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Scale Beamway

The worst part of the Disney model is the oddly shaped beamway. It looks nothing like the prototype and detracts from what is otherwise a pretty good scale model. The good news is it can be corrected. The bad news, of course, it isn't easy.

Getting scale beamway is not that bad, Lowes, Home Depot, and other building supply stores have it. Oh, they call it things like vinyl siding and vinyl molding but what do they know? ;) In reality, vinyl molding makes great beamway, just plane it to the proper thickness, cut it to the proper height, sculpt it to the appropriate contour and it looks very much like concrete beamway! It can be formed into curves and elevation changes, and it even takes a set when formed correctly.

The prototype beam width can be anywhere from 20" to 35", with 26" used for the Walt Disney World system. The beam height for this system is from 48" in the center to 80" at the endpoints. The table below shows some common scale dimensions for the beam.

Scale	Width	Minimum Height	End Height
Prototype	26"	48"	80"
HO (1/87)	0.30"	0.55"	0.92"
N (1/160)	0.163"	0.30"	0.50"

Our N Scale beam measures 5mm wide x 20mm high, not quite to scale but it looks better that way (probably because the model is not quite to scale either).

 

Modifying the monorail is a bit more work. Ok, a *lot* more work. The wedge shaped beamway is a means to allow sloppy manufacturing tolerances while still guaranteeing the monorail will run decently. The original rubber drive roller system will not work on scale beamway so the drivetrain must be replaced with one that places the drive wheel on top of the beam instead of on the side of the beam like the HO model. A modified RC servo or a custom drivetrain seems the best choice for this application. The servo may be easier but limits the availability of gear ratios. A really nice custom drivetrain can be made from NWSL gearboxes and parts (NorthWest Short Line is listed as a supplier on this web site under the "supplies/parts" heading).

 

Planing vinyl siding to thickness.

As I was demonstrating the RC monorail someone reminded me that the real monorail is powered from metal rails on the side of the beam, and why didn't I do that if I really wanted scale beamway? I had previously looked at that idea and even tried some pieces of code 55 model rail (0.055" tall and wide) glued into grooves cut into the sides of the beam. It seemed like far more work than RC so I dropped the idea. Anyone else want to try it?

 

More Speed

 

Can we make your monorail run faster? You bet!

Will you be happy with it? Now, there's a question...

More power - image of blurred monorail

Why, oh why is the #1 question "how can I make my monorail go faster?" ? Of all the questions I received over the past few years this must have accounted for 90% of them. I never considered the speed of the monorail to be an issue but "the voice of the customer" must be listened to. I have raced model cars for many years and more speed *always* causes more problems than anticipated!

More speed takes either a more powerful motor, more batteries, or both. Higher voltage batteries are readily available to make the monorail much faster. Lithium cells are now available in the AA form and will drop directly into the monorail's battery tray. Lithium cells have about 3.7 Volts compared to a standard AA cell with 1.5 Volts. With two lithium cells the monorail will run *very* fast. The LEDs and sound board are likely to burn out immediately, they should be rewired so they run from only one lithium cell (3.7 Volts). ***Lithium cells can get HOT (as in start a fire hot) when something goes wrong, do not use these if you are not certain of your abilities to wire them properly.***

The motor will take a bit longer to burn out but it too is likely to do so. No problem, replacements are readily and cheaply available. (Atomic Mods) Upgrade motors (for X-Mod or Mini-Z RC cars fit) are easy to find, power and price usually go hand in hand. ***These motors are listed as the same size as those in the monorail (Mabuchi 130) but I have not tried any of these and can not verify that they will fit.***

At some point the monorail will no longer stay on the beam. Superelevation is the process of banking the beam so the monorail can negotiate the curves at higher speed. Any bumps in the beam joints are likely to cause trouble too.

By now you are probably thinking this is too much work. I agree! ;)