A Daring "Old Man" On Flying Monorail, Published 7 May 1958 COLOGNE
(Delayed- The daring old man on the flying trapeze who flew through the
air with the greatest of ease turned out to be none other than me! Yesterday, in this ancient city on the Rhine I rode a monorail. To be exact, I was a passenger on the Alweg-Bahn for the. length of the "tracks", an aerial venture of exactly 1.8 kilometers. Years ago, people talked of the monorail as an escape from noisy and space-taking elevated railways. I believe there is one in Texas and at least another in Germany. What perhaps focuses more than normal attention on this particular monorail is that Axel Wenner-Gren, super capitalist, on a visit to British Columbia, suggested to Premier Bennett that the ore from developments way back in the mountains beyond road or rail might be brought to the smelter or the outside world on a monorail I find it almost impossible to describe the Alweg-Bahnn except to say that this car, as it rides through the air. is on top of and on both sides of the concrete and steel track. The monorail passes through the car as it rolls up there in the sky. It has been geared to 80 kilometers an hour, or about 50 miles. It can be accelerated to perhaps 120, or 75 mph, if such a speed were practical |