temporary bridge to take Brookhollow Avenue over Norwest station during its construction between 2014 and 2017. The temporary bridge allowed the station to be dug underneath Brookhollow Avenue, allowing the road to be closed for only a few months instead of three years as originally proposed. The bridge was dismantled in 2017 as

13098-640: Was demolished in 2023. Eleven carriages from three of the six monorail trains have been preserved and two carriages converted. The Monorail system was used for scenes in The Saint: Fear in Fun Park and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie , where one train set had " Angel Grove " painted on it. It was also briefly featured in the 1995 Australian film Napoleon and the 1999 Australian cult film Two Hands . The monorail

13216-633: Was donated to the museum by its driver, who left it at the gates of the Harris Street building. There is also a horse-drawn bus and collection of motorbikes. Suspended aeroplanes, which can be viewed from balconies, include the Catalina flying boat and a Queenair Scout, the first Flying Doctor Service plane. Among the cars is a 1913 Sheffield Simplex, one of only 8 in the world. A four-minute film shows old footage of public transport. The Powerhouse Museum also has Sydney trams C11 (1898), O805 (1909), R1738 (1938. 1st of its type), steam tram motor 28A, hearse car 27s and Manly horse car 292. This exhibition

13334-431: Was made in the context of increasing public awareness of the cultural damage that would be done by closing the Powerhouse, along with the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage . The design of the Parramatta venue was subsequently amended by reducing the proposed presentation floor space and researcher apartments, along with a greater setback to the river. In March 2021, during heavy rains,

13452-625: Was no longer used in marketing materials in favour of the Powerhouse Museum brand. In February 2015, the State Government controversially announced that the Powerhouse Museum would be relocated to Parramatta . However this plan was reviewed, and an announcement from the NSW government in April 2017, suggested that the museum would stay in its current location. A decision to remain was announced on 18 July 2017. In 2018,

13570-603: Was owned by CGEA Transport (later renamed Connex, then Veolia Transport ) (51%) and Australian Infrastructure Fund (19%), Utilities Trust of Australia (19%) and Legal & General (11%). The latter three also owned the Sydney Light Rail Company (SLRC), which owned the Metro Light Rail (now Sydney Light Rail) on a 30.5 year concession since 1997 by the Government of New South Wales . Connex (renamed from CGEA Transport in 1999) sold its share of

13688-453: Was scheduled to be closed for three years from February 2024 for redevelopment. Although often described as a science museum , the Powerhouse has a diverse collection encompassing all sorts of technology including decorative arts , science , communication , transport , costume , furniture , media , computer technology , space technology and steam engines . The museum has existed in various guises for over 125 years, previously named

13806-463: Was significant in the development of Australia's commercial air services. The transport exhibition looks at transport through the ages, from horse-drawn carts through steam engines, cars and planes to the latest hybrid technology. On display is Steam Locomotive No. 1243 , which served for 87 years, oldest contractor built locomotive in Australia. It stands beside a mock-up of a railway platform, on

13924-463: Was too heavy and crashed through the track on its third trip. The third locomotive again had twin boilers. On a trial run one of the boilers ran dry and exploded, killing six people. The railway was closed soon after. Monorails in Central Java were used to transport timber from the forests of Central Java located in the mountains to the rivers. In 1908 and 1909, the forester H. J. L. Beck built

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