Roadtown

by Edgar Chambless

The Boyes Monorail uses the principle of the gyroscope used in the Brennan Monorail with a difference that where the Brennan gyroscope acts as a top the Boyes Monorail is kept true by the heavy drive wheel which acts on the principle of a hoop or rolling wheel. The Boyes train is made in short cars or sections rigidly coupled together with rubber padded couplings. Each car or section rides on a single concave leather faced wheel that runs on a broad convex steel rail. This wheel is set up within the body of the car, thus permitting the car to straddle the track.

There is a door on either side of each eight-foot car or section, which is opened and closed electrically. Only six people enter at a doorway, thus eliminating all delays and jams at crowded stations.

The leather faced wheel grips the track to such a great degree that it is practicable to build the cars as light per passenger as is the bicycle, thus giving great efficiency and power. A train of the Boyes type to carry the same passengers as the subway cars of New York, weighs one-thirtieth as much. The power is electrically fed to the train from a small “third” rail.

Speed Possibilities.

I hesitate to make any predictions as to the speed attainable in the Boyes Monorail. As is generally known, the world’s speed records are now held by automobiles, not railway trains. The record to date is about one hundred and thirty-two miles an hour made by Oldfield, at Ormond Beach, Florida. It is the traction grip in the rubber tired wheel that makes this speed possible. The Boyes car will have this grip and instead of sand to run on will have a rail from which it will have to jump thirty inches to be derailed. The car cannot skid, jump the track nor upset. It does not carry the weight of its power creating apparatus. It has no heavy parts but the single wheel and its casings. The inventor states that with the power now used on the New York Subway trains a Boyes train carrying the same number of passengers will attain the speed of two hundred and fifty miles an hour. I recently asked an automobile manufacturer what, at present, set the limit on the speed autos. He replied, “The nerve of the driver.” The bearing parts of the monorail can be made many times the strength required for the speeds intended and thus reduce accidents from broken parts to a minimum. I have asked a number of engineers to give me a reason why the speed predictions of Boyes could not be attained. One replied, “It’s never been done.” Another said, “Municipal politics.”

Because I have spoken in favor of the Boyes Monorail I do not wish the reader to infer that the development of the Roadtown depends upon the progress made by this invention. We have noiseless electric automobiles to-day and noiseless bicycles that serve well to demonstrate the feasibility of building a noiseless service for the purpose of Roadtown and such a later system will indeed probably be installed in the first demonstration section. No man of a mechanical turn of mind will doubt for a minute that noise in transportation can be eliminated where it is desirable to do so.

The Roadtown transportation system will be in the cellar. This idea will at first seem strange, and many people will suggest that it be put above ground thinking thus to save expense and have the “view.” I think a little explanation will show that the basement is the only logical location for the Roadtown transportation line.

If it is above ground it will have to be fenced off or elevated to prevent loss of life. If it is fenced it will keep people from the land. If it is elevated the stations will be expensive and an eyesore. As for the idea of a view, we can say that the Roadtown railroad is not for sightseeing any more than an elevator in a hotel. If placed beside the house line it would destroy the natural “view” and privacy of the home, and the roof is reserved for a better use.

The basement is clearly the only logical place to have the monorail where it will be absolutely convenient and yet free the house from the nuisance of living beside an elevated railroad track. The expense of the basement, where steam shovel and work train are utilized, as already explained, will be comparatively small, and the house above will provide a continuous covered passageway from the door of one’s apartment to the station. As for ventilation, which is a puzzling problem in city subways, it will be solved by a continuous opening made by building the house three or four feet above the ground; the Roadtown trains will therefore run in a covered trench rather than in a subway.

Because of the rail straddling plan the Boyes car must be entered from both sides. Three tracks will be required and these will be arranged one beneath the other. The reason for this is obvious: if arranged side by side, passengers would have to climb up the height of the car and down again. Arranged vertically, they need climb only up or down. Because the distance from rail level to car floor level is practically eliminated in the Boyes car, this climb will be but seven or eight feet instead of twelve as with present train service. The upper track will be for local service. Passengers will walk from their house along a continuous platform or hallway to the local stations, which will be located about 100 yards apart. The object of having definite stations or stopping places is simply one of gaining speed by having the people in groups. The platform will be continuous and the trains can be stopped at any house desired if there be a good reason for so doing.