Designer Times
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60. Monorail Design Mk III & IV Case History

The easiest way to follow the Case History would be to refer to three previous Designer Times:

1) August 14, 2002 Story No. 28, Disneyland Mk III Monorail described in detail how we developed the Mk III.

2) January 8, 2003 Story No. 33, Walt Disney World Mk IV Monorail detailed how both Monorails were developed by the same team using the same business practices. The WDW Mk IV was a growth version of the DL Mk III, which was then about to start production for Disneyland. Thus there was no finish point to the Mk III project followed by a start up for the Mk IV, just a continuous design and manufacturing project that would ultimately span a (6) year time frame from 1965 to 1971.

3) March 9, 2005 Story No. 59, How Designers Design looked at the basic philosophy designers use, most specifically how I approached my craft.

If you read all this, one might ask How Exactly Does One Design a Monorail.

OK.....The Monorail Train taken as a completed whole can be seen as so complex that it intimidates the mind. So let's try this; break the deal down into major groups, then bust them down to sub-systems, then further reduce those to individual parts. Now we have a single part that is not at all intimidating.

I'll illustrate this by how an automobile is described. Look at a parts manual for most any car and you'll see that the various components are broken down into logical groups. Power train - body - suspension - brakes - exhaust - fuel system - electrical - interior - trim, and so on.

Now look again at power train. Engine - transmission - drive line, etc. Look even further. Engine splits into engine block - cylinder head - valve train, and a bunch more smaller bits. A closer look at valve train reveals valve - valve guide - valve spring and such. Now you have a $2 piece in your hand that you can clearly understand. Same deal with a new Disneyland Monorail Train, even if a monorail was a new kind of transportation in America. By using prior knowledge of how automobiles are described, I could do the same for a Monorail that doesn't exist yet.

A Monorail train has cars....cars are front, rear, and mid. A car would have it's main structure - propulsion - drive train - suspension - brakes - electrical, etc. Electrical would consist of power pick up - power switchgear - cab controls - electrical wiring, to name a few. Cab control could list main switch - power lever - brake valving - instrument display and such.

Go back to the suspension. We get load wheels - side wheels - load arms - side arms - side springs.....you get it? We have a thing we need which can be easily described.....maybe something weighing 2 pounds and costing $10.

Not very intimidating even though you've never seen one of these before. But it has well known characteristics that can be described in words so you can go shopping for one. If you can't find a part that already exists, then you have a part you are going to have to design.

Repeat this process hundreds of times and you'll wind up with a whole bunch of bits, some store-bought, some manufactured specifically as Monorail parts. Stick them all together in sub-assemblies, put those together, mount them all into the main car structure, and you're back to where you started....a complete Monorail Train. Not at all so intimidating as you first thought when Walt said "Hey Bobby, we're gonna build a Monorail for Disneyland".

Alright, you got the thing mentally broken down into groups of parts....now what? Knowing that all the Disneyland projects were fast track; that is to say that construction will start long before all the designing is finished.

There will be no complete drawing package available for a total review and corporate approval before the manufacturing is to begin. Design and build on the fly. Big question....what has to get built first? What stuff can wait until the last minute?

But there's the inescapable initial question....just how am I going to figure this thing out? Here's how I do it: I have in mind the overall looks, I have most of the basic dimensional limits as well as the number of passengers we need to provide for. And I have tons of equipment catalogs to look for parts I can use. I'm a long time car guy, so my heads full of car and truck stuff.