Monday, August 16, 2010
Who was the 2700th visitor?
It was someone from Wuppertal, Germany. Could it be Emperor Wilhelm II?
The Schwebebahn Wuppertal, literally translated as the "Floating Railway of Wuppertal," has a storied past. First, it is the world's oldest monorail, and, as a "suspended" monorail, it runs by hanging onto a single rail above it. Second, while it is one of the world's safest transport systems — with an astonishing safety run of ninety six years without a serious accident — it recently had its first fatal crash. And of course, there was that incident with the elephant...
The Schwebebahn Wuppertal (pronounced "Woopertall") is the most important public transport system in Wuppertal. Mounted on a 13.3-kilometer long, 7- to 13-meter tall iron bridge, the monorail provides a nice view to all who ride on it.
Despite looking like something out of the future, the suspended monorail is quite old. Originally proposed in 1824, the cars were to be pulled by horse teams on the ground. While a prototype was built, the full system was never constructed for political reasons. But in 1898 the idea of a suspended monorail was dusted off, this time to be powered by electricity. Building started in 1901, and by 1903, at a cost of 16 million Goldmark, the monorail was open. Emperor Wilhelm II took the inaugural ride
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