# Backyard Monorail **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 31, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026 "2005-03-31T00:20:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/1 "2005-03-31T00:20:51Z")
Definately a man with a dream. > [@](#): > > Welcome to Niles, a historic district in the City of Fremont, California. You’re in the backyard of the Pedersen residence and what you are looking at is the station of the Niles Monorail. I’ve wanted my own rideable monorail for a long time and these little sketches are proof. In fact, the dream goes way back before I got involved in monorail promotion for transit. I drew these while I was a high school junior way back in February of 1969. My Dad wouldn’t give me a permit to build it though, so the dream would have to wait…a long time it turns out. Wonder how long it’ll be before someone adapts these [maglev train plans](http://www.futurehorizons.net/grava.htm) and builds on in their backyard? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/2 "2005-03-31T00:28:35Z")
Oops! Botched that first link. [Here’s the correct one.](http://monorails.org/tMspages/NMT01.html) ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/3 "2005-03-31T02:25:41Z")
It’s fun, isn’t it? I saw the article on it in [Wired](http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62854,00.html) today (there’s a javascript link from that page to a Quicktime VR 360-degree movie of the whole monorail track). I think I’ll look out for the monorail next time I take BART From Fremont; it’s clear from [this photo](http://monorails.org/webpix%202/nmt09.JPG) that part of the monorail track is visible from the BART train, and it’s fairly easy to identify the correct house to watch out for using [Terraserver](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=8&Z=10&X=11768&Y=83186&W=3) (although the monorail track itself isn’t visible on that Terraserver page, the pool and hot tub that it encircles are quite easily identifiable). ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/4 "2005-03-31T07:03:44Z")
That is pretty damn cool! Someone should get him together with the guy with the [backyard roller coaster](http://home.comcast.net/~chrisgeiger/tribute.html). Something tells me they could come up with some interesting projects between them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/5 "2005-03-31T11:25:09Z")
Monorail! Monorail! Monorail! Were you sent here by the devil? No, good sir, I’m on the level. **MONORAIL!** ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/6 "2005-03-31T17:56:54Z")
You know, it was always my dream to be a monorail conductor… ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/7 "2005-03-31T18:11:44Z")
MONO…D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/8 "2005-03-31T23:44:41Z")
Coming from a city that had an unwanted, unloved, impractical monorail foisted upon it in the 1980s, that _Simpsons_ episode was so close to the truth it was incredible. Every time I go into town and see it, I keep expecting the advertising on it to peel back revealing a 1960s World Fair logo. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/9 "2005-04-01T20:10:05Z")
Even knowing where the house is, it’s too close - don’t think it’s even 50 yards away - to the BART tracks to see anything while zipping along at 70 MPH or so. Perhaps it would be visible if he was riding it, but otherwise, it’s just a flash. You just can’t see up or down the line far enough while moving to be able to identify anything that close to the tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backyard-monorail/297026/10 "2005-04-01T23:06:50Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Even knowing where the house is, it’s too close - don’t think it’s even 50 yards away - to the BART tracks to see anything while zipping along at 70 MPH or so. > > Perhaps it would be visible if he was riding it, but otherwise, it’s just a flash. You just can’t see up or down the line far enough while moving to be able to identify anything that close to the tracks. A stealth monorail? Cooler and cooler.