# Am I Imagining This Ceiling Train? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718 "2008-12-18T06:58:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Renetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renetta)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/21 "2010-12-06T03:10:41Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > An early memory of mine is of a small, ceiling-tracked train children could ride in some sort of department store. The track was on the ceiling and the train hung below it. The train went around the toy section of this store, then into a smaller room with Christmas dioramas and decorations. I’m pretty sure the train was silver and looked streamlined. > > I was raised outside of Portland, OR, but it is possible this store was somewhere else, but not too far away. It could have been a mall, but it seemed to me to be one single, large store. > From this same memory, the toy section of the store was stocked with a Star Wars AT-AT, so it must have been in the very early 1980’s. (If that helps.) > > So, am I remembering a dream, or did this thing really exist? You are much younger than me, I am 56…but…you are not imagining the train at M&F in downtown Portland…It was such a magical place back then…It was on the ceiling and it was big and went around the 3 ed floor where Santa was. And remember the Cinnamon Bear!!! About 5 years ago (before Macy’s took over) we went to M&F downtown. I was sneaking all around the upstairs offices because I wanted to find that place… I walked down some back stairs and opened a door…And there it was…It took my breathe away!!! The room was in disarray but the train was there on the ceiling… I seriously teared up… We lived in Gladstone, a small town next to Oregon City. It was the highlight of 'Christmas to go to Portland, to Meier & Frank…to see the windows…and then…sigh…Go ride the train and see Santa… Thanks for reminding me!! ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/22 "2010-12-06T03:19:29Z")
And they had the “real” Santa ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/23 "2010-12-06T14:32:37Z")
These miniature monorails are not unique. A [google search turns up dozens](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=department+store+monorail), and [there’s a whole website devoted to them](http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/Novelty.html). > [@Xema](#): > > Midtown Plaza Closed! - major bummer. I remember riding the monorail, and watching the Clock of Nations. Midtown had been a ghost town for about a decade after all of the anchor stores departed. It closed in the summer of 2008, and they started demolition earlier this year. The clock has been moved to the airport, and the monorail [went to a local non-profit](http://rocnow.com/article/local-news/2009912160350). ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/24 "2010-12-06T16:55:35Z")
Were zombies allowed to ride them? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/25 "2010-12-06T17:11:53Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Midtown Plaza Closed! - major bummer. I remember riding the monorail, and watching the Clock of Nations. > > I must be getting old. It’s funny that when I read the OP, I had no idea what he was talking about. When I saw the pictures, I had a “I remember something like that!” moment. Indeed, it was at Midtown Plaza. And the clock! Oh, what memories. I’m starting to wonder if my brother’s kids rode on that thing. Anyone remember a Christmas Wizard at the Plaza? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/26 "2010-12-07T16:19:37Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Were zombies allowed to ride them? Yes, but they had to pay. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/27 "2010-12-07T17:34:27Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Were zombies allowed to ride them? Were? No. Are they allowed to ride them now? Hell, yeah! ---
**Author:** ![Aboona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@Aboona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aboona)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/28 "2014-11-07T06:47:04Z")
For these many years, I too thought I was imagining this memory! When I was a little boy, my mother used to take us to Wanamaker’s in Brooklyn, NY, where we would board a train that would travel in a circle suspended on tracks attached to the ceiling! The ride would last about three minutes maybe. It’s always been one of my favorite childhood memories. It’s wonderful to know, after all these years of “remembering”, that I didn’t just dream this up! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/29 "2014-11-07T07:19:37Z")
Maybe yes, maybe no. Some shopping plazas around Christmas would set up special trains and other elaborate Christmas decorations. I remember back in the late 60s Midtown Plaza had a Christmas monorail [seen in the back of the [picture](http://www.rocpic.com/pod/pod121804.jpg) behind Santa on his throne.] Other venues had trains set up on the floor. So, it all depends on if Wanamaker’s did the whole futuristic thing and have a monorail they decorated up for Christmas or not. [They did in their Philadephia store](http://pinkpigflyer.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-wanamaker-monorail-in-philadelphia.html). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/30 "2014-11-07T15:12:26Z")
For all you former Rochesterians: Midtown Plaza is a [rising zombie](http://www.cityofrochester.gov/midtown/)! (And that site is about equivalent to watching a grave for activity. If there’s a way to thread the individual images together I can’t find it.) The big plans from 2008 were wrecked in the economic crash, but a couple of buildings are populated on the block. Midtown will supposedly contain a floor or two of stores just like the old days, but won’t be a mall with department store anchors. At the current rate, I wouldn’t bother to visit before 2018. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/31 "2014-11-07T15:42:51Z")
Christmastime downtown at the Portland Meier & Frank-those are wonderful memories. Gorgeous window displays, the entire store dressed to the nines for the holidays, hot chocolate for the kids and hot coffee for the adults, Santa’s lap to sit on, and of course [the Santaland Monorail.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg2OFUE1Qko) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718/32 "2014-11-07T17:45:26Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > This will give you an idea of the scale. > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChWzYDO3vDY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChWzYDO3vDY) > > This was Wanamakers and is now Macys > > An amazing department store building. [Wanamaker's - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanamaker%27s) The Wiki link was absoutely fascinating, especially to someone who grew up in Philly when Wanamakers was the place you went to for quality. Oddly enough I was unaware of the suspended monorail nor the one at Lit Bros. AFAIK, the only suspended monorail used in public transportation is in Wuppertal, Germany. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-imagining-this-ceiling-train/477718.md?page=1)