The insane Russian Concrete Monorail 

Fun Fact: The Chuo Shinkansen being built NOW in Japan is also a big concrete track in which the train rides in. It just uses magnetic levitation to raise the train off the track, with linear motors for propulsion. So the weather and debris problem is and would have been solvable.

One of the main problem with concrete roadways is the concrete does not expand and contract evenly. When concrete was used for the interstate highway system in the colder, mountainous states, it wasn't long before the roadway was so bumpy that it felt like we had a flat tire. They tried using asphalt to cover the concrete, but the two products don't adhere to each other. In many places, the concrete was removed and replaced with asphalt.

Wether you think the Soviet Union’s engineering teams were crazy or not, you gotta admit this monorail looks SICK

The graphics on this ch are seriously amazing. Even very weird stuff get 3Ded. Then inserted into terrain and animated. If he didn't put the computer specs in the info I would have thought it was magic.

Still more ambitious and much more likely to work than our modern day spaceman's Hyperloop.

Presumably a major issue with the train would also have been from the rubber wheels. Steel wheeled rains work well because there is very little drag between the wheels and tracks. Attempts at building trains with rubber wheels have always been considerably less efficient, maintenance heavy and usually not very comfortable

I don't think you listed the biggest problems with this design: The drive wheel was so large, it was impossible to move between carriages. While a solid rubber-tired wheel might move along o.k. at 160 KPH, at speeds like 300 KPH -- modern HSR speed -- the centrifugal force on a huge rubber-tired wheel might tear apart the tire. I would had incorporated metal surfaces in the track, and use that as a ground, as well as lateral support, to allow the train to be propelled with single-phase power.

First thing i thought was what effect snow and debris on the "track" would have. The "track" would have to be kept spotless at all times. Rain could have been drained off but i can see the drain holes getting clogged up with ice & debris very quickly.

Just a salute for all the heroes of the past who tried and failed but provided the future generations with critical data. RIP..

I've sold monorails to Novosibirsk, Vladivostok and Omsk and by gum it put them on the map

It is hard to compare a wooden monorail for the working model with a concrete one. The idea was good, but why it was not developed into a real prototype it is a mystery (probably because it was too advanced for the era).

A smooth ride with solid rubber wheels? Ever gotten a shopping cart with a nick on one of the caster's? How do you cast concrete without expansion joints, or slight irregularities between pours? Imagine hitting those at high speed. And how many Russian freeze/thaw cycles would those guideways survive before crumbling, especially if built to the usual Soviet construction standards?

If you guys wonder how actually a nightmare the maintenance would be. Somebody already prove it in Rollercoaster (Intamin bobsled) They always close it for 1-2 days after the rain because how painful it is to keep it dry because of concern those water pool would either make it sudden splashing jerk (which leads to accident) or full aquaplanning (which leads to yet, another accident) And it's only for like, 60 km/h speed. Yeah, Mack solve it by use grate steel instead of smooth trench, but at that point you better be use normal steel rail anyway

"Insane" and "Monorail". These are words that go together well.

The french also had a concrete monorail at one point, but their experimental trains were jet-powered.

I love the self-awareness of this episode, the other ones constant praise without explaining feel grating after a while. Entertaining explanation can be hard to come by, so it's nice to acknowledge shortcomings in a funny way!

The Soviets had some amazing engineering minds that could have accomplished so much. It's such a shame that the political environment has never allowed the potential to come to reality.

Let's see elevated with holes on the track smaller then the diameter or the wheels, and a slot scooper train / heated parts would take care of snow etc. May not be cheaper, but I could see amazing potential in this. Longevity or those tires though...

"This train could have revolutionised railway tracks" *shows train bumping around like crazy* riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

So you permanently lose the rolling efficiency of steel on steel. You have a gigantic wheel that would tear through the cabin in an accident. You ride in enormous concrete water troughs of undetermined length that must expand and contract, but always stay aligned. In the end, you’ve made a less efficient train that uses much more concrete and steel (rebar) than a traditional railway, while introducing novel problems.

These are the mustard videos we wait for between mustard videos

I think it's more complicated to build an elevated concrete trough rather than lay two metal rails on the ground.

The best thing about soviets is that they cared for innovation and even supported talent and innovation, although it later failed but still it's a big thing he was given that amount and support

It reminds me of something out of thunderbirds. Like the monorail that lady Penelope was on.

Oooh! I've read about that from a old soviet journal named "Modelist-konstructor" about 25 years ago. Would be a pretty interesting concept, if not some major flaws.

The reason why projects with crazy designs always fail, is because sometimes things go wrong, which can lead the project into being cancelled as it does not meet the standards for safety nowadays.

I can image snow accumulating in that rail gutter causing a lot of train wrecks but then, it's not like they could not give it some thought and come up with some solution for snow and ice.

USE THE METRIC SYSTEM

Fun fact, this was how the Disneyland monorail came up about they decided to go for a statically pleasing look, and instead of making it go on a concrete slab, they decided to wrap the train around a pillar and that how it fleet got started the Mk-7 are a modernize version of the Mark ones design

This is the best trolleybus ever designed.

Interesting, but I'm glad high speed trains that exist in service don't have wheels in the way of people who want to walk from car to car. I miss seeing a lot of train stuff from you and hopefully there's more in the future. I must've got you mixed up for Mustard which made more train stuff.

a way to improve it could be the entire track being a tunnel, prevents anything getting on the track

Great animation, but you missed some important details, it had 3 (phase) overhead wires and the pantograph you drew would create a short circuit, that's why this Soviet (not Russian) train had this arrangement: 2:31

after rain or snow this would be a pain to take of those tracks they are literally giant channel.... it is also impossible to travel through the carriages

Alles Utopie! Einschienenbahn ist nur möglich als Hängebahn wie in Wuppertal oder mit Stabilisierung durch Schwungräder

The rocking is Just like amtrack E60 Electric locomotives......... 7:32

The problem with all gadgetbahns is that they are trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. There is nothing a monorail can do that can't be done better by a regular train and they usually come with a host of new problems.

NGL improved normal high speed rail could in most countries decimate domestic air travel. Even in the US many of the most popular air corridors could be decimated by cheap and reliable high speed rail (akin to China, or Europe's systems)

would be interesting to see a modern take on this idea. the use of computers to control the gyroscopic movement. might be possible to make it truly useful. mod the rail a bit so its less likely to accumulate water or snow.

Lower cost of maintenance than highways because concrete is more durable than tarmac.

You have a mistake on the map: At the beginning of the XIX century, Finland was part of the Russian Empire. As well as Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia ... And all this was before the formation of the USSR.

The ALWEG monorails, such as used in the Disney parks and Seattle, use a concrete beam. That design, though, straddles the beam with horizontal wheels to take the overturning loads while the vertical wheels support the train.

Stylish on the outside, maybe it wasn't going fast enough to get much rigidity in space from the wheels? In any event the three-wire overhead connections would no doubt have been a serious pain to install and maintain.

Maybe the same self centering groove, but the track is a screw-foundation elevated aluminium mesh? Then a magnetic effect would levitate the train. Also, the driving wheel could engage with magnetic metal in places along the aluminum mesh like gears to provide traction on inclinated track.

A super-train with only 110-120 seats? That's pretty ridiculous, unless it's something of a no-cost-object for party bosses.

What would you think about a video about the _Paris-Orleans Aerotrain_ ? It was a marvelous story and a marvelous project that came down (litterally) at the very peak of it's glory. For me it would be great... a bit like the vid of yours about the "American Cousin" of the Caspian Sea Monster but about Monorail trains. Think about it.

We still attempt insane alternative to the train nowadays. (Well, scammers do: see ‘Hyperloop’.)

Hey Nick, I have a video recommendation for you. It would be interesting how the original a340 with IAE SuperFans would have sold and maybe even revolutionized aviation.

Oui, l’idée est intéressante sauf si de l’eau ou de la neige rend le ciment glissant, aqua planing, verglas, n’assureront pas la stabilité. De plus, le ciment bouge, se fissure avec le froid et l’humidité. Le socle doit reposer sur des terrains solides.. etc, …

Living in a former Soviet country and seeing the crumbling concrete bridges and buildings everywhere I can't say that this monrail would've stood the test of time.

I feel like in the right environment and with some tweaks in the design like maybe retractable stabilizer wheels and drainage groves at the bottom of the track for water to run out of, this could’ve been a viable means of transportation. The idea was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

What makes this different from the Hyperloop? 1. This is actually a workable concept 2. This is actually realistic and achievable 3. The person who made this can actually be considered sane

The pantaoraph's bow collector would wear out very quickly since the overhead lines (OHLs) do not zig-zag across it as on a normal electric train. Since it has 3 OHLs for positive, neutral, and ground (instead of feeding neutral and ground through the rails like a normal electric train), it cannot zig-zag.

Well i was thinking about the purpose of the holes in the front and my idea is, that its the aero brake for the wheels. If there would be flap inside the hole that could be operated and there would be some sort of small wing like things sticking out of the wheel. When you open the hole via the flap the air will flow directly onto the wheel and will collide with the wings on the wheel. That would create relatively smooth breaking force. (Hope you got what i meant, i suck at explaining :D )

Use the metric system already...

a high speed monorail, nice.

The soviets were insane

I suggest you also make a channel that features a topic about concept cars that never built or never made into mass production.

Not even the mention the emergency brakes, which may have caused the train to shake, a lot.

I remember that the french had a train project with a propeler on top of the train.

That pantograph shorting out the three phase wires is driving me crazy. Bad error in the graphics there.

0:23 the shaking of that scale model test doesn't give me much confidence on the comfort of the ride.

the friction from those wheels would not make it efficient in any way

7:39 "that issue would only be exasperated" ............. Mrs Malaprop is delighted!

People really need to learn that things like hyperloops, monorails, and maglevs are just worse trains

Brennan Monorail is build in the early 1900 as self balancing mono rail. It do not woble around as the soviet one does.

The thing for me is the wear and tear of the rubber tires, especially going at high speed, and swapping them out for new tires when the engine is INSIDE? A true nightmare for the engineers

3 overhead wires means to have 3 isolated collectors, like tram shoes. The video has a pantograph like trams, which would shortcut the 3 wires. Having good contact with the wires is a major problem for trolleys. Sometimes they dewire.

the amount of maintenance the concrete tracks would require to keep them operationally safe would be tremendous and extremely difficult to maintain over such long stretches. Traditional rail for instance can still function even when heavily damaged, and is monumentally more simple to repair and replace

I'm at 3 mins perhaps you will address this but the thing about trains it the steel-on-steel wheels that reduce the roll resistance. A bus (what this is here) has normal wheels with massive roll resistance. Also, this isn't a monorail as it has just a curved road under it, making it have the drawbacks of a monorail, complicated gates. A curved road would have the nice effect of suffering far more from environmental effects such as rain and snow.

I always thought that you could build wheels that were like ball bearings and make grooved concrete to use them in. The debris problem is solvable by putting plates on the train that yeet everything out of the way before the wheels

looks way more impractical than high speed rail. Rail is cheap to lay, but building a concrete hundred-mile long bridge basically? No shot

Finaly, a crazy soviet design that ISN'T for the milliraty

There is a fundamental flaw, the wheel will try to climb out from the trench. Its diameter changes which means the center of the tire will have high speed than the edges. This in turn means the edges will drag along the trench and try to climb out with gravity pulling it back down until the forces equalize.. and then you get the wobble. Most likely the front and rear wheels will try to climb the opposite sides of the trench too, making it snake around the half pipe. It needed two set of wheels, at an angle to make it stead, and most likely some kind of limited slip differential. To make a monorail with one rubber wheel the "road" has to be convex and the wheel concave. That way the edge of the wheel rotates fastest and it will self-center. If you look at old belt drive, they have convex, a "bulging" wheel and not concave. It looks counter intuitive until you start to look at speeds across the belt width. Everytime there is an error the belt will self center on a bulging wheel. With a tire on a trench the mechanism is a reversed but we are still looking at speed differences across the width of the tire.

1:30 that blueprint is dated 1922 not 1910. We can also tell by the Russian letters that have changed after 1918.

This is one idea from the past that needs to be tried again. A curved steel roof, like the ones seen in industrial yards, could solve any debris issues though at a slightly increased cost.

M I Yamashook had to be an accomplished engineer and visionary to bring his idea from concept stage to research prototype. Testing reveals design weaknesses and perhaps fatal concept weaknesses, this alone may have been enough to cancel the project. Scale of economics was more likely the strongest obstacle, railroad infrastructure, paved roads and emerging passenger aviation had already captured the attention of the planners. Military flexibility would also be a factor. No doubt with sufficient ( but not excessive) resources this design could have achieved some viability. Perhaps there were just too many major areas in need of simultaneous refinement.

and it's still more viable than a hyperloop lol

regardless of its usefulness, I would want to ride on the final version

It snows a lot in Russia. Wouldn't a foot of snow on the track be too much resistance? Compare that to regular train tracks: There's space under the train for snow that the train doesn't come in contact with.

8:14, Correct, It only needed a more *wider-arch road* & slimmer tall twin-wheels, with a small *beacon middle beam, + inductive* 🔋recharger. (Boring forgot that🔋for cars in Vagus.) More universal render, road truck/RV & Train beam line express.

Revisit this idea but instead of a large electric wheel, use magnetic levitation as the propulsion!! P.s. more of a monochannel than monorail

They should of called it a more catchy name like the Soviet Star or the Russian monoRail

Monoraaaaaaaail, Monoraaaaaaaail, Monoraaaaaaaaaaaaaail!!!

When the Siberian tundra becomes farmland. And Canada has 'The Wild Wild North' as the next frontier to exploit... And 'Colonize Mars' becomes a real 'Colonize Antarctica' instead... There may yet be a need for something like this, maybe with gyrostabilization and some electromagnetic siderail repulsion help. The idea of cheap to build long range transport for a next frontier might yet see its heyday.

getting from car to car would be a problem unless that green outline is a doorway. they should build 2 half wheels so the gap in the wheels would allow one to go from car to car

For stability, he should add wheel on the side of the train which will rest on the edge of the wall. Like kid bicycle.

Fascinating idea. But they wanted to build this in northern Russia. The temperature variations between summer and winter would crack concrete all the way. Can you imagine the constant repairs when you’re talking about hundreds of kilometers? Add in storms, snowstorms, etc., with all kinds of snow and debris that needs to be cleared out. It’s a beautiful concept, but not practical for the climate and distances.

We should invest highly in steam-and Gas power stations for electrification!

I imagine the concrete trench would have a drainage system for rain and the trench would be elevated high enough to allow wildlife passage below (to avoid animals getting stuck in the trench), but I think snow would be a major hindrance in Russia. If the concrete were heated to melt the snow, preventing any accumulation within the trench, the cost of heating would probably be quite expensive. I think such a system would be better suited to a warm and arid climate.

This train with 12 foot wheels, those wheels would have to be precisely balanced. Think of the awful vbration at 300 KPH. And how would this train compensate for centrifugal force around curves? 🤔

They can't call it a "iron road" in languages where iron is part of the word if the road is made of concrete.

With some improvements, this could still work

The front was for air intake for the brakes. What better than air to cook the brakes than fresh air. No liquids to carry.

But in the end, the Russians finally did get a high-speed rail line between Saint Petersburg and Moscow anyway. The _Sapsan_ (Сапсан) train operated until March 2022 with a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).

2:55 A saguaro cactus grows from the tundra? My brain hurts!

I would have loved some more technical details on the list of flaws of this design, but the video is of very good quality still 👍

Soviets would never allow mass long distance transport where you needed a permit to go from one area to another.

There were too many stupid ideas 100 years ago involving gyroscope.

Most of the "flaws" you and others mention are easily solved by simple design tweaks but the only problem is dont see solved is that of ice and snow, because its Russia, and thats the default weather in most parts.