Two rails, one rail, no rails! -- Transit alternatives

[monotonehell]

SmartSkyways (developer of concept urban transport) have done something quite amazing, they have created a page in their website listing 125 alternative systems they could find.
The systems range from the bizarre to not quite so ludicrous, to a few that might actually have merit. Surprisingly many actually have operational systems in place. There's even a few flying cars and airships thrown in.
http://www.smartskyways.com/Technology/ ... mpare.html


Some of my favourites include:

The Danish RUF
http://www.ruf.dk/
Ruf! Ruf! They obviously have a sense of humour http://www.ruf.dk/real/dino.rm (1.4Mb realMedia)
I like their undergrounding concept where the cabin becomes an elevator car for smaller urban stations http://www.ruf.dk/real/halmtotal.rm (0.7Mb realMedia)

CityCoaster
http://www.citycoaster.com/index.php?id=11&L=1
Is it a roller coaster or is it a train? Actually I can't work it out from their website either. But they do have a system in place in a Swiss Ski Resort. Après-ski Martini anyone? The woman in one of the action shots looks terrified.

Tubular Rail
http://www.tubularrail.com/
This slightly scary system has NO rails, that's right NO rails. Vehicles are pushed from stanchion to stanchion with at least three supporting the vehicle at any one time. The concept is a bit smelly to me, so I tried to email an interview with the engineers involved but their email bounced. So now we'll never know things like "what happens if a hoop gets out of alignment?"

[fabricator]

The Tubular Rail site has a photo of a HO scale model in their gallery section.
From what I can tell the hoops in that are made from cardboard.

[monotonehell]

The Tubular Rail site has a photo of a HO scale model in their gallery section.
From what I can tell the hoops in that are made from cardboard.

I noticed that also. There's another one in that collection (I forget which one) about a monorail concept that's a model, but they would have gotten away with it set against a harbour scene as it was, if they hadn't included their garden bird bath in the foreground.