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Memphis, Tennessee: Mud Island Monorail

Description

The Mud Island monorail connects downtown Memphis with the Mud Island River Park. Its two stations are at the convention center on Front Street and at the Mississippi River Museum on the island. It runs on a high elevated structure that passes above Riverside Drive and an inlet of the river. (Mud Island is actually a peninsula, joined to the mainland at its north end.)

This is a suspension-type monorail like the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal, Germany, but the cars are driven by an external cable, as with an aerial tramway, instead of by internal motors. Two cars shuttle back and forth on parallel tracks, always leaving the end stations simultaneously and passing each other at the middle of the route.

The monorail runs only during the summer. The round-trip fare (as of summer 2002) is $2.00.

So far, I have not been able to find any historical or detailed technical information, not even the year that the monorail was built. Any contributions would be appreciated!

Other Sites

Pictures

These pictures were taken on 21 June 2002.

[picture] This view of the elevated monorail structure looks west from the convention center station.

[picture] A car waits at the platform of the convention center station.

[picture] The same car as in the preceding picture, seen from the other side of the bay that accommodates both cars alternately. The two cars use separate platforms.

[picture] A car passes above Riverside Drive just before arriving at the convention center station. The two railroad tracks at right are used by the riverfront loop of the Main Street Trolley (left), and by freight and Amtrak trains (right).

[picture] A westbound car seen from the front window of the eastbound car at the midpoint of the route.

[picture] This view looking east from Mud Island shows a car crossing over the water. In the distance, the other car is partly obscured by one of the bridge supports.

This page was last updated on 22 May 2005, and verified on 1 December 2007.

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