DRB Pic of the Day: Propeller-driven "The Bennie Railplane"
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“PIC OF THE DAY” Still hanging there in the 1950s, rusted and abandoned… We wrote about the Bennie Monorail System in Glasgow, Scotland before, see our One Track Wonders: Early Monorails article. But since then, better pictures have been discovered and more information has come to light, so we have to share these beautiful images with our readers:
Propeller-driven “The Bennie Railplane” – “The short test track was built over a railroad line near Glasgow, Scotland. Two electrically-powered propellers delivered 240 horsepower in a short burst for acceleration to the cruise speed of 160 kph. There were plans for a high-speed link between London and Paris, with a seaplane to carry passengers across the English Channel, but the grave economic difficulties of the 1930’s doomed the Railplane from the start.” (source)
See the pictures and descriptions of the Bennie monorail structure in the 1950s (in the abandoned condition) on this site:
And here is the train in the full “sepia” glory of high-quality retro photography! (click to enlarge) -
CONTINUE TO “WONDERS OF EARLY MONORAILS!” ->
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